Hi all,
Smoked a brisket overnight and foil boated it. Once it hit 195 in the center I started to probe around, point was like butter but flat was a bit tough and still at 180. Let it ride until the flat hit 195 and was probing tender. Pulled it and let it rest on the counter about 30 minutes.
Probed it again to check temp and the flat is now probing tough! Brisket is also less jiggly than before. Is this normal? Thanks all!
by TheVulture14
28 Comments
If you let it hit room temp, that’s the issue. You need to do a hold at 150 for a while instead of a room temp rest. Foil it, wrap it in a big towel or blanket and pop it in an ice chest for a while.
Not sure what happened here. I throw mine in the oven while wrapped for about two hours and it’s always been tender.
Edit: I never wrap in foil. Only butcher paper. In my opinion, foil allows it to cook for longer OP. You want it to rest.
I think you need to let it rest a lot longer
Maybe cooled too fast and seized up.
Wrap tightly in foil. Stick in 200° oven until super duper ultra probe tender. Maybe 3 or 4 hours or more.
I don’t pull mine til 205
I don’t use foil, but butcher paper, when it’s reached the desired level of bark. Once I probe it and feel it’s done, I remove it and then open the paper up for 5-7 minutes to allow it to vent out much of the heat, theoretically stopping the cooking process. I’ll wrap it back up, then wrap with a few towels and into the cooler till we are ready to eat (usually about 3 hrs). Still warm and moist. Scientific? Not hardly, but it’s worked on many occasions for me.
I usually rest mine hot; meaning leave it wrapped, wrap it in extra beach towels, then put it in a Yeti cooler stuffed with towels, then leave it there at least 3 hours. . . Holding the heat helps it get more tender or at the very least stay tender.
people frequently make the mistake of probing the fat pocket and thinking the meat is probe tender.
I plan where im going to probe it before it goes on the grill, and stick a toothpick in the thickest part of the muscle to mark the spot
Rest was too short maybe? I’ll be honest, I’ve never once re-probed after pulling off the smoker. But you need to re wrap and rest in a cooler for a couple hours. 30m at room temp isn’t a good rest.
You probingly cooked it too long…or not long enough.
Rested too long.
see if it’s fork tender (that generally should not reverse just because it’s cooled), but regardless, you can put it in the oven at 200-225 for an hour or two if in doubt. You don’t need to rest it for resting sake, just dig in if it’s probe and/or fork tender after that gentle reheat
You overcooked. ‘Lightly’ foil for rest. Must have been a late probe. Next time you got this just prove tender earlier FIRST probe: rest
To rest, wrap it and put it in a cooler with towels.
1 hr minimum. 2 is better.
Sort of related – to have more control over each part – you can separate the muscles before you smoke. I think this helps a lot. Start the flat about an hour before the point .
I foil wrap my flat, early.
I don’t wrap my point at all. About half the time I’ll make burnt ends. No one is ever mad about burnt ends
But what was the probing temp? At 195F it should probe like butter and still be similar after a couple hour rest.
This looks fantastic. Great bark. As someone who has just done a brisket for first time (albeit a smaller one), I’m very interested in the feedback. It seems we had a similar output and a lot of the advice around resting temps and times are useful. Cheers everyone and well done OP.
EDIT: Thank you all for your comments and advice!!
I ended up tossing it in the oven at 225°F with a prob in the tough part of the flat. I let it come up to 195 and started probing, it was still tough but starting to loosen. I probed every 25 min, and at about 204 it probed like soft butter! Pulled it and rested it in the cooler for a couple hours. Sliced into it, it’s the best I’ve done yet. Moist and tender!
My guess is when I probed it on the smoker I was not getting into the meaty part of the flat, and instead was only hitting the fatty surface. Another lesson learned.
A review on the foil boat method: this will be my go to from now on. I’m on a pellet grill, always struggled with getting great bark. Used to go paper wrap, but foil boat develops a better bark while also protecting the bottom from getting too crisped up. 5/5 on foil boat.
Thanks everybody! I hope this post helps someone in the future.
https://preview.redd.it/o92mo3qltnkf1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d52f59dd821fb7618747ab970be5f0102245d4ee
First of all, this isn’t a ribeye you’re cooking. A brisket is a half day cook, so it’s going to need more than a 30 minute rest at room temp. I would argue that the rest is the most important part of the whole cook. Moreover, mine get wrapped to 203-205°F. There is a time-temperature requirement to denature collagen (lower temps require longer time; higher temps require less). So at 195 you were probably knocking on the door but didn’t hold it for long enough and all of the connective tissue bound back up as it cooled. I like to pull my brisket at 203-205 and throw it wrapped in my oven at 150 overnight. That nice long rest ensures that my cue cooks up perfectly every time.
If you haven’t done it yet, look at the picture of your brisket and shake your phone. You’ll see the brisket jiggle. Optical illusion.
Question: When brisket smokers talk about wrapping a towel around their brisket and letting it rest in a cooler, I don’t expect ice, wet or dry to be in the cooler with your brisket. It’s just a place to rest, not to chill. Inquiring minds want to know. There, I’ve asked it.
Undercooked
You took it out toooooo EARLY. Most will let got till 205. Maybe 210 if not probing. There are ppl that will do a long hold. They pull at 195. Wrap place in warming oven at 150 for a looooooooog hold like 8-13 hours
I find that doctors probe tender and aliens probe tough
“Probe tender” is so subjective. The “jiggle test” is better. If it doesn’t jiggle when you poke it, it’s not done
Probing is better than temp.
Reading some of your comments, I think a hot hold would be an easy fix. Just wrap in foil and hold in your oven as low as it’ll go for like 6 hours.
i like warping, in foil or butchers paper and throwing it in a cooler with towel for like 2 hours to let all the justices redistribute. if you let it sit uncovered on the counter maybe it cooled off to fast