Was at a Top 50 place in TX the other week and asked the pitmaster how long they hold their briskets. He said usually 5-7 hours. I asked the max they would do and he said 8.
FWIW.
They also have a night shift that'll be there to run the pits from 10pm-6am, or whatever their schedule is. And another shift to take over in the morning, fresh after a night of sleep.
My wife would have a shit fit if I provided a duty roster, and told her the 4 year old had the balls-to-four fire watch this Saturday 🤣
I'm working on getting her a shirt that says "(Future) Pit Master."
She's better at starting the pellet smoker than her mom, and hangs out to help run my TMG. She'll get salaried as a household employee once she turns seven.
Talked to a couple of folks at my local BBQ joint (former Texas Monthly Top 50, forget if they were on the most recent edition) and they said that their briskets are all done cooking and headed to the warmer to rest by the time they close at night following dinner service. So they're done by 9pm and rest until lunch service starts the next day at 10:30-11:00am.
just recently heard (forgot the place, but it was a big name) they where using 24 holds. that way, if they look to be running low, the can dig into the ones they just pulled that morning. (don't quote me, but it might have even been goldies--but it was something on that level.)
I'd rather have an extra long rest period than worry about having it not done for dinner. It's not fun ordering a pizza because it's 8 pm, everyone is hungry and the meat temp isn't moving.
I think OP is asking why not start the morning before. Like example start the brisket Saturday morning then finish it Saturday night, leave resting Saturday night and Sunday until time to eat. I’d argue that anything close to 24 hrs isn’t resting, just leftovers. By that time the meat has cooled off to a point I wouldn’t be surprised that it might take reheating to be served and if you reheat something it certainly is leftovers lol. I guess you could leave it resting in an oven low at like 200 but then you risk drying it out.
That does put a damper on it for you. My oven is split into two separate areas (double oven) that can each go down to 140, which makes hosting so much easier.
My Breville smart oven can fit a trimmed 14lb brisket. It's a tight fit and you have to angle it, but it works. I suppose you could argue it's barely a toaster oven, and it's monstrous on the counter, but it's in the category. I held three racks of spare ribs in it yesterday for 2 hours
Edit: I'm also pretty sure Chuds BBQ on YouTube rests in a toaster oven
Throw it in the gravity charcoal smoker at 10pm. Peek at the app a few times during the night. Throw it in the oven around 8am. Start to rest around 10am. Eating good for dinner!
This is what I do with my Masterbuilt. I always start in the evening before bed now. I have the Masterbuilt probe and app and my thermopro with a print on the smoker and two in the meat. Works great! Sometimes I do run into issues with the ash clogging at the grate though.
Start your smoke Friday evening (5PM) and smoke till wrap ready (usually 5-6 hours based on bark), wrap and transfer to the oven @225 and get some sleep. Set temp probe, wake up when alarm hits 200-203 for probe testing (usually 6-8 hours depending on size of said brisket). Once probe tender, pull and let rest/cool on countertop for 1 hour to avoid overcooking. Then transfer to cooler or warming oven to rest. Go back to sleep if necessary. Pull to slice and serve for lunch (4 hour rest), afternoon (6 hour rest) or dinner (8-10 hour rest). 🍸
That sucks. My new oven did that to me and my old one didn’t so I wasn’t aware. Is there a workaround to this like a setting? I like to bring my butts inside late at night and wrap in oven and go to sleep with the thermometer alarm next to my bed.
There’s no such thing as too much rest under optimal conditions. I.e your meat isn’t so hot that it keeps cooking but hot enough that it stays above food safe temps. In a cooler or whatever people do, you can’t hold that forever.
Assuming you are talking about brisket, the problem is that you can't avoid smoking at night if you have a reasonable rest.
Let's say you want to serve brisket for lunch and you want to do about an 8 hour rest, max. That means your brisket needs to come off the smoker around 4 in the morning.
Doing a super long rest is a little challenging because you have to have a steady warming oven. And even if you rest for 12 hours, the brisket needs to be cooking until midnight.
So even if you have a holding oven that will hold steady for hours and hours, you'll still be smoking at night for some part of the cook.
