I’ll stop by and help.
Has anyone tried Sous Vide then smoking a brisket? I’m going to attempt it this weekend and could use pointers.
I’m planning on Sous viding at 155 for 24 hours then chilling overnight then smoking until the stall or 185 degrees. But I’m open to thoughts/suggestions
Hmmm… That sounds like an impressive idea.
I want to know how this turns out. I’ve never heard of anyone doing this, but it makes sense conceptually.
Some thoughts…
Is there a reason why you would chill it? I don’t see much reason for that. It’s just going to slow down the cooking process. It seems as though starting the smoking with the whole meat already at 155 would allow it to bring itself up to 185 much faster, and potentially avoid the stall to some extent. The sous vide at 155 should already do some tenderizing, I’d think?
Honestly, I do not know what will happen, but it’s a cool idea.
EDIT:
Duh, I should have known. Serious eats has a whole page about this.
Thats a great article. Glad to see someone has actually done this already and it seems achieved good results. The reason you chill it is that apparently smoke adheres to cold meat easier than warm meat. It also then increases the amount of time you can put it in the smoker to get the smokes flavor before drying it out. The idea is to break down the tissue in the bath and then give it the flavor on the smoker. The benefit is that I am only manning the fire for a few hours as opposed to all day.
That’s interesting, but keep in mind that most of the smoke flavor and the ring all generally come from the first few hours of smoking something, when you do it normally.
Either way, I am eager to see what happens with your brisket.
Really, really interesting. When I do brisket on the smoker, I go to just over 200 degrees. But here, you don’t have to go as high.
Would love to hear how this turns out, @MattN. I have some points in the freezer. Might have to try this…
I do wonder, though, if you are going to refrigerate prior to smoking, why not smoke first? You could go to the stall then Sous-vide. Kenji says he prefers the other way, but in the name of efficiency (suggesting there won’t be refrigeration in between). You ought to get more smoke flavor that way, and a smoke ring, if that matters to you.
Matt, I think there is also a write up somewhere over at amazingribs.com though I don’t remember where exactly. I’ve wanted to take the same path since I know brisket is finicky to smoke well. Let us know how this turns out.
I have done this. Super tasty. Here’s a link to a whose recipe I followed, you don’t need to be super religious about following all the steps. The important part for me was the final finish in the over for a couple of hrs.
For possibly the first time ever I cooked for two meals in a row. Lunch was:
3-Ingredient Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese
from Serious Eats
They have the recipe for free on their site if you’re curious. It’s incredibly simple, though, and some of the best mac I’ve ever had. You just need the macaroni, a grated melting cheese like cheddar or in my case, a marble jack, and a small can of evaporated milk. Takes maybe ten minutes all told.
Then for dinner,
Skillet Sopa Seca with Chorizo and Black Beans
from Pasta Revolution
Also fairly simple. In Mexico, you use a kind of short, thin strand pasta called fideos for sopa seca, but that’s hard to come by in the US so they have you break vermicelli in half instead. You toast 1/2 lb of that in some vegetable oil for 4 minutes or so (until golden), then move it to a plate. Chop up an onion and saute in more oil until soft, then mix in garlic, minced chipotle in adobo, and sliced up smoked chorizo (I had to substitute a straight smoked sausage and a little ancho powder since for some reason I couldn’t even find Johnsonville chorizo at my grocery this time around). Once that’s fragrant, mix in a (rinsed) can of black beans and a can of diced tomatoes, 2 cups of chicken stock, and the toasted vermicelli. Cover and cook on medium high, stirring regularly until the pasta is tender. (Easier said than done with dry strand pasta!) Take it off the heat, mix in salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with monterey jack and cover for a few minutes until the cheese has melted. You’d also use minced fresh cilantro but mine was distinctly wilted so I skipped it.
Looks great, man!
It’s mac and cheese week here as well. I’ll be making a chili mac, but most likely with leftover taco meat. I realize that’s not true mac and cheese, but hey, it’s taking the basic parts and adding in kitchen leftovers to make a robust meal. :)
Hey, as long as there’s macaroni and there’s cheese, other adulterating agents don’t disqualify it.
So you lose the smoke ring when preparing it this way and the bark isn’t as dark but the flavor and texture was top notch. Next time I’ll broil it a little at the end to get it darker. My brother said it’s the best brisket he’s had so there’s that.
Looks awesome to me! Pass me a plate of that please.
First. There seems to have been a crime in my kitchen.
Anyway, the Limoncello sous vide.
One needs the zest of five lemons.
That leaves you with.
Naked lemons! (NSFW)
The cooking begins.
The result?
A high pressure jar of lemon zest and high proof alcohol. Since I don’t want that sprayed in my face, I will let it cool to room temp. More to come.
And finally.
Strained. Simple syrup added. Not seen in the pic, a slightly green color. That’s the tell of a really good Limoncello. That almost green yellow color.
I tasted the original product. The alcohol/zest mixture. And it was SO lemon. Like what a lemon should taste like. If it was mildly drunk. When I added the simple syrup I was looking for about 60 proof. It’s not a get drunk drink. It’s a dessert. An amuse bouche. Tomorrow we will see.
Okay, occasionally we get some awesome looking pics on here, but @MattN , holy cow that brisket looks good. And strangely, I’ve pulled quite a bit of smoked stuff out and finished it under broiler. For some reason I just like the crispy texture and even browning something that adds to things in a big way.
And Rich, I’m waiting on the limoncello review, patiently. Okay I’m not, tell us how it tastes! Mentioned previously, I lived in Italy for 2 1/2 years and unlike a lot of other liquors and alcoholic concoctions there, limoncello is amazing. I went to one restaurant that would pour a bit of over a very cold fresh fruit salad, and you would have a small amount as an digestif as well. So good.
I decided to make a pot of chili today. It seemed like the perfect food for this weather. Of course this isnt old school basic chili. I use cubed steak ( tenderized first through sous vide and then sauteed in fajita spices) and chorizo. I also added jalapeno, habanero and serrano chilies sauteed first in minced garlic and olive oil. Throw in some red and white kidney beans, garbanzos and black beans along with plenty of diced tomatoes and you pretty much have the picture. I thickened it with some tomato paste, refried beans and a touch of corn starch. I then finished it off with a combination of spices including crushed red pepper, chili powder, cayenne, cumin and onion powder. I also tried a spice recommend for chili that I had never considered. Cinnamon. Its still cooking away in the crock pot but I gave it a taste test and the cinnamon works amazingly well, giving it a touch of hot sweetness. If you try it, use it sparingly at first and adjust as you go. Cinnamon is fairly potent and you don’t want it to overpower the other flavors. Anyway, I think this batch is going to be a good one!
I’ve used cinnamon in chili before. It gives it that 'there’s something in this, I don’t know what, but I like it ’ flavor. When I tell people what it is, they always seem so surprised.
Yeah, I’m going to try cinammon in my next batch. I’ve had pre-made powders/paste which use it, and liked it, but I’ve yet to have it in my from scratch chili.
I’ve heard of people using cocoa powder as well. I’m assuming for the same reason, the, “this is different in a good way but I don’t know why,” tastes.
It’s chili weather too, great timing.