Fell asleep while doing an overnight brisket cook and the pellets ran out. I know it got to 140F, but I have no way of knowing when the pellets ran out.
I probably can't serve it to other people, but I'm willing to take the risk myself, just don't know the best way salvage this.
by Own-Town550
24 Comments
What I would do is chop it up, quick hot sear, and then simmer in some beans or something like a stew for a few hours until it breaks down. It might have a smoky taste from what you’ve done too
Sorry for your loss, I’ve had this before. Once with beef ribs, that one stung.
Officially you should toss this. Botulism is no joke and can kill you.
Unofficially I ate the hell out of them and was fine. I used some for chilli, some in beans and a bunch for breakfast hash. It was a risk but I didn’t give any to other people so was happy to roll the dice.
I got them back on the smoker, finished the cook then vac bagged and froze them until I needed
Cut it in half and throw it in a slow cooker. Then when it’s soft enough give it a sear on the grill to get some of the bark back. Worst case you chop it up and make a pot of chilli with it.
Grind it. Add mayonnaise, relish, mustard and create a sandwich spread out of it?
Lots of options. Throw it in a crockpot with the spices of your choice. It can be used for bbq sandwhiches. I prefer mexican spices and green chilis. Then you can do enchiladas, tacos, nachos, quesqdillas, etc. And of course chili as others have mentioned.
Chili. Make some epic chili.
In addition to the chili suggestions, I’d consider doing birria meat.
Can make tacos, do birria ramen, etc.
The best use for failed brisket is to turn it into chili or turn it into meat sauce for pasta. Both can be frozen for later too.
That said if you have no idea how long it was at 140° or below you might want to throw it out. Anything past 2 hours is a tiny risk. Anything past 4 hours is a much bigger risk
I love brisket for birria, even if it’s normally goat.
But anything you braise for a while will be good.
Brisket pot pie
As mentioned before…more time with heat (stew etc).
My intentions use:
Sometimes I’ll smoke a smaller portion for 1-2 hours and then chop it up to make a Smokey Udon Soup (or Ramen). I’m sure it’s not “correct” but it is super tasty 🤤
Loving all these ideas!! Makes me want to run out of pellets overnight next cook. Or maybe still do a good cook and put these ideas to work!
Put it in a convection oven wrapped in foil. Set oven to 195°. Flip every hour
Cook it again
Make a stew lol
I had that happen before
Chillli
Chop up toss in a chili? Or spaghetti?
How cold was it outside? If pellets ran out and it was 30 degrees outside, your grill turned into a refrigerator pretty quick.
Brisket hash
You have no way of knowing how long that meat was in the danger zone of 41-135f if there’s any chance longer than four hours THROW IT AWAY. Heating past 165 will not kill all pathogens. You could kill yourself. It’s not worth it. You might be fine. Or on the other hand, again, dead
Chef Mikey
When my smoker died an unceremonious death it left me with a not quite cooked side of sirloin.
I cut it up into 1.5″ thick steak sized pieces and after rubbing with some olive oil and some Blanco seasoning I cooked them over charcoal. It actually turned out fairly well and I’ve cooked a few things like that on purpose now (first an hour or two at low temp in the smoker, then high temp finish. Mostly beef although I did do some pork loin this way too).
chop it up and put it in chilli
A failed brisket always makes a delicious chili