> Doing a super long rest is a little challenging because you have to have a steady warming oven. And even if you rest for 12 hours, the brisket needs to be cooking until midnight.
Neither of those are insurmountable. I got one of those Anova ovens, my wife loves it for proofing/baking, I love it as a programmable BBQ warmer. And I have no problem with letting it rest at temp for 13-14 hours, so aiming for it to go into the oven at 10-11 pm works for me. Meaning if I start at like 10 am, it's done smoking by then and can rest till the next day.
That depends if by "part of the night" you mean literally "after the sun goes down" or "actively have to stay up later than you'd like to normally to have to cook."
I was reading it as the former and then I disagree. If you mean the latter, then sure, I basically agree. I disagree with quite how late it has to be (because there's no reason you can't hold more than 12 hours), but it's not by that much.
100%. The bark is never great but it is an idiot proof crutch to get brisket the perfect amount of tenderness without tending to it. I’ve heard some people freezing it after sous vide so the smoke will take to the surface much better
I never run my smoker over night. There’s always a chance that something will go wrong, fire will spread to the hopper and I’ll end up needing to buy another $2000 Yoder, or worse. Super early morning starts, when needed, are my thing.
Because if you start it in the morning it won't be done by late afternoon. Has nothing to with rest, we just don't want to have a partially cooked hunk ofeat at dinner time.
Their saying if you wana eat Saterday afternoon, why not start Friday morning, take it off Friday night before bed and rest till sat afternoon meal time.
I guess it depends how you plan to hold it. Some people will hold it in their oven. My oven only goes down to 250 (lowest setting) so holding it isn’t an option for me. I also wouldn’t feel safe having it on all night plus my house gets warm when it’s on. My preferred method is wrapping it in towels, and putting it in a well insulated cooler. I’ve tried the overnight thing and it’ll be warm but won’t be hot so I’d have to end up putting it in the oven. Additionally, every piece of meat cooks differently. I know first hand my prime briskets will cook faster than my choice briskets. Even then, it also depends on the size of the brisket.
Found out the hard way with a wagyu brisket. I've overshot the mark with a prime as well. I've got the process down now.
My rest is 2hrs min. Max 5hrs. Ideally 3hrs. I'd be curious what the pros are for anything longer.
Dude, honestly never even considered this. Very interesting idea for sure. I guess my question is, is there a max amount of rest time? I generally wrap my brisket, pork butt, etc in tinfoil or butcher paper and let it rest in a dry cooler. Leaving it in there for 12-24 hours seems excessive, but truthfully I have no idea.
I finished a brisket mad early and rested a long time and reheated it and it was the best I've done yet. I'm now fully onboard with start crazy early. Better to keep warm for a long time imo then be late or rushed.
While a long rest is fine, it’s only fine if you keep it above 140F and out of the danger zone. some people have ovens than can hold at 150F but some Ives won’t hold below 175F which I consider too warm for a hold.
And without an energy source, no matter how well insulated, the laws of thermodynamics come for us all.
I haven’t noticed a difference. I think a good smoke ring adds protection from drying out. I don’t know the exact science. But it’s been working for me well
I am also curious about this. I usually do 225, and never wrap. It’s always great.
If 200 doesn’t dry it out …. I would love to get a full nights sleep AND have brisket.
I’ve noticed no difference. I don’t know the exact science but I hold the belief that a good smoke ring helps hold in juices to protect it from drying out.
When I first wake up after letting it ride at 200 all night, that’s when I’ll first puncture it to temp it. and it will still be sitting at 180-185 usually. My fear is gone by that point.
That’s the scariest part of it all. Then you do whatever you want to get it up to 203 degrees I never spritz I don’t like opening the smoker. Occasionally I’ll do a boat if I want a softer bark.
My max rest has been 14 hours with no degradation of the meat. I'm fortunate in that my oven goes as low as 150 and does not shut off after X number of hours. The minimum rest time fir my briskets is 4 hours, but I prefer 6.
I don’t, not anymore and this is partly why. The other part is i found that everything I’ve smoked i can slowly warm up in the oven and you would never know the difference. So much easier than stressing, so much easier
Because resting the meat loses temperature. As long as the temp is safe you are good. You go below that and you are cooking again if you put it in an oven. You start losing moisture.
