Smoke a brisket, but not all the way then reheat/finish later?

[BERNIE MOSFET]

It is not uncommon for bbq joints to pull briskets before they are done and reheat them later. I won't speak to the quality of the end product, but there are no issues with food safety so long as you bring the thickest part to temp and do not cut into the brisket. The smoke retards spoilage enough that the meat can go some time without refrigeration, but I do not recommend that.

If you pull it hot and put it into a cooler, it will continue to cook.

[Magnimike1]

I often buy them 3/4 cooked frozen and vacuum sealed from a friend. Reheat at 200° for two hours still in bag. Turn out awesome.

[Jose]

So how did this turn out?

[momo]

i never tried with a brisket but the rest, refrigerate overnight, then reheat process is the best way to prepare short ribs. a lot it has to do with marrying flavors but texture always improves and meat is more tender/falls apart/goodness.

overnight in the fridge allows in the re-solidification of fat then reheating it evenly distributes fat to muscle/ratio. basically it's like confit (cooking it in it's own fat).

[bird_dog0347]

So this actually turned out really good... I smoked it to about 140 degrees internal at the largest part then shut it down and wrapped it in foil and in the fridge it went overnight. The next day at the lake house I threw it in the oven, still wrapped in foil, at 215 degrees around noon and pulled it out at 6pm to take it to the dock where everyone was and where we'd all eat.

When I pulled it from the oven I checked the temp in the same spot with a meat thermometer that my uncle had at the lake house and I was scared shitless.... It said 150 degrees. I was REALLY worried it wouldn't be tender at all but we didn't have a lot of options as there were like 20 hungry people at the dock. So I threw it in the cooler and took it over there and sliced it up. It was actually very tender and way hotter than 150 so I figured out his thermometer just sucks ass.

It was probably my 3rd best brisket I've done (out of like 6 or 7 total) but I got tons of compliments on it and the 13lb brisket was gone in short order.