Sous Vide and Smoked Brisket - 28-30 Hours

[pianoman9701]

The leftovers aren't dry at all. It's extremely tender and moist. I'm eating carnivore. I add some cheese, G. Hughes sugar-free bbq, and a little Frank's Wing Sauce. It's freaking delicious.

[Fidelk]

Not familiar with sous vide......did you get good penetration of smoke into the meat? I see bark on the slices but no smoke ring. Would this process work by smoking the raw meat first and then finishing via sous vide? Again, no knowledge of this process, just curious.

[pianoman9701]

The meat tastes like smoke. It's not heavy. I'm going to reverse the process next time, smoking for 4-6 hours then into the bath for probably 24.

Sous vide (French for under vacuum) is a cooking technique that cooks at specific temperatures for a given time to receive specific results. The meat or fish is put in a ziplock bag or vacuum bag, and then you force out the air by submerging the bag and closing it.

This last one gave up a lot of moisture during the 24 hours in the bath and I think it was because the meat hadn't been seared. I think/hope that smoking first will achieve that sear and hold in the juices.

[Stein]

I know with canning it really magnifies the smoke so I always go way less on smoked fish that I can.  I wonder if it's the same with SV?  It will be sitting in the smoky liquid for 24 hours, you might think about going half on the smoke time.

I think the searing locking in liquid is more of a myth than reality.  You might have gone too long in the second stage last time, I would try going by touch rather than temp, especially if it's less than prime grade.  I use a bamboo skewer to poke through it and you can tell when it's done.

I'm not sure what temp you started the SV, if it was 180, you might try bumping that down to 150-160.  Since you are going so much longer than a traditional cook I think you can get away with a lot less heat.  Google says beef fat renders at 130-140, so 150 might be a better option?

It's an interesting experiment if you can get it to work, save money on pellets or wood fuel if you buy them and no babysitting anything.  You can also set the timing to have it done any time of day.

[Alchase]

Wouldn't you loose the bark if reversed?

[pianoman9701]

All of the liquid came out during the SV cycle and quite early in the process. There was no loss of liquid once I started smoking, other than a little fat dripping. I do think that smoking it first could have a good searing effect and that we'd see less liquid in the bag afterwards. SV does have a good effect on penetrating the flavor no matter what you're cooking. I may consider smoking for a shorter time, like 3-4 hours.

Temp: I started it at 170F and reduced it to 160F after 6 hours or so. The recipe I saw gave a temp range from 150-180F for 24-36 hours. The briskets started to float after the liquid had released. So I had to add a couple of dinner knives to each bag to keep them down under the surface.

[pianoman9701]

Wouldn't you loose the bark if reversed?

Not sure I haven't tried it yet. If there's less liquid released, I don't think the bark would be affected at all other than possibly being easier to cut through and that would be fine. Bark is a combination of being more cooked and smoke. I don't believe it's possible to reverse that process with liquid. We'll see. It might suck!

[Special T]

Looks like it was awesome. I bet you will have the recipe dialed in soon!

[pianoman9701]

Maybe when you come down the next time, we can smoke a brisket and a cigar or two.

[Stein]

Once the bark is set it's pretty much there, I wouldn't be worried.  If you finish wrapped in foil traditional style, it will cook in liquid in the oven for a couple hours and the bark is still there.

The problem you might have is that it takes quite a while to set the bark (6-8 hrs in my experience) which negates the longer SV.  If you only want smoky flavor and some color you could do less, but true bark (brisket is black, outer has hard texture and you can hear it when you scrape a fork across) takes time at normal smoking temps.

You could also experiment with a true sear, like 500-600 degrees or with a torch, followed or preceded with smoking at 220 for flavor and smell.  That might replicate bark pretty well or be a total disaster?

Personally, I don't care much for bark, I could take it or leave it but some people really dig it.

[pianoman9701]

Once the bark is set it's pretty much there, I wouldn't be worried.  If you finish wrapped in foil traditional style, it will cook in liquid in the oven for a couple hours and the bark is still there.

The problem you might have is that it takes quite a while to set the bark (6-8 hrs in my experience) which negates the longer SV.  If you only want smoky flavor and some color you could do less, but true bark (brisket is black, outer has hard texture and you can hear it when you scrape a fork across) takes time at normal smoking temps.

You could also experiment with a true sear, like 500-600 degrees or with a torch, followed or preceded with smoking at 220 for flavor and smell.  That might replicate bark pretty well or be a total disaster?

Personally, I don't care much for bark, I could take it or leave it but some people really dig it.

I was thinking about using the torch before the bath and I didn't. If I seared it really well, that might tackle the moisture-loss problem, as well. I did have a pretty good bark after only 2.5 hours. It barks a lot faster when the meat is already fully cooked. Same with a sous vide steak. You only have to sear it in a pan for a minute on each side when you take it out of the bath.