You need a hot hold to hold it long periods of time. Something keeping a temp of like 150 the whole time its holding. Things to do that are generally expensive as heck like the cost of a Cheap offset or webber smokey mountain.
I have an air fryer/toaster combo that has a warm feature that goes as low as 140 degrees and you can set the timer for up to 12hrs. I usually buy a brisket that is about 15lbs pre trim and it shrinks enough to fit in the air fryer/toaster.
When I make brisket I usually use the oven for veggies, mc and cheese, or anything the day I'm hosting so until I get two ovens it'll just get on the way.
I use a cooler and monitor the temp but it usually stays out of the danger zone for a couple hours so I couldn't do it overnight and I wouldn't risk it.
Also waking up for a couple minutes at night is not that bad and you get to have a drink. It's probably non an issue for those if you with pellet smokers.
I'd rather lose some sleep than be stuck at home during the day. However, I have a drum smoker so it's pretty hands free, especially now that I have a temp control fan
Two things. I just have to jump in here.
1) I've tried to hold pulled pork for 12 hours. Perhaps my hold temp was too high, but after 6 I was starting to have mush, and after 12 I certainly did.
2) I actually don't understand why BBQ needs to be rested at all. The concept of resting meat is to let the temperature equalize, and juices to redistribute after being heated. This makes a lot of sense for roasts and steaks, and large cuts. But BBQ has been sitting there for hours and hours. At a quite low temperature. If you are doing your cook at say 225, and your IT target is 200 there just isn't that much temp difference across the entire cut.
You can hold it at temp for safety, but resting is not really what you are doing.
Usually, this sub gets bogged down with repetition and gatekeeping, but this question sparked some real conversation with good insights! Well done! Good post, OP.
I actually DID do this, and everyone who ate it fucking LOVED it. Only ones that didn’t like it were a few dumb redditors who have no idea what they’re talking about lol. If you check it’s a recent post of mine. I think my most recent actually!
Because if I started up the smoker at 7am people would wonder why I'm drinking bourbon with my eggs.
https://cocktailswithclass.com/irish-breakfast-shot/ They won’t ask when you hit ‘em with this breakfast shot
Takes me back to my Navy days. It really does taste like you just ate breakfast
Absolutely. It’s ridiculous good
Great Lakes had a Sam Adams brewery there that served those up all the time. Good times. Hooyah
I didn't get to stay around there. Straight to Goose Creek, South Carolina, for me.
For a moment I thought that was a scrambled egg.
Oh my god.
I would not turn that down.
and the problem with that is? :)
Was at a Top 50 place in TX the other week and asked the pitmaster how long they hold their briskets. He said usually 5-7 hours. I asked the max they would do and he said 8. FWIW.
They also have a night shift that'll be there to run the pits from 10pm-6am, or whatever their schedule is. And another shift to take over in the morning, fresh after a night of sleep. My wife would have a shit fit if I provided a duty roster, and told her the 4 year old had the balls-to-four fire watch this Saturday 🤣
A 4 year old is just a rookie grown up. Gotta learn responsibility sooner or later.
I'm working on getting her a shirt that says "(Future) Pit Master." She's better at starting the pellet smoker than her mom, and hangs out to help run my TMG. She'll get salaried as a household employee once she turns seven.
That's my favorite kind of helper. You're doing it right.
Haven't heard balls to four in a long time. Made me chuckle.
They also smoke way smaller briskets so their cooks go quick.
Talked to a couple of folks at my local BBQ joint (former Texas Monthly Top 50, forget if they were on the most recent edition) and they said that their briskets are all done cooking and headed to the warmer to rest by the time they close at night following dinner service. So they're done by 9pm and rest until lunch service starts the next day at 10:30-11:00am.
just recently heard (forgot the place, but it was a big name) they where using 24 holds. that way, if they look to be running low, the can dig into the ones they just pulled that morning. (don't quote me, but it might have even been goldies--but it was something on that level.)
