# Almost total brisket disaster



## realoldnick (Mar 28, 2021)

So I sous vided a brisket. It was cut in half, across the width. I cooked at 57C for 40 hours. AFAIK this is well  inside the longest recommended time limit.

It was a horrid dry mush. You could poke al your fingers clean through it. I have never had such a sous vide failure.

WTH happened?  Recipes call for a lot more hours than this. But this, as I say, was mush. I have cooked literally hundreds of meat sous vides of types and times (from 2 hour T-Bones to 72 hour beef ribs) and I am baffled.

In the end, being tight and a never give up kind of fool, I mixed it with its juices, along with the reduced juices from a Red Kidney Bean cook, really , REALLY blended. It is actually quite nice to eat and tastes of the beef and the spices I used. The graininess has been blended out of it and it's nice an creamy. It's sort of like, as my wife rather amusingly and perceptively described it, a sort of thin beef pate. Whatever, it will be used as a soup or sauce...Perhaps on Red Kidney Beans?

Any advice appreciated.

Nick


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## dirtsailor2003 (Mar 28, 2021)

I have found that shorter cook times and higher temps work better for cuts like brisket. 10-12 hours @ 180°f is what I do.


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## realoldnick (Mar 29, 2021)

Thanks for the reply. Ok. Yeah. Interesting. I have just started experimenting with just that! Just not enough to start getting  reliable results. 

Wow! 180F. What result does that give. Trad pulled meat? I was creeping up in temperature and down in time. I was still at about 62c max.

I am really after a different texture from the trad stuff, being lower and more like a steak. But yeah I am willing to try hoter cooks if there is a result.

And hey! If we want sous vide do give us a different experience, highly controlled, then we should not just stick with a _new_ old result!

I just don't get why times and temps that have worked before have failed.

I did freeze the brisket and thaw in the bath rather than in the 2C fridge :(. It may well serve me right

Nick


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## Haggar (Apr 12, 2021)

That's an expensive cut of meat to be experimenting with.


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## Bearcarver (Apr 12, 2021)

Strange!!
Temp ---I use 131/132° for most Beef, but Brisket may be better up around 160°.
Time was fine---I use 30 to 48 hours for cuts that tend to be tough, like Brisket, Eye Round, and Chuck Roast.

So if I was going to make a change, it would be the Temp.

Bear


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## rbnice1 (Apr 19, 2021)

The only time I tried brisket in my sousvide it was very very dried out.  Not sure why.  Might have just be a really bad piece of meat.  I tend to do briskets, pork butts/pork ribs on my smoker only.  Then do hybrid smoke/sous vide on prime rib/eye rounds.  And sous vide with reverse sear on steaks.


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## realoldnick (Jun 15, 2021)

Bearcarver said:


> Strange!!
> Temp ---I use 131/132° for most Beef, but Brisket may be better up around 160°.
> Time was fine---I use 30 to 48 hours for cuts that tend to be tough, like Brisket, Eye Round, and Chuck Roast.
> 
> ...


Sorry. I did not realise I had new replies.

If I went as hot as 71 C I would cook MUCH shorter, because the de-juicing would be even greater.

I just did some more 2KG-ish bits at 62C for 24 hours and it is just on the edge. 

I wonder if the brisket I am getting is no good. Or maybe by cutting it up I am increasing the loss of juice with more area exposed. Are all these replies talking about whole brisket, or chunks?

I watch Sous vide everything and see Guga cooking brisket at 65C for 24 hours. When cuts it, the juices are _pouring out of it.


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## realoldnick (Jun 15, 2021)

rbnice1 said:


> The only time I tried brisket in my sousvide it was very very dried out.  Not sure why.  Might have just be a really bad piece of meat.  I tend to do briskets, pork butts/pork ribs on my smoker only.  Then do hybrid smoke/sous vide on prime rib/eye rounds.  And sous vide with reverse sear on steaks.


Hmmm...as I said in my other latest post, Sous Vide Everything does brisket for a lot hotter and longer than I have done and they gush juices. And yet he pours out a heap from the bag. @


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## Bearcarver (Jun 15, 2021)

realoldnick said:


> Sorry. I did not realise I had new replies.
> 
> If I went as hot as 71 C I would cook MUCH shorter, because the de-juicing would be even greater.
> 
> ...




Hmmm, Wondering if those guys on "SV Everything" are using "Prime" Meats???

Bear


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## rbnice1 (Jun 16, 2021)

SV everything use all different types and they ussually say what they are ussing.  That said they tend to use almost always prime or wagu.


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## dsc106 (Jul 31, 2021)

Nick, any chance you had the flat (lean) part of the brisket only? Kenji says you need to have the flat and point, otherwise the absence of fat will cause it to dry out.

Have you ever retried Brisket at same time and temp?

Next question - any chance you had a bag leak? You pulled straight from frozen you said. Did you protect the vac sealed bag? Ice crystals can cut the bag and it's possible the meat was exposed to the SV bath water?

I am looking at trying SV Brisket and finishing with a smoke in the future so I'd love to learn more about your method and experience here.


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## dr k (Jul 31, 2021)

Baldwin mentioned:

While the famed French Laundry is said to cook their brisket in a 147°F (64°C) water bath for 48 hours, I prefer to cook brisket at 176°F (80°C) for 24–36 hours. Alternatively, some like to cook brisket at 135°F (57°C) for 36–48 hours.


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## sandyut (Aug 3, 2021)

not to be contrary - not sure I would SV a brisket, I would just smoke it.  SV roasts for me are usually EOR and super leave cuts for the long SV and steaks for 2 hours.


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## EJHOFFY62 (Jun 27, 2022)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> I have found that shorter cook times and higher temps work better for cuts like brisket. 10-12 hours @ 180°f is what I do.


I know this is an old post, do you still SV your briskets that way ? Do you smoke them at all ?


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