Oven Smoked Brisket
by Cap'n Pierre
(Eden Isles, Louisiana, USA)
I've seen lotsa brisket recipes where you smoke the meat for 6-8 hours outdoors (we use a Brinkmann Gourmet), then finish it in the indoor oven at 210° for 2-4 more hours.
My question is this: Can you reverse that process? That is, put on the rub, wrap or cover, and oven bake the brisket for several hours first (how long?), and THEN put the mostly-cooked meat on the smoker (or over coals) to finish it?
This would allow for a much more controlled method. Possibly even oven-cooking & refrigerating overnight, then hickory-smoke it outdoors for a few hours the next day to put on the smoke-rind, smoke-flavor, & finish the brisket in last few hours.
Your opinion will be much appreciated.
Answer:-
Whether you cook it in the smoker or the oven, you'll get the same texture result provided you cook it at the same low temperature. Flavor wise, you'll miss out.
Finishing it off in the oven does make the process more controllable and you can do this because most folks will agree that after the first 5 hours, passing more smoke over the meat has little effect.
Reversing the process however means that you're going to miss out on a lot of the smoke flavor and all the fun!
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