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Smoked/Sous Vide Brisket

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Dread Pirate Roberts

Knows what a fatty is.
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First off, last few times I've been to Costco, they haven't had Prime packers, only Choice, and they are on the small size - not much over 10 lbs. and a small point. Has anyone else noticed that?

Anyway, I cut mine in half lengthwise, sealed and froze the other half. Rub is SPG + Lawry's. Put it in the 980 Gravity for about 5-6 hours to get smoke and bark setup, then put it in the Anova Precision Oven at 155, 100% humidity. I'll check it in 12 hours or so when I get up in the morning.

Here is it before going in the oven:
IMG_0712.jpg

I thought about this when I did the extended hold a few weeks ago. It's basically the same temp, I was just using less humidity. So I figure why not cook to wrap temp and see what it's like to finish up this way. I'm thinking I can crank up the temp to firm the bark up, or take the temp and humidity down and just hold until lunch time. We will see how this turns out!
 
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I'm a big fan of lengthwise briskets. Looking forward to the sous vide results. You might need more than 12 hours, but I could be wrong. I've done sous vide pastrami for 48 hours but not a fresh brisket.
 
thirdeye said:
I'm a big fan of lengthwise briskets. Looking forward to the sous vide results. You might need more than 12 hours, but I could be wrong. I've done sous vide pastrami for 48 hours but not a fresh brisket.
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Most of the sites I've seen that Sous Vide brisket will say 24-36 hours at 155. But this one was already smoked for almost 6 hours up to 160 or so before it went in, so it has that head start going for it, but if it needs more it's actually better since 12 hours is 6am tomorrow morning.

With brisket as expensive as it is right now - this one was $4.59/lb. for Choice - I didn't want to waste it all if this doesn't turn out, and I'm the only one at home right now that would eat it. I see that's how people like Harry Soo are doing comparison cooks these days - a single brisket halved vs. 2 briskets.
 
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You are going to have some A. Franklin type brisket.Yeah, thats going to come out amazing. Btw, 12 hours holding is more then enough if its already above 155F. I personally would go 175F in that anova precision oven at 100% humidity.

I am personally waiting for a larger version. If it can fit a 20lb Turkey im sold.
 
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SmokeRingsMatter said:
You are going to have some A. Franklin type brisket.Yeah, thats going to come out amazing. Btw, 12 hours holding is more then enough if its already above 155F. I personally would go 175F in that anova precision oven at 100% humidity.

I am personally waiting for a larger version. If it can fit a 20lb Turkey im sold.
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To be clear, this isn't a hold, but a cook. I pulled it off the smoker at 160, so it wasn't finished yet. Yeah, they say a 10 pounder is about as big as you can fit in there.

Happy Hapgood said:
Really like your approach Roberts! Like you said, with the price of Brisket!
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We will find out! I decided to just let it ride this morning. Actually, I just slept in :razz:.

One thing I've noticed is that in the Oven there is much less liquid vs. immersion cooking. Something in a bag this long would have a ton of liquid in the bag, but the bottom of the pan in the oven isn't even completely covered. That may be due to spending 6 hours in the smoker first, though.

I did cut a piece off the end of the flat just now, and it was pretty damn tasty. So I'm going to pull it out for lunch in a few hours and update with final pictures.
 
I pulled it out after around 22 hours, because it was getting past dinner time last night. Point was really good and moist. Flat was tender and tasted good, but was dry. It wasn't crumbly, so that tells me it was undercooked. I would say you need the full recommended time (24-36 hours) at 155 regardless of smoke time.
 
Just out of curiosity, why did you choose that order?

I’ve never tried to do the smoke/SV combo with anything but a tri-tip, but here’s what I did for that:

Dry brined over night
Sous Vide for 5 hours at 130
Threw it in the freezer for a couple of hours
Smoked it at f175 until internal temp of 110
Thin coat of mayo with more rub, then on a scorching hot gasser for a few minutes to sear it/set the bark.

