Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to the perfect brisket. Learning when to slice a brisket is an art by itself. This art emerges from the knowledge of how to cool a brisket.
Anxious cooks crank up the heat too high in the smoker, keep checking on the contents by opening and closing the smoker’s lid or take out the meat off the fire too quickly. These actions shatter the chances of good smoked meat, but the most disappointing mistake to witness when someone carves into the meat too early.
The smoker & grill and the meat being cooked need a lot of attention, but the most important thing is how you serve the brisket at the right temperature after it is done. You wouldn’t want all your hard work to go in vain, would you?
Novice smokers end up ruining their efforts by not allowing the brisket to rest. Expert chefs agree that not allowing the brisket to cool is the worst mistake you can make, especially because there is no way to undo the damage.
If you are into smoking meats, it is indispensable to learn what it means to cool them. While certain meats can recover from not being cooled, bulky cuts like briskets cannot, and they may turn dud.
What Does It Mean by Resting and How to Cool a Brisket?
Resting a brisket or any kind of meat is a simple but essential element of cooking it. Simply put, it means letting the meat sit for a while before you can slice it. Cutting into a brisket too soon will ruin the meal you have toiled to prepare and managed to smoke perfectly.
Once you take the brisket out of the oven or the smoker, you will need to let it cool down at room temperature. An hour of resting will suffice if you are planning to eat it immediately. If you are going to put off eating later, then the brisket needs to rest for at least 2 hours.
To ensure that you don’t lose the flavor and get the best out of your smoked brisket, you will need to cool it for at least 45 minutes. If you are worried about lost heat, you will be relieved to know that the internal temperature remains at a level suitable to serve the brisket to your family or guests.
But there is also something called too much cooling. Cooling a brisket for more than 2 hours will cause the internal temperature to dip too low, making the meat dry and bland.
There is a proper way to cool a brisket. If you wish to retain its internal temperature while it is cooling off, you must keep it covered loosely with foil to allow air circulation. The level of foil covering depends on when you want to serve the brisket. Wrap the brisket a bit tight to retain its heat if you intend to serve it after several hours.
Why is Resting a Brisket Important?
Doesn’t most meat taste best when served piping hot? Why is resting the brisket so important? We will elucidate.
You must remember that apart from proteins, vitamins, fats and minerals, meat contains tons of water. “The Science of Good Cooking” says that raw beef has about 75% water. Once cooked, muscle fibers in the meat begin to contract and compress, squeezing out the water.
In her book, CookWise, Shirley O Corriher talks about how meat proteins do not shrink much upto 120°F, but more than that, the proteins become one-half their original length. This quality causes the moisture to seep through the spaces between the meat fibers. For most meats, most of the moisture gets completely squeezed out by the time they touch 170°F rendering them dry and hard.
This moisture loss can be partially reversed when the brisket is allowed to rest. As the meat relaxes, the lost moisture is regained and reabsorbed by the meat proteins. A well-rested brisket can better hold on to its natural juices and these juices don’t flow out when you slice into them.
Any meat lover will agree that moist meat is tender meat. Who wouldn’t want to serve (and eat) a brisket that is moist, soft and succulent rather than dry and tough?
America’s Test Kitchen performed a little experiment to determine the moisture loss in pork when cooked at 400°F at an internal temperature of 140°F. Here is what they found:
| Resting Time | Tablespoons of Liquid lost |
|---|---|
| 0 minutes | 10 |
| 10 minutes | 4 |
| 20 minutes | 2.5 |
| 30 minutes | 1 |
| 40 minutes | 2.5 |
Reference: virtualweberbullet.com
How Long Should Briskets and Other Meats Rest?
Most cookbooks and recipes will instruct you on the resting time, so just follow the chef’s advice. If no information is available, given below are some tips about resting times:
- Briskets barbecued at 225 to 250°F or finished in an oven at 300°F must rest between 2 to 4 hours. The rise in internal temperature will be between 5 to 15°F, which is ideal for serving.
- Thin cuts of meats such as chicken, ribs, fish, and chops need not rest for long after cooking as they don’t have enough mass to retain residual heat.
- Chicken pieces, small roasts, and thin steaks need to rest only between 5 to 10 minutes between the grill and the plate.
- Whole turkeys need to rest at least for 20 to 30 minutes after being barbecued or roasted.
- Prime ribs roasted must rest for at least 15 to 30 minutes.
Tips for Selecting a Brisket
Choosing the best beef is the first step to cooking a smoky and tender beef brisket. The lower breast area of the cattle make up the muscles of the brisket. The beef is graded depending upon the amount of fat marbling and age of the animal. The higher the grade, the more the marbling. Greater marbling means more fat that makes the meat juicy, tender, and flavorful.
