Results ~ Cook-N-Freeze Brisket

About a month ago a gal asked me to provide four barbecued briskets for a wedding rehearsal dinner. The hitch was, the dinner is being held 250 miles away. She asked about cooking them, freezing them and reheating them on site in ovens in the rented rehearsal hall. Since I would not be there, I told her I wanted to do a trial run first, where I would barbecue a whole one, freeze it....then put it in her hands (along with my instructions) for thawing, reheating, slicing and serving. She did the trial run last week, and it came out very good. Although nothing can top a fresh off-the-pit brisket, I thought this may be of interest if anyone ever needs to do something like this.



I selected a Choice, Angus, whole brisket that weighed in at 14 pounds. I did minimal trimming and cooked it tender using pecan and cherry wood for flavor. I actually hit it hard with the smoke to insure some flavor would remain following the reheat. Following the cook, I foiled it with some jazzed up beef broth, and rested fat up for several hours. Then I chilled it down overnight, over-wrapped the foil pouch and froze it.





Thawing took 72 hours in a beer fridge (a regular fridge may take less time). For the reheat, the brisket was transferred fat up into a aluminum pan along with the jelled liquids from the foil. A cup of warmed beef mop was added, and the covered pan went into a 250° oven for an hour. A little more mop was added, and in 30 or 40 minutes it had reached 150° internal.

Yeah, I wanted it to be a real test and I wasn't going to do any hand holding...... I sent some detailed instructions along and a diagram of the slicing direction and everything. I'm just glad it worked.