Two-stage brisket?

[Ka Honu]

A friend asked me a question yesterday and I still haven't come up with a decent answer.

Can you cook a brisket in two stages?  He wanted to know if he could either hot- or cold-smoke a packer for 4-5 hours and then refrigerate it for a day or so before finishing it in the oven.  I didn't immediately have a reason to say you can't but never really considered it before so I told to let me think about it for a day or so.

Anyone have experience, comments, opinions, or suggestions before I get back to him?

Thanks.

[GusRobin]

not sure on cold smoke as 4-5 hrs it would be in the danger zone so that could be pushing it.

[Tenpoint5]

A 4-5 hour hot smoke then chill in foil in fridge? I think you could do it. No different than cooking to 185 cooling and reheating 2 days later. Cept yourreheatingfor a longer time.

[Ka Honu]

Okay, I'll try it myself to see how it works...

Injected a trimmed packer with my secret brisket sauce and treated it with my super secret reptilian brisket rub.  Put it on mesquite for 4 hours...



Note the use of the (patent pending) "Pachanga Hump."  Now foiled in the fridge to be finished (in the oven) on Tuesday.

[Saber 4]

Looking forward to the results, this may help me on an upcoming Thanksgiving camping and mule riding trip.

[beefmann]

cant wait for the results

[Ka Honu]

After eight hours in a 250^o oven to 185^o IT. Looks good so far (For you unbelievers, note that the hump flattened out just like mi  consejero y amigo sabio Pachanga tells us).



Time for a couple of hours FTC before final evaluation. 

I'm liking the flexibility of the "par cook" - I can break the cook up into parts that fit my schedule without having to do an all-nighter.  It also gave me some added flexibility - while the brisket was in the oven, I had cheese running on the smoker (about 15 pounds of XS Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Swiss, Gouda, and Havarti). 



If the money shot and taste test work out, this may be a method worth adopting on a regular basis.  I'll be back with a final report in a few hours.

[Ka Honu]

Alrighty - we're done here.



Will slice part of the flat for dinner and then store the rest until I decide whether to separate the point for chili or burnt ends or keep it for slicing with the underlying flat portion.



Verdict:  Tasty, tender, almost (but not quite) a tiny bit dry but there's a whole bowl of defatted drippings to remedy that.

I'd do it again.

[Habanero Smoker]

You method seemed to work very well. I generally cook my brisket in two stages; Brisket with Onion Suace. If I don't want the onion sauce, I may use just beef broth, or other sauce. I once used a Lipton Onion soup mix that worked fairly well.

[Ka Honu]

After the photos SWMBO reminded me we had caramelized onions in the freezer so we pulled some out and added them to the drippings.  Excellent sauce for the sliced flat!

[OldHickory]

Looks good, and the sauce sounds good.

[ragweed]

Looks great!  Glad to see it worked out for you.  I'm gonna use your method, if you don't mind, as I don't like the overnighters either!