Sous Vide Smoked BBQ Brisket Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How long to smoke sous vide brisket? ›

Heat smoker to 200°F / 93°C. Smoke brisket for 5-6 hours, until internal temperature reaches 145°F / 62.7°C.

Season the brisket liberally with salt and pepper on both sides and put it into a large (gallon/3.8 liter) cooking pouch. Put the fat, garlic, and rosemary into the pouch (half on each side of the brisket) and vacuum seal. Submerge in the water oven to cook for 48 hours. Remove from the pouch and pat dry.

SMOKING A 3 POUND BRISKET

A 3-pound brisket will typically require 5-6 hours of smoking at the base temperature of 250° F to reach full doneness. If you have more time, you can lower the temperature for a more tender, fall-apart texture.

At 155°F (68°C), we get much better results than at 145°F. Yes, the brisket will expel a lot of moisture as it cooks, but what it loses in water it gains in tenderness and moisture, in the form of more connective tissue breaking down and fat rendering. For me, 155°F for between 24 and 36 hours is ideal.

And because your sous vide machine will be set to the exact temperature that you want the food to reach, you know it'll never go above this point and overcook. You just need to make sure that you're cooking your ingredients at the ideal temperature, which you can work out using our Sous Vide Cooking Time Calculator.

The Texas Crutch doesn't exclusively refer to brisket. You can use the technique with any meat. The popular 3-2-1 method of cooking ribs uses the Texas crutch. The numbers simply refer to 3 hours in the smoker unwrapped, then 2 hours wrapped in foil, with the final hour unwrapped at a slightly higher temperature.

A: You can usually figure about 1.5 hours per pound at 225 degrees for brisket, pork shoulder and other larger pieces of meat. Several things can affect this time such as actual meat thickness, wind, temperature and how often you open the door of the smoker.

Water: if you want to increase humidity, slow the cooking process to build more smoke flavor, or just want to keep the meat moist, you can just spritz with 100% water.

Smoke for a few hours (225°F), then sous vide for 2 hours (155°F), chill overnight in the fridge, and then reapply your rub and reheat on the smoker to build a bark. It flat out works.

Should I sear brisket before sous vide? ›

If you want good flavor and crust on your food, you will always want to sear it when it is done cooking. Even if you do a pre-sear, the crust itself will go away and can only be established by searing it after the sous vide process is over.

OK, most of the problem with tough brisket is usually undercooking. The way to solve this is to cook to internal temperature of about 95C or 203f.

As the other answers point out your brisket was vastly undercooked. Understand that this style of cooking requires not only cooking to doneness but also "time at temperature" in order to break down the connective tissue.

If it's somewhat tough and doesn't pull apart while gently tugging on each end, that means its undercooked and the connective tissue and fat didn't have enough time to render. Now is also a good time to look at the thickness of the fat cap. If it's too thick, then you know for next time to trim a little more.

It's more likely that a dry brisket is overcooked, rather than under, but the dryness can also be the result of improper seasoning or particularly low fat marbling. Not to mention, brisket usually is cooked to like, 180ºF, so overcooking it takes quite a bit of effort/negligence.

You can either smoke before or after the sous vide cooking; they both have their benefits. I think the pre-smoke infuses it with a little bit more flavor. Where the post-smoke doesn't go quite as deep, but you do have the new smoke on it as you're pulling it out and your finishing it on the grill.

Our general rule of thumb is to plan on between 30 and 60 minutes per pound when learning how to cook a brisket.

A: You can usually figure about 1.5 hours per pound at 225 degrees for brisket, pork shoulder and other larger pieces of meat. Several things can affect this time such as actual meat thickness, wind, temperature and how often you open the door of the smoker.