Brisket Help 11am Dinner Bell

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Whisky

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I have agreed to cook a brisket for my inlaws "Christmas". We are traveling 2 hours over there Sunday AM, and eating around 11am-noon. I will be cooking on a Yoder ys640. I am undecided on the best time to cook, and when to slice this meat. I don't have a lot of brisket experience. I would like to do as much as possible on Saturday, that is why we decided on Sunday. Can a guy cook it all day Saturday, and hold it until next morning for travelling, and then slice at destination?
Or, cook and slice Saturday, and reheat Sunday AM in sous vide, and pack for transport then?
Overnight cook Saturday?
The more details the better; time and temp. Unfortunately, I don't have the meat yet, so unsure of the size. I instructed the wife to pick up a Prime from Costco when she goes to town tomorrow.

Thanks for any help!
 
Personally I would plan an overnight cook. I would go 275 on the cooker (I have no experience on a yoder), wrap at the stall, when the bark is good, about 165. Pull in the morning, keep wrapped in foil, wrap that in towels and put in a cooler. It will hold 4 hours no problem in a cooler. If it's done early put it, wrapped, in an oven at lowest temp (170 hopefully) for a while. Pack it in the cooler before you start your drive and you will be fine. Do not slice until you serve no matter what.
 
On my YS640 I liked to start my briskets out at around around 200 degrees. It gave me better smoke favor.
 
I would cook Saturday with a goal of taking it off the smoker late in the evening. Let it sit for an hour or two and then put it in the oven or roaster on a low setting while I slept. Then I'd do the cooler/towel setup to transport it to the party location. Once there I would slice it up and invite the fam to flavor town.
 
The timing is a little awkward. I’m guessing that you’d want to plan to pull it by 8:00 at the latest. That would put me at wrapping somewhere in the middle of the night which I’d generally rather avoid.

Two options I’d consider if it was me.

I’d either start it about 8:00pm running 225 and get up about 4:00am to wrap it. Would bump it to 250 or 275 at that point and get another couple hours sleep. When it probes tender, in the cooler for rest and ultimate transport.

Other choice, if you have a sous vide machine, would be to fully cook it the day before, cool it and reheat the morning of.

I’d probably do t(e former even though reheating that way gets me almost the same quality as the day of the cook. Good luck
 
Dweverett said:
The timing is a little awkward. I’m guessing that you’d want to plan to pull it by 8:00 at the latest. That would put me at wrapping somewhere in the middle of the night which I’d generally rather avoid.

Two options I’d consider if it was me.

I’d either start it about 8:00pm running 225 and get up about 4:00am to wrap it. Would bump it to 250 or 275 at that point and get another couple hours sleep. When it probes tender, in the cooler for rest and ultimate transport.

Other choice, if you have a sous vide machine, would be to fully cook it the day before, cool it and reheat the morning of.

I’d probably do t(e former even though reheating that way gets me almost the same quality as the day of the cook. Good luck
Click to expand...

Before I posted I was thinking something similar to your #1 option would be the best route. I was trying to see if there was a way to avoid some sleep loss. :razz:

Hypothetically, for reheating a full brisket via SV, what time and temp you looking at?
Do they fit in 2gl Ziplocs, or what do you use? Thanks
 
drunkenmeatfist said:
I would cook Saturday with a goal of taking it off the smoker late in the evening. Let it sit for an hour or two and then put it in the oven or roaster on a low setting while I slept. Then I'd do the cooler/towel setup to transport it to the party location. Once there I would slice it up and invite the fam to flavor town.
Click to expand...

My oven goes down to 170. Just curious have you held a brisket in an oven like that for ~8 hours? I'd be curious to see how that would turn out also.
 
Whisky said:
My oven goes down to 170. Just curious have you held a brisket in an oven like that for ~8 hours? I'd be curious to see how that would turn out also.
Click to expand...

