Calling all brisket gurus! What's the done internal temp for brisket? REC I'm using says

W

wigs

Well-known member
4-5 hours at 300 degrees for a 4 to 6-lb brisket, but that's not exact enough for this cook. From what I've researched on the internet, 190 degrees seems to be the goal, but I'm wanting some reassurance that that won't yield shoe leather.

Here's the recipe I'm using:

Beef Brisket

1 4 to 6-lb beef brisket

1 onion, sliced

1/2 cup chili sauce

2 Tbsp. liquid smoke

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 clove minced garlic

1 can beer

Season meat with salt & pepper. Cover with onion and sauce (mixture of above ingredients). Bake/foil covering (I have it wrapped in foil.)

Chill and then remove any fat before slicing--very thinly--across grain. Best if made a day or 2 ahead. Let sliced brisket set in juices and drizzle barbecue sauce over top. Heat before serving.

The brisket I have is 7 pounds so I figure that will take at least the 5-hour time if not longer, but I'd MUCH prefer a more specific internal temp to avoid under or over baking. Thanks in advance! Wigs PS: I've done a search on 'brisket' here at eat.at, but am not finding any recipe with directions containing a specific internal temp.

 
No clue even though I make it all the time

I cook mine the day before (or a month ahead and freeze) about 3/4 of the way through. Refrigerate overnight, remove the fat, and then slice. I then cook another hour or 2 until the slices are fork tender.

I'm sorry I'm not more helpful:( I make a similar brisket: beer, chili sauce and beef broth)

 
Thanks so much, deb & GayR! It seems everything I read contradicts the last thing I've read. I had

no idea brisket was so fussy. lol. My very favorite comment is from the article you just referred me to, GayR, and I quote:

Timing: The most important determinants are how thick the meat is and what temp your cooker is averaging. But humidity, ambient air temp, wind, rain, grade of meat, can all play a role. There is no precise formula. The rules of thumb can vary significantly by as much as 25% depending on how thick the brisket is at the thickest point, and the orneriness of the particular steer whose flesh you are honoring. It's done when it's done.

I literally cracked up about the "orneriness of the steer"! The 2 things I have going for me is that I bought a good quality of brisket from a local butcher shop, and I wrapped the darned thing in foil. Or at least I think those are both in my favor. Who knows? What an inexact science for this particular cut of beef. My catering client's little recipe didn't read as being too difficult, but then once I started researching on-line, I became more & more confused.

I am going to pull my brisket out of the oven after 4 hours of cooking time to see where it stands. I hope the good fairies are looking out for me this morning! ha! I surely appreciate your help, deb and GayR.

PS: 10 minutes after posting the above. My temperature probe slid into the brisket like "buttah" and registered 197 so I've jerked my roaster out of the oven. Am keeping fingers & toes crossed as everything cools. CYL!

 
I slow smoke brisket and pork shoulders to 190 degrees. The key to not having shoe leather...

...is not to let the temp get over 300. Ideally, I do my best to keep the temp around 250 to 270, and let it go for as long as it takes, which is usually 10 to 12 hours.

There are other variables, like fat cap and not letting the smoke wood chunks spike the heat too high, etc. But the main thing is "low and slow".

The pork shoulders come out falling apart tender and very juicy, and the briskets slice easily across the grain and the juices run out.

As far as cooking one in the oven, I'm not very experienced with that. I would speculate that if you keep the heat at 300 (I'd set it at 275, but that's just me) and seal it like the recipe says, then cook to an internal temp of 190.

Should be fine.

Michael

 
The "pros", obviously. They know their equipment and their cuts of meat are consistent, usually.

The key is controlling the temperature.

I would bet their smoker never gets over 250.

Michael

 
Should mention that I have an offset smoker with a grill area large enough to smoke several...

...6 to 10 lb. pork shoulders at one time.

Sometimes we go for a mixed grill, and I do pork shoulders for pulled pork, chickens on upright roasters, sausage links and ribs. They all go on the smoker at different times, of course.

I smoke with kingsford charcoal as my base, and add mostly apple wood, hickory and ironwood chunks for the smoke woods. Sometimes I use mesquite, but it isn't my favorite. It is plentiful here in the southwest, but it is a very strong smoke wood.

Michael

 
It is 190* internal temp. But I prefer to do it much lower and longer. You may get

it with this temp, but I think it is a bit high.

 
Thank U! Thank U! After reading GayR's article + some other sites, I finally decided 190 deg was

the magic internal number so very casually, I ambled out to the kitchen to check--my brisket had been in the oven for a while, and I thought it would probably need another hour of baking time since it was 7 pounds, but I decided it would be a good idea to verify the current status--and the darned thing was at 197 F! Zowie, did I ever fly to jerk that sucker out of the oven. I pulled my foil-wrapped hunk of beef out of the hot roaster to let it cool on a cookie sheet w/ sideson a rack. It was falling apart and fork tender. The brisket gods were smiling on me.

Later in the day, I decided to call a good friend who lived in Texas for years, but now resides in Florida. "Judi, how in the world do you make brisket? I had trouble finding straight-forward directions on the timing and done meat internal temperature." Her reply, "Wigs, I've never cooked a brisket in my life! When we lived in Texas, you could buy delicious whole baked barbecued briskets on every street corner." I figured she'd be a pro. WRONG.

Well, next time I am given a recipe to fix some meat or fowl that is new to me, I will begin consulting you folks WELL IN ADVANCE. Thanks again for everyone's advice. Very doubtful I will ever forget that 190 degrees is my goal for a done brisket! And I'll try it at a lower oven temp next time. It worried me to go less than 300 degrees for fear of giving food poisoning to a long-standing and good catering client. ha! What a lot I've learned since yesterday.

 
Whooee, U have my deep admiraction--no liquid smoke in your brisket! It finally dawned on me why

the author of GayR's article included factors affecting his brisket outcome such as: "humidity, ambient air temp, wind, rain, etc." At first I wasn't thinking past "stove oven". lol! I am in awe of anyone who controls cooking temp w/ charcoal and wood.

I distinctly remember being amazed at my mom's best friend, Clarice Moore, and her mother, Pearl Moore, because they cooked and baked year-round on an old indoor wood stove. I asked "Grandma" Pearl once how she could tell if her oven was at the temperature she wanted, and she told me, "You open the door and put your hand in the oven. If it's so hot you have to immediately yank your hand out, it's 500+ degrees; if you pull your hand out of the oven after 5 seconds, it's probably 400 to 450 degrees; and if you can leave your hand in the oven for 10 seconds, it's close to 350 degrees. I'm sure I don't have those seconds exactly right because I was only 13 or 14 years old when I asked her that question, but you get the drift.

My hat is off to you and anyone else who commandeers a smoker! Thanks so much for your help......

 
You were still OK. I've seen 200* quoted for the internal temp. The lower temp

is even better--it takes longer, of course. 250* is my target when smoking it on a smoker.

 
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