Two-stage brisket?

[Ka Honu]

A friend asked me a question the other day and I couldn't come up with a definitive answer.  He wanted to know if he could either hot- or cold-smoke a packer for 4-5 hours and then refrigerate it for a day or so before finishing it in the oven.  I didn't immediately have a reason to say you can't but never really considered it before so I told to let me think about it for a day or so.

After consulting a few "subject matter experts," I decided I might as well try it myself and see how it works...

Injected a trimmed packer with my secret brisket sauce and treated it with my super secret reptilian brisket rub.  Put it in the Bradley on mesquite for 4 hours on Sunday afternoon...



Note the use of the (patent pending) "Pachanga Hump^*."  Now foiled in the fridge to be finished (in the oven) on Monday or Tuesday.



^*A solution developed by an experenced "brisket guy" on another forum for when your brisket is too large for the smoker tray - just "hump it" in the middle and it will flatten out as it cooks/shrinks.

[Rummm]

Looking forward to the end result........

[Sam3]

That's very interesting. Watching this one.

[smokeasaurus]

That's very interesting. Watching this one.

X2

[sliding_billy]

No reason to think that par cooking a brisket wouldn't work.  This method isn't much different than what a lot of BBQ joints do for their mail order product with heating instructions.  I think the key will be finding out how long you can do the par for and still get it to start breaking down during stage two (wonder what the stall will look like).  I would probably par cook it to around 135 or so, but that is purely a guess as I would want it to continue actually cooking for a little bit at the beginning of the reheat and not go straight to the stall.

As for the cold smoke technique, I see no issues at all there except for how long it might take to actually impart the smoke flavor.

[Pappymn]

I think the Turtle was a spy in another life......lot of secrets going on here

[Ka Honu]

I didn't even know there was a term (par cooking) for what I'm doing.  Had to look that one up - thanks, billy.

Anyway, I opted for hot smoke rather than cold just in case the danger zone thing was in the area.  I didn't check the IT when I pulled it from the smoker.  I didn't think it would matter that much because the natural "break" in the process to me is immediately after the smoke is applied (4 hours with mesquite, maybe 5 with lighter woods).  If I were going to let it go longer in "stage 1" I would share billy's concern about how much longer.

Overnighted in the fridge and into the oven racked over a pan of liquid (my ultra-secret recipe) this morning.  We shall see what we shall see.

[Ka Honu]

After eight hours in a 250^o oven to 185^o IT. Looks good so far (For you unbelievers, note that the hump flattened out just like mi  consejero y amigo sabio said it would).



Time for a couple of hours FTC before final evaluation. 

I'm liking the flexibility of the "par cook" - I can break the cook up into parts that fit my schedule without having to do an all-nighter.  It also gave me some added flexibility - while the brisket was in the oven, I had cheese running on the smoker (about 15 pounds of XS Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Swiss, Gouda, and Havarti). 



If the money shot and taste test work out, this may be a method worth adopting on a regular basis.  I'll be back with a final report in a few hours.

[Ka Honu]

Alrighty - we're done here.



Will slice part of the flat for dinner and then store the rest until I decide whether to separate the point for chili or burnt ends or keep it for slicing with the underlying flat portion.



Verdict:  Tasty, tender, almost (but not quite) a tiny bit dry but there's a whole bowl of defatted drippings to remedy that.

I'd do it again.

[Smokin Don]

Nice experiment!!! I may have to keep this in mind. With my smoker on a wooden deck with cover I don't like to do overnight cooks for safety, I like to keep an eye on mine. Not sure if it would work for me since 170 deg. is about as low as I can smoke. Don

[sliding_billy]

Nice work, and way to go being willing to experiment.

[RAD]

Great post. I was wondering if you would get that next day taste from the beef. But it appears it looks and taste as if it was right off the smoker.

[muebe]

Looks great Turtle!

[Sam3]

Great tutorial. I would like to give this a try myself someday.

[Ka Honu]

... I don't like to do overnight cooks ... Not sure if it would work for me since 170 deg. is about as low as I can smoke.

I'm with you on the overnight smokes - probably the main reason I'm glad this worked so well.  Don't understand the 170^o comment - I hot smoked at about 200-225^o as usual and did the rest of the cook in a 250^o oven.

OBTW, after I took the photos, SWMBO reminded me we had some caramelized onions in the freezer.  Added to the drippings they made an excellent sauce for the sliced brisket.