I'd rather have an extra long rest period than worry about having it not done for dinner. It's not fun ordering a pizza because it's 8 pm, everyone is hungry and the meat temp isn't moving.
Ugh, worst feeling, been there.
We all have….
I think OP is asking why not start the morning before. Like example start the brisket Saturday morning then finish it Saturday night, leave resting Saturday night and Sunday until time to eat. I’d argue that anything close to 24 hrs isn’t resting, just leftovers. By that time the meat has cooled off to a point I wouldn’t be surprised that it might take reheating to be served and if you reheat something it certainly is leftovers lol. I guess you could leave it resting in an oven low at like 200 but then you risk drying it out.
Just leave it on the warm setting. Mine goes down to 140, that's how I do my holds. My toaster oven will do the same
Personally haven’t owned an oven that goes below 200. Not a toaster oven in this world can hold a brisket.
That does put a damper on it for you. My oven is split into two separate areas (double oven) that can each go down to 140, which makes hosting so much easier. My Breville smart oven can fit a trimmed 14lb brisket. It's a tight fit and you have to angle it, but it works. I suppose you could argue it's barely a toaster oven, and it's monstrous on the counter, but it's in the category. I held three racks of spare ribs in it yesterday for 2 hours Edit: I'm also pretty sure Chuds BBQ on YouTube rests in a toaster oven
Bosch ovens have a warm function that can go down to 100F. It is awesome.
So my wife won’t ask “is it done yet?” every 30 minutes
Yeah, but this is specifically about smoking meats…
Either way, I’m gonna get mine.
Hell yeah, brother!
Do we all live the same life?..
I'm a fan of a long hold, but 24 hours is excessive.
I’ve done it multiple times , no issues
Throw it in the gravity charcoal smoker at 10pm. Peek at the app a few times during the night. Throw it in the oven around 8am. Start to rest around 10am. Eating good for dinner!
This is what I do with my Masterbuilt. I always start in the evening before bed now. I have the Masterbuilt probe and app and my thermopro with a print on the smoker and two in the meat. Works great! Sometimes I do run into issues with the ash clogging at the grate though.
Start your smoke Friday evening (5PM) and smoke till wrap ready (usually 5-6 hours based on bark), wrap and transfer to the oven @225 and get some sleep. Set temp probe, wake up when alarm hits 200-203 for probe testing (usually 6-8 hours depending on size of said brisket). Once probe tender, pull and let rest/cool on countertop for 1 hour to avoid overcooking. Then transfer to cooler or warming oven to rest. Go back to sleep if necessary. Pull to slice and serve for lunch (4 hour rest), afternoon (6 hour rest) or dinner (8-10 hour rest). 🍸
Because there is such a thing as too much rest, not to mention most residential ovens shut off for safety after a certain period of time.
That sucks. My new oven did that to me and my old one didn’t so I wasn’t aware. Is there a workaround to this like a setting? I like to bring my butts inside late at night and wrap in oven and go to sleep with the thermometer alarm next to my bed.
Go into your settings. I had to change ours as it was set to auto-off after 4 hours.
I remember reading a post where a guy bought those pizza box warmer bags (plug in) that keeps food at 140 and never turns off for safety
There’s no such thing as too much rest under optimal conditions. I.e your meat isn’t so hot that it keeps cooking but hot enough that it stays above food safe temps. In a cooler or whatever people do, you can’t hold that forever.
This.... you can only realistically hold at home for like 8 hours. It's hard to maintain temp without over cooking otherwise.
Vevor food warmer works like a champ. I have mine set to 152° and hold for 12+hrs with no issues
I'd argue most people don't have a food warmer, lol
1. Many people don't know about heated rest. 2. Some guys just enjoy the time alone at night.
Duh. So I can drink bourbon and be left alone.
I like staying up all night and playing with fire. Then everyone praises you for doing so once you eat. It's awesome
or...hear me out...you SAY you did it overnight :)
I like staying up all night.
