Smoked brisket is popular for so many reasons, but topping the list is that smoky, crisp bark and tender, juicy meat under the bark. However, that combination of crisp bark and moist center is difficult for a lot of people to achieve when smoking a brisket. The nightmare scenarios are to end up with a mushy piece of meat with no bark or to create a large, overly dry, and bitter tasting brisket.
The key to avoiding brisket nightmares is understanding two things:
- The brisket temperature curve - how it initially rises, flattens for a while, then resumes increasing. The curve flattens due to heat lost through a surge water evaporation as the meat warms up.
- Moisture retention after the brisket is wrapped. To retain a nice bark, the brisket needs to lose the majority of its original water content. Otherwise, water will continue to come out of the meat and dissolve the bark. After wrapping, enough moisture is kept in to prevent the meat from becoming too dry.
The Brisket Stall
Most barbeque pitmasters, when smoking brisket, will fuel and ventilate it such that it keeps a temperature somewhere around 200 °F to 220 °F (93 °C to 104 °C). Smoking is a matter of the meat absorbing heat until the temperature deep inside gets to the proper finishing value. Briskets are a heavy cut of meat; the heavier it is, the longer it takes for that internal temperature to rise. A really large brisket could take a full 10 to 12 hours in the smoker, not counting resting time.
As the brisket heats up, water will will evaporate off of the surface, and more water deep in the brisket will move out toward the surface - also to evaporate. Water takes heat to evaporate, which draws away energy which would otherwise heat the brisket meat. Somewhere around 160° F (71° C), a balance or "stall" happens, where the meat temperature stops rising and energy from the smoker goes into evaporating water. Once there is much less water in the meat, the stall ends and the meat temperature resumes going up. Regarding time, the stall typically starts between two and thee hours into the smoking and takes about three or four hours to happen.
Track the stall by checking the internal temperature every half hour. More frequently is probably just extra work; less often may cause you to miss the end of the stall.
The stall is a natural aspect of cooking a large piece of meat; do not ruin the brisket by fighting the stall with a higher smoking temperature. Just give it time and be patient. There are incredibly tasty briskets smoked at lower temperatures, near 200 °F (93 °C), which take even more time. Instead of watching the clock, remind yourself that is is going to be oh so tasty!
Wraping the Brisket
Barbeque experts, especially ones smoking briskets competitively, developed a technique to shorten cooking time, called the "Texas Crutch." To "crutch" a brisket, it is taken from the smoker briefly, and wrapped tightly in either aluminum foil or butcher's paper, then placed back into the smoker to complete cooking. Cooking is considered complete not after a specific interval in the smoker, but when the meat reaches a desired internal temperature.
There is some flexibility on when a brisket should be wrapped. Some persons will insist on wrapping the brisket as soon as the stall is recognized, as they intend to reduce the total time in the smoker. Others will allow the brisket to go through the stall unwrapped, waiting until fat on the brisket turns to a deeper yellow and becomes less elastic. In other words, wrap it later, when the fat isn't so bouncy.
Which technique is better? For a better bark, it is thought to be better to wait and let more moisture evaporate out of the brisket. The time nearer the end of the stall, when the fat is thicker, more yellow, and less bouncy, seems to work great.
Everyone agrees that when wrapping a brisket, it should be wrapped tightly to seal in the remaining moisture. Also, a tight seal ends the stall sooner, as it inhibits loss of heat through water evaporation off the meat. But which is the better wrap - foil or paper?
Foil or Paper to Wrap a Brisket
Wrapping a brisket in tinfoil seals in the moisture better, and the foil will transmit heat to the meat better than paper. It is probably a better wrap if the brisket is being wrapped later after the stall atarts or if the stall has actually ended.
Butcher's paper is more porous. It is less of a heat conductor and it breathes more than aluminum foil. Don't think of paper as an insulator, though; it still transmits heat through conduction through its fibers and air between the fibers. Paper slows down the evaporation process, but it does not completely stop. In fact there are pitmasters who insist on paper as the perfect wrap because it does allow moisture to slowly evaporate out of the meat yet keep enough to result in a brisket with a crisp bark and tender, moist interior.
Whichever wrap is used, and whatever timing method is used, pay close attention to the internal meat temperature. Watch it climb initially; note the stall when it happens, when it ends, and the resumed heating of the meat after it is wrapped. The brisket is finished when the temperature is close to 200° F (93° C), though some people prefer to finish at a few degrees cooler or a few degrees hotter.
Every experienced brisket cooker will agree that the brisket needs to rest for at least an hour after being removed from the smoker. Top pitmasters have said that a couple of hours of rest are better than one. A more scientific way to rest a brisket is to check the internal temperature and let it rest until it cools down to 160° F (71° C) before slicing and serving. Allowing the temperature to get that low will allow the collagen and fats to cool and become more firm. The meat will thus be tender, but not too chewy.
With the knowledge given above, you should be able to follow recipes for smoking briskets and enjoy delicious and very nicely cooked meat.
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