Goldie’s BBQ Brisket Resting Technique = Excellent Results

[KK787]

Smoked a Costco Prime Brisket using Goldie’s resting method.  Came out great.  Here’s the basics.

1.  Worcestershire Binder

2.  Light sprinkle of Garlic Salt and Lawery's Seasoning Salt

3.  Rub 2 to 1/2 Pepper to Salt

4.  Dry Brine over night

5.  Harry Soo’s Weber Smokey Mt wood/charcoal setup.  If you are not using this, you are missing out.

6.  Inject the flat with beef tallow

7.  250 degrees.  No cruching, No spritzing.  Threw fat scraps on my perforated heat deflector.  Rendered fat = incredible flavor profile.

8.  Pulled when the point probed like butter and the flat was 195

9.  Goldie’s - foil wrap twice. Be sure to put a dig scoop of tallow under the point.  Into a foil pan, 1/2 cup of water, foil cover over the pan.

10.  Put into my Igloo Sous Vide warming cooler at 160 degrees for 22 hours.  Brevel Toaster oven works too.  

Aggressive trimming and a long controlled rest key to a perfect brisket evert time.  

Edited January 31, 2023 by KK787

[CaptMorg82]

Looks amazing....will note this for my next one!

[jeffshoaf]

That's purty!

Please tell us more about this warning cooler - sounds like a candidate for the KK Shopping Channel! May be something I'm looking for since I recently tested my oven for use as a holding chamber and it failed.

[jonj]

16 hours ago, KK787 said:

10.  Put into my Igloo Sous Vide warming cooler at 160 degrees for 22 hours.

@jeffshoaf, my assumption is it is something similar to this DIY from the Anova web site:

https://anovaculinary.com/blogs/blog/sous-vide-cooler-guide

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by jonj

[KK787]

My design is pictured below but the Coleman Party Stacker looks way simpler.  That’s what I would go with. As long as the there is enough room between Anova's minimum water level and the cover, it should work. My pan sits above the water level.  I cut 4 pieces of 4 inch PVC - just high enough to allow air under the pan yet still above the minimum water height.  I drilled large through-holes to accommodate water circulation.  I use a remote temp probe above the water line and found that a water temp of 160 yields an air temp of 150.  So be careful that you set your system based on internal air temp to avoid going below the safe food temp of 140.  The holding cooler is a game changer.  All of my briskets have come out excellent and I attribute this to the long, warm, moist rest which breaks down all of the collagen and inter muscular connective in a way other resting methods cannot.  That’s why Franklins, Goldies, etc. use this method via Alto Shamm holding ovens - same principles. So when the point probes like butter, and even if the flat is still slightly firm, I pull it, wrap it as described above, and get it into the cooler and let the long rest tenderize the flat without overdoing the point.  It’s a fine line.  And if the rest is 12, 15, 20 hrs, the bottom line is the brisket will be perfect when your guests arrive.  No more embarrassing guessing games and it frees up the cooker the next day for pulled pork, ribs, etc.  Now be cautious. This works great with Prime cuts.  If using Choice or Select cuts, do not exceed 15hrs - the word is you will get a tough flat.  So just be cognizant of your cut and the time spent in a holding oven.  

Edited February 1, 2023 by KK787

[jeffshoaf]

Have you tried such a long hold on pork butts? I do a lot more butts than I do briskets.

I'm thinking about getting an electric smoker (cabinet type, not the drum type) to use for long holds. I'm hoping to find a used one for a good price; I think they go for around $50 if the temp controller is bad; add an aftermarket PID controller and an insulated one should hold temp within a few degrees and a water pan should help keep the environment humid.

I do a cookout for the extended family each summer; last year I smoked 4 butts overnight and then grilled 7 spatchcocked chickens on my big Santa Maria grill. I'd like to do a similar cook for another big group of two. I've been getting good results with minimal sleep interruptions by running the KK or insulated gravity feed smoker at 200° F overnight but it's hard to really get a good night's sleep while keeping an ear cocked for an alarm from the temp controller - I'd like to get a better night's sleep so I won't be so tired when all the company is here. Getting a good result with a long hold on the butts (and maybe briskets in the future) would let me smoke them overnight two nights prior to the gathering, hold for 24+ hours, get a better night's sleep, and focus on the grilling and other prepwork the day of. If you saw me, you'd agree that I need as much beauty sleep as possible!

A bit of KK blasphemy... The very long hold would also open up the possibility of doing a hot and fast cook ask during daylight hours the day before using a stick burner. I have a bad itch for a stick burner but really don't want to stay up all night feeding one and wouldn't want to do a hot and fast cook the day of the gathering with all the prep work and grilling as well. 

[Ticket2ride04]

What do you use to keep the meat from getting wet? Pic of the brisket in the cooler? 

