QVQ Medium Rare Brisket - Step by Step

[AZ Fogey]

Polarbear777 T-bone,or Troutman Thank you all for your answers. I get it now. I'm absolutely going to try the QVQ method cause I've got lots of time on my hands. On a side note, AmazingRibs.com is astounding for the aggregation of BBQ knowledge that resides on this site. Thank you Meathead for coming up with the idea, and thank you to all active participants who willingly share your knowledge with newbies like me. You're an invaluable resource for folks that love BBQ.

[Troutman]

Nothing to add, good responses above. We as a group have developed the QVQ method on various proteins over the last couple of years. Try it, if you have the time, it’s a nice improvement over SVQ.

[T-bone]

+1 on what Polarbear777 said.

From what I learned at a recent SV Summit...

- A SV pre-sear adds flavor, it’s not for bark.

- 120 is too low for long cooks because there’s too much of a chance for bacterial growth. I believe CREA recommends 127 as a minimum and our fearless leader, Meathead, recommends 131.

- An ice bath and chill is recommended after SV long cooks. It helps in developing additional flavor.

[Polarbear777]

The first Q is just for smoke, not really bark. The "V" (SV) step then takes care of the collagen conversion and tenderness. The second Q gives you the bark and additional smoke.

Smoke sticks to cold and wet and you get to do that twice with QVQ.

[AZ Fogey]

OK, here's my question. Why put it in the smoker for two hours first? I've been cooking sous vide for a number of years, albeit only steaks and fish and veggies, but I've never pre seared any of it because invariably, whatever is in the bag is soaking in fluid by the time it's taken out of the bath. I would think that it would be very detrimental to whatever bark had formed during the initial smoke. Has anyone tried first cooking it sous vide for 48 hours at maybe 120°, then putting it in the smoker either low and slow or hot and fast until the desired internal temp?

[Potkettleblack]

I'm in the slow for the first Q and hot for the second camp.

[Michael Brinton]

Nice bark! I think I over did it with the rub as well. I didn't dry it off after the sous vide step, just added more rub.

[Polarbear777]

As I’ve said before I have had better luck with a hot finishing step (350 vs 225) to get the bark, others have had better luck going low. I think we need lots more experimenting and eating of our mistakes. :-)

example of QVQ pastrami...

[Michael Brinton]

All in all it came out well. 225 was to low for bark development. Next time i would definitely start at least 275-300 +. I over shot the final temp attempting to get the bark set. The brisket available to me locally would probably benefit from 72 hours cooking. I'm planning to do this again soon adjusting those factors. Everyone at dinner thought it was great.

[Michael Brinton]

That sounds so good. In Pennsylvania flats are sold as "whole packer brisket." You really have to search to find the real thing.

[Troutman]

Your're gonna like it. I have a whole packer dry aging and will be QVQing it to medium rare finish within the next week or two.

[Michael Brinton]

Picked up a flat to finally try this technique. I salted for an hour then cross hatched and rubbed with bbbr. Smoked on the pk360 for about 2 hours until around 120 internal temp. Then i slid it over the coals for a few minutes. The process reminds me of chefsteps and Dave Arnold's pre-searing technique for sous vide steaks. Basically to develop crust/bark no matter the heat level it still takes time to build the maillard reaction crust/bark. So the more times you can expose you meat to the process without over doing it the better the outside will be. Refreshing a sear or simply doing a half sear to build on your final sear is about the same as QVQ. I've also heard enough debate about pre vs post smoke to see the genius in doing both. Got it in the bath for the 54 or so hours can't wait to see how the final step goes. 👍🍖

[Troutman]

Correct. Actually mine was a whole packer, the front flat was cut off for pastrami. The post above by sos2979 was also a full packer. So have at it !!! I'll actually be doing one in August that is dry aging as we speak.

[Polarbear777]

Exactly the same, but you’ll need a bag big enough for the SV step.

[Duke139]

Any suggestions on how to adapt troutman's process for a full packer, point and flat NOT separated, exterior fat mostly trimmed off?