Can the wisdom of the Food & Spirits Board help me out?

I would like to smoke a Brisket and a Pork Butt this weekend in advance of a river trip next weekend. Smoking could begin any time this weekend, and I have a vacuum sealer to keep the food preserved. Plan is to eat it for dinner Friday night.

First off - is that a dumb idea? Should I freeze the meat after its cooked or is refrigeration OK? I have bought a precooked brisket and a bunch of other BBQ from Terry Blacks and reheated it in a Sous Vide cooler to great effect, but I imagine the brisket was smoked only a day or two before we ate it. Any thoughts? I could conceivably do it during the week thanks to my WiFi connected temp controller, but that seems more stressful not being there.

Second - There are so many brisket methods, I am a bit lost on that. I have smoked pork shoulders and ribs multiple times but never a brisket before. Am I dumb for attempting so for the first time in a group setting (20 people headed to the river)? What technique should I use? I was thinking just a standard rub, fat side up, wrap in burtcher paper at the stall, pull it at 195-200, but I am seeing a lot of talk about a long, low hold (like the 4 2 10 method or the Goldees method) that might make planning easier. Pork is pretty simple, smoke it for 8-10 hours then let it rest and vacuum seal - not too worried about that.

I have a Kamado Joe XL, so I think I have room for both. I also have the Thermoworks PID control fan, so I feel pretty confident in having excellent temperature control.

Having trouble wrapping my mind around all the variables so I can write a plan for myself. Any advice is appreciated.

NColoradoAG said:

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I assume you can take your sous vide rig on the trip? If so, cook it all this weekend and freeze it whole. Reheat at 150 in your rig for a couple hours next weekend and then pull the pork and slice the brisket.

Don't overthink the brisket. Wet with some pickle juice, rub with salt and pepper. I cook fat side down on my Egg, point towards the back of the cooker. Wrapping in butcher paper is up to you. When the bark looks right, wrap it if you want to. Don't cook to temp. Cook to feel. Probe should go into the flat with little resistance. That's anywhere from 195-208 in my experience. Plan on 90 minutes a pound but give yourself a cushion. You are right, brisket will always be better with an extended rest. But since you aren't serving it right away I would just vacuum seal it and freeze once it's cool enough to handle. That's what I've done in the past when I pre cook briskets. And don't stress too much. The reheating process in the water bath will practically assure the brisket is tender (again, my experience using that method at least half a dozen times)

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Thanks for the advice. It is a Green-Egg style cooker (Kamado is the generic term for that I think), so there's not really a "hot side" if I distribute the charcoal properly. Does that change the fat side advice?

GarlandAg2012 said:

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NColoradoAG said:

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I assume you can take your sous vide rig on the trip? If so, cook it all this weekend and freeze it whole. Reheat at 150 in your rig for a couple hours next weekend and then pull the pork and slice the brisket.

Don't overthink the brisket. Wet with some pickle juice, rub with salt and pepper. I cook fat side down on my Egg, point towards the back of the cooker. Wrapping in butcher paper is up to you. When the bark looks right, wrap it if you want to. Don't cook to temp. Cook to feel. Probe should go into the flat with little resistance. That's anywhere from 195-208 in my experience. Plan on 90 minutes a pound but give yourself a cushion. You are right, brisket will always be better with an extended rest. But since you aren't serving it right away I would just vacuum seal it and freeze once it's cool enough to handle. That's what I've done in the past when I pre cook briskets. And don't stress too much. The reheating process in the water bath will practically assure the brisket is tender (again, my experience using that method at least half a dozen times)

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Thanks for the advice. It is a Green-Egg style cooker (Kamado is the generic term for that I think), so there's not really a "hot side" if I distribute the charcoal properly. Does that change the fat side advice?

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I like fat side down just for some insulation from the fire. I've never cooked on a Joe, but my egg is always noticeably hotter at the back of the grate vs the front which is why I orient the point at the back of the cooker.

i smoked a brisket, cut it into two pieces so it'd fit in the vaccuum sealer bags I have, sealed it, froze it, then drove it to wisconsin in a yeti. a week later, reheated via sous vide. it was just fine. obviously would have have been better eating immediately after smoking, but it still tasted great and didn't really dry out.