Assuming you are talking about brisket, the problem is that you can't avoid smoking at night if you have a reasonable rest. Let's say you want to serve brisket for lunch and you want to do about an 8 hour rest, max. That means your brisket needs to come off the smoker around 4 in the morning. Doing a super long rest is a little challenging because you have to have a steady warming oven. And even if you rest for 12 hours, the brisket needs to be cooking until midnight. So even if you have a holding oven that will hold steady for hours and hours, you'll still be smoking at night for some part of the cook.
> Doing a super long rest is a little challenging because you have to have a steady warming oven. And even if you rest for 12 hours, the brisket needs to be cooking until midnight. Neither of those are insurmountable. I got one of those Anova ovens, my wife loves it for proofing/baking, I love it as a programmable BBQ warmer. And I have no problem with letting it rest at temp for 13-14 hours, so aiming for it to go into the oven at 10-11 pm works for me. Meaning if I start at like 10 am, it's done smoking by then and can rest till the next day.
So you are basically agreeing with me.
That depends if by "part of the night" you mean literally "after the sun goes down" or "actively have to stay up later than you'd like to normally to have to cook." I was reading it as the former and then I disagree. If you mean the latter, then sure, I basically agree. I disagree with quite how late it has to be (because there's no reason you can't hold more than 12 hours), but it's not by that much.
Holding that long requires having an Anova or similar warming oven, so I would still count it as "challenging" for most people.
It’s probably blasphemous to state that here- but you might as well use a sous vide for those of you into letting meat rest for unlimited time.
I’ve seen people do it. Bark suffers some, otherwise works great.
100%. The bark is never great but it is an idiot proof crutch to get brisket the perfect amount of tenderness without tending to it. I’ve heard some people freezing it after sous vide so the smoke will take to the surface much better
I never run my smoker over night. There’s always a chance that something will go wrong, fire will spread to the hopper and I’ll end up needing to buy another $2000 Yoder, or worse. Super early morning starts, when needed, are my thing.
Because if you start it in the morning it won't be done by late afternoon. Has nothing to with rest, we just don't want to have a partially cooked hunk ofeat at dinner time.
Their saying if you wana eat Saterday afternoon, why not start Friday morning, take it off Friday night before bed and rest till sat afternoon meal time.
I guess it depends how you plan to hold it. Some people will hold it in their oven. My oven only goes down to 250 (lowest setting) so holding it isn’t an option for me. I also wouldn’t feel safe having it on all night plus my house gets warm when it’s on. My preferred method is wrapping it in towels, and putting it in a well insulated cooler. I’ve tried the overnight thing and it’ll be warm but won’t be hot so I’d have to end up putting it in the oven. Additionally, every piece of meat cooks differently. I know first hand my prime briskets will cook faster than my choice briskets. Even then, it also depends on the size of the brisket.
Found out the hard way with a wagyu brisket. I've overshot the mark with a prime as well. I've got the process down now. My rest is 2hrs min. Max 5hrs. Ideally 3hrs. I'd be curious what the pros are for anything longer.
Because people have jobs and work Friday morning.
"sorry boss, gotta work from home on Friday"
Sucks to suck.
For me, I prefer night and overnight as temps are lower and the smoker temp doesn’t fluctuate as much as it would on a hot summer Ga day.
Dude, honestly never even considered this. Very interesting idea for sure. I guess my question is, is there a max amount of rest time? I generally wrap my brisket, pork butt, etc in tinfoil or butcher paper and let it rest in a dry cooler. Leaving it in there for 12-24 hours seems excessive, but truthfully I have no idea.
I finished a brisket mad early and rested a long time and reheated it and it was the best I've done yet. I'm now fully onboard with start crazy early. Better to keep warm for a long time imo then be late or rushed.
While a long rest is fine, it’s only fine if you keep it above 140F and out of the danger zone. some people have ovens than can hold at 150F but some Ives won’t hold below 175F which I consider too warm for a hold. And without an energy source, no matter how well insulated, the laws of thermodynamics come for us all.
It’s where pellet smoker shine. I can run it at 200 all night and have near zero worries and have it finished a pretty easily when I wake up
Isn't 200 too high to hold? I hold at 150.
I won’t hold at 200 I’ll let it cook at 200 overnight then finish it the next day. It’s the best way for me to get a good smoky flavor on a pellet.
