Brisket Holding Time Question!

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gaffney982

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jun 26, 2014
45
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So I put a 10# brisket on the smoker around 6:30am this morning and it finally hit the stall around 2pm. I did wrap it with some beef broth and it's 3:06pm and at 165. I was planning on pulling it off the smoker at 200-205 (recommendations what temp I should pull to slice brisket and why?) and throwing it in a cooler to let it rest. Is there a minimum time that the brisket has to sit in the cooler before I should attempt to cut it up? My only reason for asking is that I have guests coming over at 5pm and we're planning on eating around 6:30pm so I didn't want to hold up dinner too long, nor do I want to cut into the brisket too early! Help please and Happy 4th of July to everyone here on SMF!
 
Hey Gaffney you picked a great day to cook a brisket!  200 or so should be a good temp to pull at, the last one I did I kept cooking it till it was 205 and it seemed a little over cooked.  (general accepted range is 190 to 205) Resting does help the brisket be tender, try for an hour or two if you can.
 
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200-205*F I/T is way too hot for slicing (with most brisket)...it will likely be pull-able, fall apart tender. It's a good idea to poke around a bit for tenderness in the 180-185* range...keep it cooking until it feels tender, then insulate to rest. Most brisket should be tender by 190*, but I've had a few I've taken to around 195*...just stubborn ones you run into on occasion. You can rest for an hour, or up to 4-6 hours, if it will stay hot enough for that long...longer rests are actually better for a tender and moist meat. By saying hot enough, I mean at least 140* I/T when you unwrap to partake of your efforts. For longer rests, if needed for timing on when you will dine, you could preheat the bath towels in the dryer, then use those to wrap the brisket while both are still hot and toss into a cooler for resting. The more mass of hot towels for insulation the longer you can rest the meat. Resting redistributes the juices throughout the meat for a moister slice or pull by slowly allowing the meat to cool down...that's why longer is better, to a point...it can rest so long and so hot that the meat gets overly tender, in extreme cases.

Don't sweat the resting though, if it only comes out of the smoker an hour before meal time, it will still be good eats.

Eric
 
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