How to thaw a brisket

Mr1egg

Sooooo I kinda messed up and waited too long to start thawing my brisket. I pulled it out of the freezer yesterday mid day and put it in the fridge overnight. I’ve been reading on the internet that I can put it in water and it’ll help it thaw quicker. 

Right now it’s in a cooler in water, I was wondering if anyone did this before? I plan on throwing it on my q tomorrow morning. 

lousubcap

Nothing like a nice primer on heat transfer in the run-up to National Brisket Day (NBD). 
As above, keep changing out the water until you decide you need to get some sleep.  Then load it back into the fridge and prep and cook starting in the AM.   

theyolksonyou

All the time.  Thawing crawfish right now.  Just change the water every 30 min or so. 

Langner91

Yes, water is your only hope.  It transfers much more heat (cold) than air.  Change the water frequently with more cold water.  If it gets down to the mission critical time, start warming the water up a little at a time (add some warm water to your bath).

I haven't done it with a brisket, but that is the number one question on the Butterball hotline at Thanksgiving.  If it works for Turkey, it should work for Brisket.  Except your brisket is thicker.

Think low temperature SousVide if you are down to the wire.

Mr1egg

Why change the water? Can’t i just leave it u til tonight?

nolaegghead

It will thaw when you're cooking it.  Throw in some water to help get the plastic off it, then use a band saw, chain saw or machete to trim fat, then mustard to hold the rub (hard for spices to stick to an ice cube).  Cook.

Canugghead

Aquarium pump or Anova sv circulator.
https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1189388/defrosting-frozen-meat-with-aquarium-pump

theyolksonyou

Mr1egg said:

Why change the water? Can’t i just leave it u til tonight?

To keep the temp up and heat transfer going 

JohnInCarolina

Mr1egg said:

Why change the water? Can’t i just leave it u til tonight?

The brisket is basically a giant ice cube.  When you dunk it in water, its temperature gradually equilibrates with the water.  What this means is that the water gets quite a bit cooler, at which point the heat transfer from the brisket to the water slows down.  

So swapping out the water periodically just accelerates the process.

Mr1egg

I’ll change the water every hour and start my cook a hour early tomorrow just in case. Usually I leave it in the fridge for four days but this time I fd up. 

Thanks everyone for the answers, tomorrow is a big one. 

lkapigian

Thaw it just enough to get your rub on, it will cook fine 

completely thawing food is overrated