GarlandAg2012 said:

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Welp, go big or go home. 20.09 lb american Wagyu brisket from Costco. Lost 3.8 lbs in the trim. Seasoned with Meat Church Holy Cow + Holy Grail. Resting in the fridge now and planning to get it on the pit at about 11 pm or Midnight.

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Nice. Wagyu will cook fast and give you a lot of wiggle room. Plus it'll go a long way with a crowd since it's so rich.

Holy Cow and Holy Gospel, and thats exactly what I use also. Many a Snake River Farms Wagyu briskets from HEB cooked and I've yet to have one that wasn't very good to excellent. You are gonna be very happy with what you are about to smoke. Let us know how it turns out.

smstork1007 said:

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Holy Cow and Holy Gospel, and thats exactly what I use also. Many a Snake River Farms Wagyu briskets from HEB cooked and I've yet to have one that wasn't very good to excellent. You are gonna be very happy with what you are about to smoke. Let us know how it turns out.

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That's encouraging! Will do!

Well those posted in a dumb order but you get the idea.

Built my fire a little too big and i have the temp running away a bit. Added a couple cups of water to my drip pan and brought it down but feeling a little worried now. I have had issues before with getting too hot when I use lump charcoal instead of briquet. We'll see!

Temp is under control, but now i might hit the stall quite a bit earlier than expected. Lowered the set temp to 250 but we'll see

Not optimistic on the brisket. I think the overshoot on temp caused something weird to happen. The stall was only about 4.5 hours and its already at 182 only 10 hours into the smoke. I think its gonna be dry. Pretty disappointed so far, and getting only 3 hours of sleep isn't helping.

GarlandAg2012 said:

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Not optimistic on the brisket. I think the overshoot on temp caused something weird to happen. The stall was only about 4.5 hours and its already at 182 only 10 hours into the smoke. I think its gonna be dry. Pretty disappointed so far, and getting only 3 hours of sleep isn't helping.

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Wagyu brisket is incredibly forgiving and hard to dry out. Smoking is not my strength when it comes to cooking and I did a wagyu brisket on my egg that turned out amazing.

Bruce Almighty said:

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GarlandAg2012 said:

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Not optimistic on the brisket. I think the overshoot on temp caused something weird to happen. The stall was only about 4.5 hours and its already at 182 only 10 hours into the smoke. I think its gonna be dry. Pretty disappointed so far, and getting only 3 hours of sleep isn't helping.

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Wagyu brisket is incredibly forgiving and hard to dry out. Smoking is not my strength when it comes to cooking and I did a wagyu brisket on my egg that turned out amazing.

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That is encouraging. Just did my first probe test at 195. Initially it slides in but as i go a bit deeper i still feel some "grab". Gonna test again at 205. I just didnt expect over 16 lbs of brisket to be done anywhere near this early, it's only been 11 hours!

They do cook quicker, every time in my experience. I'd test again around 200-202, but as said above, with all the intramuscular fat, they are much more forgiving, it won't be dry.

Just checked it at 202 and the texture is definitely better. "Room temperature butter" is simultaneously a great standard and a very frustrating metric ro try to make a decision based on.

Sidenote: my ac went out this morning but i just replaced a capacitor and it's working again so i am already feeling like I got a W today.

Pulled it at 206. Feel fairly optimistic. Thanks for all the advice!

GarlandAg2012 said:

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Pulled it at 206. Feel fairly optimistic. Thanks for all the advice!

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Looks solid! Wagyu cooks fast

Bumping my old thread because I forgot what I did last time and it apparently turned out great. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat it as I had a death in the family and wasn't able to attend, but I did drop the brisket off with my friends who were still going on the float.

Picked up a 17 lb Prime brisket from Costco today and planning to smoke it for my nephews birthday party on Saturday. Using this thread as a guide for myself to do it again this weekend, just will have to start earlier so I can be finished around 11-noon.

We ride