This is a very common thing in the restaurant world. Tons of places pull their briskets at 12-2am and then hold at 140-170 until service. If you go that route, I would recommend letting your brisket get down to 140-150F before putting it into the oven so you can avoid overcooking it from the carryover
 
Whisky said:
My oven goes down to 170. Just curious have you held a brisket in an oven like that for ~8 hours? I'd be curious to see how that would turn out also.
Click to expand...

I held a brisket in my oven for much longer than 8 hours and it turned out fine. However, I temped my oven and that joker would constantly swing from 130 to 200. I wanted more stable temps so I bought a turkey roaster oven from Walmart for $30. That thing holds a steady temp of 153 with only a degree or two of variance over several hours.
 
It is very easy to massively underestimate how long a big piece of foil wrapped meat can keep in a warm cooler with towels.

I prewarm mine with microwave packs, take them out, towel in bottom, wrapped meat, towel on top, close the lid and keep it inside. I have no problems 4+ hours and opening it and its still almost too warm to handle.
 
KClandcruiser said:
This is a very common thing in the restaurant world. Tons of places pull their briskets at 12-2am and then hold at 140-170 until service. If you go that route, I would recommend letting your brisket get down to 140-150F before putting it into the oven so you can avoid overcooking it from the carryover
Click to expand...

Most of those places have the fancy alto sham type holding ovens. I have held for a long time in an oven at 160. It will dry it out a little as the oven is a very dry atmosphere. Might be able to get away throwing a water pan in there.
 
Jrogers84 said:
Most of those places have the fancy alto sham type holding ovens. I have held for a long time in an oven at 160. It will dry it out a little as the oven is a very dry atmosphere. Might be able to get away throwing a water pan in there.
Click to expand...

True! I was working under the assumption he would be wrapping it and putting it in the oven wrapped. A little extra moisture is never a bad thing, I'd say that's a great idea if doing a long hold!
 
KClandcruiser said:
True! I was working under the assumption he would be wrapping it and putting it in the oven wrapped. A little extra moisture is never a bad thing, I'd say that's a great idea if doing a long hold!
Click to expand...

Correct. I'd wrap in BP at the stall and place that in a foil pan to finish and catch some drippings. Then I'd like to let it cool down to 150-160... Top that all off with some tight foil and start the hold.
 
Whisky said:
Correct. I'd wrap in BP at the stall and place that in a foil pan to finish and catch some drippings. Then I'd like to let it cool down to 150-160... Top that all off with some tight foil and start the hold.
Click to expand...

I think you're on to something with that plan
 
Whisky said:
Thanks for that thread.
How do you pack the brisket for holding in a roaster oven for extended periods? I was just given a smaller one to use if i want to go that route. It won't fit a full tin pan in it, and it's not very deep. But should fit the brisket.
Click to expand...

The roaster I have is 22qt and it fits a cooked brisket fine. The meat is in a foil boat when I take it off and I'll just throw it in the roaster like that. If yours will be wrapped in BP I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be fine putting it in like that. I think on my next one I will wrap the whole boated brisket with plastic wrap. I think it was a Kosmos video where he put plastic wrap around a brisket that was already wrapped in BP for the hold.
 
I forgot to mention that my roaster came with a little rack that keeps the meat off of the bottom of the oven. I use that as well
 
Whisky said:
Before I posted I was thinking something similar to your #1 option would be the best route. I was trying to see if there was a way to avoid some sleep loss. :razz:

Hypothetically, for reheating a full brisket via SV, what time and temp you looking at?
Do they fit in 2gl Ziplocs, or what do you use? Thanks
Click to expand...

Full disclosure, I’ve never done it with a full brisket, just leftovers. I have a vacuum sealer with 11” width bags that I use and would normally fit it a full brisket. Possible I’d need to separate the point and flat. Not sure on the 2 gallon bags. I usually reheat at 150. I’d probably give it a couple hours though I don’t know if it would really need that long.
 
Brisket

Hi So what did you do with the brisket?
DanB
 
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