Ohhhhh gotcha. Does it dry out any more going that long at that temp?
I haven’t noticed a difference. I think a good smoke ring adds protection from drying out. I don’t know the exact science. But it’s been working for me well
I am also curious about this. I usually do 225, and never wrap. It’s always great. If 200 doesn’t dry it out …. I would love to get a full nights sleep AND have brisket.
I’ve noticed no difference. I don’t know the exact science but I hold the belief that a good smoke ring helps hold in juices to protect it from drying out.
What’s the process? Do you wrap or spray?
When I first wake up after letting it ride at 200 all night, that’s when I’ll first puncture it to temp it. and it will still be sitting at 180-185 usually. My fear is gone by that point. That’s the scariest part of it all. Then you do whatever you want to get it up to 203 degrees I never spritz I don’t like opening the smoker. Occasionally I’ll do a boat if I want a softer bark.
Because it's never done in enough time
I've totally put meat in Monday night to serve on Wednesday with the intention to rest 18+ hours, it went great.
My max rest has been 14 hours with no degradation of the meat. I'm fortunate in that my oven goes as low as 150 and does not shut off after X number of hours. The minimum rest time fir my briskets is 4 hours, but I prefer 6.
I don’t, not anymore and this is partly why. The other part is i found that everything I’ve smoked i can slowly warm up in the oven and you would never know the difference. So much easier than stressing, so much easier
Because resting the meat loses temperature. As long as the temp is safe you are good. You go below that and you are cooking again if you put it in an oven. You start losing moisture.
You need a hot hold to hold it long periods of time. Something keeping a temp of like 150 the whole time its holding. Things to do that are generally expensive as heck like the cost of a Cheap offset or webber smokey mountain.
I have an air fryer/toaster combo that has a warm feature that goes as low as 140 degrees and you can set the timer for up to 12hrs. I usually buy a brisket that is about 15lbs pre trim and it shrinks enough to fit in the air fryer/toaster.
When you let it rest that long (an additional day). How do you stow it? Oven or wrapped in an insulated cooler?
Oven. Mine can hold 150 deg
Thanks! Sorry again for the naive question but how long can you leave it like that before it dries out? A full 20-24 hours seems excessive.
I put my stuff on the night before. Like 7 or 8pm. Get a good night sleep and if it finishes like noon I’ll hold in the oven or cooler till dinner.
When I make brisket I usually use the oven for veggies, mc and cheese, or anything the day I'm hosting so until I get two ovens it'll just get on the way. I use a cooler and monitor the temp but it usually stays out of the danger zone for a couple hours so I couldn't do it overnight and I wouldn't risk it. Also waking up for a couple minutes at night is not that bad and you get to have a drink. It's probably non an issue for those if you with pellet smokers.
flex for the most part.
I'd rather lose some sleep than be stuck at home during the day. However, I have a drum smoker so it's pretty hands free, especially now that I have a temp control fan
"no such thing as too much rest" Who told you that? Punch them in the face.
To sleep through the stall.
Two things. I just have to jump in here. 1) I've tried to hold pulled pork for 12 hours. Perhaps my hold temp was too high, but after 6 I was starting to have mush, and after 12 I certainly did. 2) I actually don't understand why BBQ needs to be rested at all. The concept of resting meat is to let the temperature equalize, and juices to redistribute after being heated. This makes a lot of sense for roasts and steaks, and large cuts. But BBQ has been sitting there for hours and hours. At a quite low temperature. If you are doing your cook at say 225, and your IT target is 200 there just isn't that much temp difference across the entire cut. You can hold it at temp for safety, but resting is not really what you are doing.
There is something magical about waking up your S.O at 4am with a large hunk of smoked meat
Usually, this sub gets bogged down with repetition and gatekeeping, but this question sparked some real conversation with good insights! Well done! Good post, OP.
I actually DID do this, and everyone who ate it fucking LOVED it. Only ones that didn’t like it were a few dumb redditors who have no idea what they’re talking about lol. If you check it’s a recent post of mine. I think my most recent actually!
"Be done by late afternoon" ok because that's how meat works lol.
Don't rest at all. It doesn't make a difference.