[Firemonkey]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:08 PM, jeffshoaf said:

The very long hold would also open up the possibility of doing a hot and fast cook ask during daylight hours the day before using a stick burner. I have a bad itch for a stick burner but really don't want to stay up all night feeding one and wouldn't want to do a hot and fast cook the day of the gathering with all the prep work and grilling as well. 

Why not go the other direction?   Sous vide the brisket first, then put over a fire to build the bark and add smoke?   I do this sometimes over my fire pit, and it’s OMG good.   
 

 

 

 

 

[jeffshoaf]

3 hours ago, Firemonkey said:

Why not go the other direction?   Sous vide the brisket first, then put over a fire to build the bark and add smoke?   I do this sometimes over my fire pit, and it’s OMG good. 

I have 3 sous vide-capable devices (a sous vide stick, an Instant Pot, and a vermicular musui-musui-kamado) and I've tried each of them for cooking meat and searing afterward and I really didn't care for the results; this aggravates me because that was actually what I got the stick for. I now use sous vide primarily to thaw and reheat vacuum packed and frozen smoked meat and to pre-cook sausage for pizza.

I actually bought a cheapish electric smoker to do long holds and I'm happy with the result; after testing the smoker's teletherapy stability, I smoked a Boston butt and a brisket. I wrapped the butt in foil and held it about 4 hours and wrapped the brisket in butcher paper with smoked beef tallow and held overnight. I had some of each for dinner each day and then vacuum packed and froze to carry me thru my foot surgery recovery.

I was very happy with the result for both; other than the end of the flat that was a bit overcooked (shoulda made burnt ends!),  the brisket was the best I've had in my limited brisket experience. I didn't post about it here because I smoked them in my insulated gravity feed smoker instead of my KK and I forgot I posted the post you quoted here. I didn't do a hot and fast cook for these since I was limiting the variables fit the test, but I'm finally fully ambulatory this week after the surgery recovery and hope to try that soon. Got butts in the freezer but no brisket inventory.

[tony b]

25 minutes ago, jeffshoaf said:

but I'm finally fully ambulatory this week after the surgery recovery

HURRAY! 

[Syzygies]

10 hours ago, Firemonkey said:

Why not go the other direction?   Sous vide the brisket first, then put over a fire to build the bark and add smoke?   I do this sometimes over my fire pit, and it’s OMG good.   

There may be a divergence between appearance and reality, here.

In competition one starts meat cold, to maximize the smoke effect. There's a cutoff temperature after which a smoke ring won't form. And judges, who have their palates blown by competitors with coarse smoke handling, look for this ring.

There's a camp that finishes in the oven, perhaps after transport, because smoke no longer matters after the ring has formed. I see the error in this logic, but I don't know for a fact that smoke at later stages matters that much.

When I was commuting to NYC I'd smoke BBQ part way, chill it, vacuum pack it and freeze it, then friends would finish it any way that came to mind. In the oven? In a pot of beans? Choucroute?

I don't have experience flipping this order, but my intuition is that late smoking isn't as effective.

[Firemonkey]

Give it a try.  

I can tell you that after a few hrs over an open fire, there’s plenty of flavor imparted.    No, you won’t have a smoke ring, but you’ll have some damn good brisket.   I’ve done it over the fire pit as well as in the grill (direct heat) and both are good.  
 

One benefit is that after the water bath you can chill the meat, still in the bag, and then finish it at your leisure.  Pull the bag, put it on fire for a few hours, and it’s golden.  

To your point about not taking flavor here is what Kenji Lopez-alt had to say about it on serious eats:

Is it better to apply that smoke before or after cooking sous vide? Well, according to folks like Meathead Goldwyn, author of the eponymous book Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling at Amazon, the flavorful compounds in smoke will adhere to and penetrate raw meat much better than they will cooked meat. This is true, but I find that the amount of smoke flavor I get out of a post–sous vide session in the smoker is plenty for my taste buds, and smoking at the end makes the process so much more efficient. I'll stick to the post–sous vide smoke.
 

https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-barbecue-smoked-bbq-brisket-texas-recipe#toc-to-smoke-or-not-to-smoke

They also suggest a little pink salt in the bag during the sous vide to get the “smoke” ring, but that juice isn’t worth the squeeze, IMHO.  

Edited June 15, 2023 by Firemonkey
Typo

[remi]

Competition and looks aside, I was under the impression that a smoke ring has little/ nothing to do with the smoke flavour?

[tony b]

Pretty much, yeah. It's an aesthetic. Not an indicator of quality in the cook, technique, etc. Just a chemical reaction that sometimes takes place under the right conditions. 

[Dennis]

Getting ready to do my first KK brisket. 

Would the group recommend top rack (indirect) and a temp 225F?  

Along with the Goldee process.  

TIA

[C6Bill]

Top rack, even with lip, not upper rack. 235 till 165 then wrap and pull off at 202 degrees. But at last count there are 3427 different ways to cook brisket 😁