Tri-tip is always good, but it was like a beef tenderloin.

I think I would do a brisket the same way, and here’s my reasoning:

1. Sous vide of the meat will tenderize it, but you’re not cooking hot enough to really render the fat and break down the collagen - and that should happen at the end of the cook for best results.

2. Getting the brisket cold gives you a smoke advantage….should still get great smoke flavor this way

3. Now you still need to get hot enough to render the fat and break down the collagen….I’m sure someone here can explain when that would happen, if different, due to the sous vide cook.

Am I screwed up in thinking this way would really work? It makes great tri-tip (which is obviously much easier than brisket, but it’s a data point).
 
Dr. Trout Bum said:
Just out of curiosity, why did you choose that order?

I’ve never tried to do the smoke/SV combo with anything but a tri-tip, but here’s what I did for that:

Dry brined over night
Sous Vide for 5 hours at 130
Threw it in the freezer for a couple of hours
Smoked it at f175 until internal temp of 110
Thin coat of mayo with more rub, then on a scorching hot gasser for a few minutes to sear it/set the bark.

Tri-tip is always good, but it was like a beef tenderloin.

I think I would do a brisket the same way, and here’s my reasoning:

1. Sous vide of the meat will tenderize it, but you’re not cooking hot enough to really render the fat and break down the collagen - and that should happen at the end of the cook for best results.

2. Getting the brisket cold gives you a smoke advantage….should still get great smoke flavor this way

3. Now you still need to get hot enough to render the fat and break down the collagen….I’m sure someone here can explain when that would happen, if different, due to the sous vide cook.

Am I screwed up in thinking this way would really work? It makes great tri-tip (which is obviously much easier than brisket, but it’s a data point).
Click to expand...

I smoke before sous vide because from everything I've read raw meat absorbs smoke much much better than cooked meat.

I've been reading a lot about rendering and collagen temps. Most SV recipes for brisket specify 155. It will render at that temp, it just takes a long time. 160+ is where it's supposed to start accelerating. I think I just didn't leave it in long enough this time.

I think for the other half of this brisket I'm going to put it in the oven at 212 and 100%. So finish up like low and slow. The advantage to SV should be that there shouldn't be much if any of a stall, because there's no evaporative cooling at 100% relative humidity, so the cook time should be greatly reduced.
 
Dread Pirate Roberts said:
I smoke before sous vide because from everything I've read raw meat absorbs smoke much much better than cooked meat.

I've been reading a lot about rendering and collagen temps. Most SV recipes for brisket specify 155. It will render at that temp, it just takes a long time. 160+ is where it's supposed to start accelerating. I think I just didn't leave it in long enough this time.

I think for the other half of this brisket I'm going to put it in the oven at 212 and 100%. So finish up like low and slow. The advantage to SV should be that there shouldn't be much if any of a stall, because there's no evaporative cooling at 100% relative humidity, so the cook time should be greatly reduced.
Click to expand...


Thank you…interesting info. I’ve read things all over the map about smoke absorption. My only point of reference is the tri-tip I’ve done. After the SV, I threw it in the freezer. It was “slightly” frozen when I pulled it out and put it on the smoker. I was actually surprised to see a pretty decent smoke ring and it had very smoky flavor, especially for a pellet smoker, contrary to the brisket I did this week…~ 14 hours of low and slow and almost no smoke ring….go figure.
 
It would be good to have a Sous Vide section in the forum. Just got my SV but have yet to cook anything due to confusion relating SV and smoking times, temps and procedures.
 
Just dropped two tri-tips in the water, after 18 hours of dry brine in Oakridge Santa Maria rub (I have always used Black Ops for my tri-tips, so this is a first). Will go 5 hours SV at 130F, then an hour in the freezer then on my vertical Pit Boss on the smoke setting until internal temp is about 110F. Then I will re-apply some Santa Maria and on the gasser to sear.

Fingers crossed.
 
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