Holding a finished brisket

[WhiskyJoe]

Hi everyone! Happy Holidays!

I'm heading to a family party the week after Christmas. I want to get a large Creekstone (hey, it's Christmas!) brisket and smoke it. Since I'm too old to pull an all-nighter and then go to a party, I want to cook it 12 hrs or so before. Does anyone have any experience holding a large, finished brisket at temp for 12 hours? Right now, I'm thinking that after I pull it off the smoker, I re-wrap the butcher paper, add the tallow coating and hold at 195 in my oven. Looking to finish cooking at 12-2am and then serve around 2-5pm.

Would like to hear your thoughts...

 

[sandro]

An electric home oven works fine; anything from 140 to 170f is ideal. Don't sweat it, it'll turn out great

 

[WhiskyJoe]

hey! I have an electric. I can do that! If I hold at ~160, how long do I rest at room temp before slicing?

 

[sandro]

hey! I have an electric. I can do that! If I hold at ~160, how long do I rest at room temp before slicing?

You can slice and eat it at 160f if timing is an issue, otherwise 140 to 150 internal would be great—I reckon it would take about half an hour to 45 minutes to cool down 10-15 degrees

 

[robertm]

I've done about 10 or so briskets now with long holds in a roaster oven. Several turned out terrible until I figured out how to do it. Here are my findings.

1) Once brisket is cooked, partially unwrap from butcher paper and let it cool until ~150.
2) Wrap back up in same butcher paper and pour a bit of tallow on top of paper.
3) Keep in roaster at 140 for as long as you need. (Or oven as low as it will go)
4) Keep probe in brisket, generally you want it over 130 and ideally sitting at 140. Use a probe in roaster as well so you can tell what the real temp is there.
4) Pull brisket from roaster when ready to slice and serve. No further cooling required.


I held a brisket for almost 17 hrs like this two weekends ago and it was fantastic. I'm talking ridiculous tender and juicy.

 

[WhiskyJoe]

Thanks! This will (hopefully) be my last pellet smoker brisket before my LSG offset is delivered. Want to make it perfect so that I have a baseline to compare to.

 

[TealStBBQKing]

I mixed up timing once and had to smoke a pastrami much easier than planned. It finished at 10 pm and I let it cool to 180°. After that I wrapped it (I can't remember if it was butcher paper or foil) and put it in the oven over night at 160°. It was the best pastrami I've made. +1 for the over night oven rest. After that throw it in a cooler and bring it to your party

 

[robertm]

Thanks! This will (hopefully) be my last pellet smoker brisket before my LSG offset is delivered. Want to make it perfect so that I have a baseline to compare to.

Oh man you are in for a treat once the offset arrives. Not only is it a blast to run the product is second to none!

Secret tip, I pull the brisket out of roaster 20-30 min before I'm ready to slice, unwrap to expose the top of brisket, pour a bit of tallow on top then rewrap and put back in roaster.

When you pull it out and slice in front of guests they will be blown away by how juicy it is.

 

[CivilTrojan]

Is there a substitute that can be used if one doesn’t have any tallow?

 

[pjtexas1]

Oh man you are in for a treat once the offset arrives. Not only is it a blast to run the product is second to none!

Secret tip, I pull the brisket out of roaster 20-30 min before I'm ready to slice, unwrap to expose the top of brisket, pour a bit of tallow on top then rewrap and put back in roaster.

When you pull it out and slice in front of guests they will be blown away by how juicy it is.

Cheater! ound:

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[pjtexas1]

Is there a substitute that can be used if one doesn’t have any tallow?

You should have plenty in your foil or BP.

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[KClandcruiser]

You should have plenty in your foil or BP.

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Agreed! Or it takes 30ish minutes to render down all the fat just trimmed off of the brisket being cooked. Then there will be spare tallow to keep on hand for the next time

 

[WhiskyJoe]

stoopid question: at what temp does the tallow render? I can drop the fat trims into a pan in the smoker. (it always makes me slightly ill throwing that stuff out but I can never find a use for it)

 

[rque]

stoopid question: at what temp does the tallow render? I can drop the fat trims into a pan in the smoker. (it always makes me slightly ill throwing that stuff out but I can never find a use for it)

Do exactly that. It will render in the smoker. Fat starts melting around 130-140F.

 

[bbqwizard]

stoopid question: at what temp does the tallow render? I can drop the fat trims into a pan in the smoker. (it always makes me slightly ill throwing that stuff out but I can never find a use for it)

Since Rque answered the other part of the question, I’ll add this. Use tallow to make tallow butter and pan fry potatoes in it. They are crispy and stupid good!

 

[robertm]

Best way I've found to render tallow is run it through the meat grinder on coarse setting then heat on low for a few hrs. If you do it on the smoker while cooking the brisket you now have smoked tallow! I use a small hotel pan and give it a little stir every so often. It's ready when the little pieces of fat start turning light brown. I strain through cheese cloth into mason jars. You don't need to grind if you don't want. Just throw it all in pan and onto the smoker.

It's awesome with just about anything. Use it in place of butter or oil. Or put a little tallow and butter in the skillet with whatever your cooking.

Really like it for reheating chopped brisket in a pan for tacos or whatever. Eggs are great with it etc.

 

[kevrol]

Do you have a vacuum sealer? I did this earlier this year. However I did it the day before. Once finished cooking I let sit to cool for a couple hours. Then I cut in half and vacuum sealed and put in the fridge. About 45 minutes before you're ready to serve bring a large pot of water to a boil and put vacuum sealed brisket in the water and let simmer for 30 minutes. When you are done cut it open, slice and serve.

 

[Roadpir8]

I just did an overnight cook and hold and it turned out great. I held mine for almost 12 hours before slicing. It actually was the best brisket I have cooked to date, and this will be my default cook from here on out. I chronicled my cook in a thread with temps and times, link below. Good luck!
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296052