"Tightening Up" - How Do You Plan For It?

OK..........this is not a P90X or Insanity thread! :wink:

Basically, my question refers to brisket and ribs, although it probably pertains to pork butt and chicken, as well. If you cook the brisket or ribs to tender perfection and then turn them in right away they should maintain that same level of tenderness (or close to it) when the judges get it, unless it sits too long. Agreed?

Now, what if you again cook the meats to perfection, but then you hold and rest the meat............won't the meat "tighten up"? For ribs, what would have been a perfect bite with the meat pulling away from the bone cleanly, only at the bite mark, once rested may not pull away so cleanly. And with brisket, the perfect pull test with just a slight amount of stretch, now when rested, exhibits more stretch than ideal.

How is this dealt with? If you know you are going to rest the meat, especially brisket, which is almost always held and then rested, do you plan on overcooking the meat? For ribs, do you take it to the point of near falling of the bone to account for the "tightening up" process? Do you take brisket to the point, that it nearly falls apart when you pick it up to account for "tightening up" process?

Thanks for any comments that you can share,

Thanks all for the comments and advice. Happy 4th to all!

Shady said:

I routinely hold brisket for at least three hours sealed in foil in a cambro. I have held ribs for one hour and also wrapped in foiling a cambro. With those two I close the vent and do not see any difference. I rest pork in my second cambro wrapped in foil and crack the door to vent heat and stop the cooking. Again no real change. I have never held chicken. I cook to 3 degrees below ideal temperature for big meat. I don't see any difference in holding pork, as some as you cut into them moisture starts to go away. I guess you could call that tightening up.

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I don't use a Cambro, but I do use a preheated cooler. I place 2 briskets and 2 pork butts in there. I do vent the foil until the temp of the meat drops a few degrees then I wrap a towel around each foil-wrapped meat an place into the cooler.

Could the space in the cooler be too confined and allow the meat to continue cooking or dry out? In a Cambro each meat is on a separate shelf, correct? All of my meat is basically on top of each each other with towels taking up any dead space..........there isn't much space left with 2 briskets and 2 butts.

Candy Sue said:

I would have picked my best slices, laid them out on a piece of foil like I was going to put them in the box, poured juice on them, folded the foil up tight and put back in the cooker to loosen up. Doesn't take too long, 20 minutes or so, which means you're slicing brisket early.

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Thanks for the tip............I'll have to try this!

Thanks again,