That said, the flat and leaner portion on the brisket looks more desirable than the fatter point cut and is easier to slice.
The commonly available grades from lower to higher are USDA Select, USDA Choice, USDA Prime, and Wagyu. Grades Choice and above will guarantee tender meat if you cook it right.
Typically, you will need ½ pound of uncooked brisket to serve one person, and a five pounder can feed about10 people. But it’s not a bad idea to add a pound or two more for an unexpected guest. Brisket leftovers freeze exceptionally well, so there is no need to worry about cooking too much brisket.
Best Way to Store a Brisket
Once the brisket is prepared and pieces are ready to be removed with a fork, it must be cooled down quickly to keep it fresh. According to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection guidelines, all cooked food must be packaged and refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking. You can cut a big brisket into sections for quick cooling, and each piece can be covered with foil and stored in the refrigerator right away.
The brisket can be first wrapped in a plastic wrap for best packaging and then put into airtight plastic containers or heavy duty freezer bags. The optimal temperature setting of the refrigerator must be 40°F or lower.
Mistakes Made while Cooking a Brisket
A brisket is an expensive venture, and you can’t afford to go wrong with it. But there are many times when the brisket turns chewy and drier than one had hoped for. It’s all about paying attention to details and avoiding common mistakes like:
Picking the wrong brisket
For best results, pick a brisket with good marbling . If you go for a Select grade brisket, it may not hold up well till the end of the cooking process and end up dry.
Some people accidentally bring corned beef home instead of fresh brisket as they look very similar. While corned beef is ideal for smoking and serving, it is not well-suited for barbecue.
Choosing the wrong cut
Some cuts of briskets are better suited for specific cooking than others. You must carefully choose the flat cut or the point cut depending upon the amount of fat and marbling you are looking for. If you buy the flat cut for smoking a brisket, it may turn out less rich and juicier. while a point cut for making corned beef may give unsatisfying results.
Skipping the Searing step
The first step in preparing any braised dish is searing the meat to add color and flavor to the dish. Picking up and searing a 5-pound brisket is not an easy task, and some may consider skipping it. But browning a brisket for at least 10 minutes on each side is vital to add character and flavor to the meat.
Not cooking long enough
Cooking a brisket in a 225 – 275 F smoker can take more than an hour for a pound. You must plan 5 to 6 hours to cook a 5-pound brisket and is not the best choice for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
FAQ’s
1. How long can you hold a brisket in a cooler?
A brisket can safely rest in a cooler foil-wrapped for up to 4 hours. The longer the better, not less than 2 hours and preferably more than 3 hours.
2. How long to cook brisket in an oven at 275?
A general rule of thumb for time for cooking brisket is 30 or 60 minutes per pound. For instance, a 16-pound brisket at 275 will take 10 to 12 hours to cook.
3. How long to let pork tenderloin rest?
After cooking pork tenderloin between 145 to 160 degrees, it can be rested for 5 minutes before slicing to get juicy meat.
4. How long to rest brisket?
A brisket must rest for a minimum of 30-45 minutes and a maximum of 4 hours before slicing or refrigerator.
5. How to rest a brisket without a cooler?
If you don’t have a cooler, you can rest the brisket in an oven wrapped in foil tightly. This will keep it warm and moist for a few hours.
6. How to tell when a brisket is done?
You can test whether a brisket is done through a probe test. Poke a knife into the meat and if you get no resistance, it means it is done.
7. What temp to wrap a brisket?
When the brisket reaches around 160 degrees and shows deep brown color, it is the right time to wrap the brisket. You can wrap the meat tightly in a foil.
8. What temp is brisket done?
The test for the readiness of a brisket is 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Any temperature more than this will overheat the brisket.
9. Why is my brisket tough and dry?
If a brisket is tough and dry, it would have been cooked quickly not allowing the connecting tissues to breakdown or not rest before being cut.
10. How do you keep brisket moist?
Wrap unsliced briskets in foil and put them in an ice cooler laid with towels or keep a water pan in the smoker with the briskets to keep it moist.
11. How many hours per pound do you need to cook a brisket?
The general rule of thumb in cooking briskets is 30 to 60 minutes per pound. Briskets can weigh from 12 to 22 pounds and their cooking times can range between 8 to 16 hours.
12. Does brisket get more tender the more you cook it?
Yes. When you cook the brisket longer at the right temperature, it becomes tender and retains its juices.
13. What is the temperature when a brisket falls apart?
When the temperature reaches 190 degrees, the brisket fiber begins to fall apart as they tend to break down.
14. How to cook a brisket in the oven overnight?
Place the brisket in the oven, seal tightly with a foil, and roast at 225 degrees for about 10 hours. Then cool it before slicing.
