Need sous vide advice on BGE smoked brisket

Canugghead

I have done MSM brisket several times with decent success as follows:
10-day brine, 1 day rest, smoked low and slow till IT 165, chill, gently steamed about 3.5 hours till IT 195-200F before serving. Steaming generates tons of juice.

Want to take a previously smoked (unsteamed) MSM point from the freezer for a party Saturday night, due to travel logistics etc. it's not practical to steam on location. Pondering two options:

1) Steam at home and FTC about an hour. Never done this before.
2) Sous vide at home and transport pouch in hot water. Don't have a clue at what temp and how long though.

Any advice and wisdom that you can share would be much appreciated. TIA. I have 48 hours starting now.

Photo Egg

If it’s already fully smoked and cooked it only needs a temp of 145 to warm up to serve. If it’s only smoked to 165, chilled as above I would do SV @145-155 for 36 hours.
This info is based on happy hour judgment.

paqman

I think that I would go with the steam at home and then maybe vacuum seal it and transport in hot water 

Canugghead

@Photo Egg Thanks for chiming in. 155 for 24-36hrs is what I see in several recipes for starting with raw brisket, followed by post sv smoke.

I have two curveballs here,
a) brisket already smoked to 165
b) missing post sv smoke; now I'm thinking the colour will be very unappetising.

Jstroke

I would steam at home and ftc and bring it over. An hour is nothing with good insulation. No serious heat loss

Canugghead

paqman said:

I think that I would go with the steam at home and then maybe vacuum seal it and transport in hot water 

Sorry, missed your reply earlier.  Perfect, I like that. I have this mental block that you can't vacuum seal hot/warm food in chamber sealer, keep forgetting that I still have the old Foodsaver   It's too big for the chamber sealer anyway, duh.

Thanks, glad I asked.

Canugghead

Jstroke said:

I would steam at home and ftc and bring it over. An hour is nothing with good insulation. No serious heat loss

Thanks, that's what I was leaning towards, before reading @paqman 's idea. Also thinking of adding some juice back in the bag to keep it moist. But who knows, if rebagging gets too unwieldy I'll just FTC it.

paqman

It doesn’t need to be vacuum sealed, a large ziploc will do just fine.  I typically let them rest 30-45 minutes before serving anyway so an hour doesn’t sound excessive depending on how long you plan to serve it after that.

Canugghead

@paqman true, but I don't have supersized ziploc bags    otoh I still have many wide FS rolls.

Jstroke

Whatever is handy and works for you. Me, I would put it in a pot/bowl cling film and foil the top etc, and simply put the bowl in the cooler and pack with towels. Fighting to get it in the vac bag hot would send me into orbit. 

Canugghead

Jstroke said:

Whatever is handy and works for you. Me, I would put it in a pot/bowl cling film and foil the top etc, and simply put the bowl in the cooler and pack with towels. Fighting to get it in the vac bag hot would send me into orbit. 

Haha, this may well happen to me on Saturday! Matter of fact, wrapping the whole shebang, steam pan and all, did cross my mind too. Stay tuned! After posting this, I'm going to look for a cooler box that can accommodate the pan, won't hurt to have a plan B and plan C! Damn, I'm overthunking this.

Canugghead

@paqman's suggestion worked like a charm. Thanks.

With the Fat Daddia's spatula it was a piece of meat shoehorning the steamed brisket into the FS bags, extra bag headroom ensured good suction before liquid started approaching the seal bar, had one hand ready on the dial and switched to seal immediately when that happened.


PTC with 3/4 full of 170F water and held for about two hours easily. May deploy this technique again, so much easier than steaming at someone's home.




It was a big gathering since pre covid with almost everyone from three generations, the host (a nephew's swmbo) cooked up a storm...

Spicy seafood


Spring rolls


Bacon and nappa fried rice


Wings


Smoked eel fried rice


Char siu


Braised pork belly with quail eggs


Veggie and noodles [no pics]

Contribution from a niece who used to sell baked goods online...



Store bought


Our nephew is into roasting his own coffee beans, oh my, a rabbit hole that I must R.E.S.I.S.T. 

WeberWho

Woah! What a good looking spread of food!

GrateEggspectations

@Canugghead

Still trying to figure out how to get myself invited to one of your parties. Those eats!! 🤤 

I’ve always been curious about roasting my own beans. Get your nephew to roast some on the Egg! 

Canugghead

@WeberWho @GrateEggspectations Thanks, not sure if we enjoyed the food or ours and siblings' grandkids (14 total) more! He doesn't own an egg, I was afraid to ask what's involved in bean roasting; missed his 12-minute demo on roasting the beans used in that cuppa.