Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Cooking using an immersion circulator, the sous vide method, takes a little getting used to. As we have experimented with it, we have found that meats traditionally thought of as tough meats, which do need long cooking times, become exceptionally delicious when cooked sous vide, especially with some good flavor elements added. Simulating barbecued brisket, traditionally one of the hardest forms of barbecue to get right, seemed like a good choice.
If you have the time to be leisurely, you may optionally brine or cure the meat before cooking it. That is a completely separate process we won’t cover in this recipe. Once that’s done, you’d want to wash or very carefully brush clean the meat. Whether you do that or not, you may let the meat sit in its marinade for up to a day before processing in the cooker. Use of liquid smoke is of course a matter of taste; if you use some smoked chilis that should also impart a good smoky flavor to the meat. Pink salt will help keep the meat an attractive pink color in the middle but is not at all necessary.
The 48-hour cooking time produced excellent results for us, and should be suitable for pieces even twice the size we used. If you’re preparing an entire brisket, roughly 22-25 pounds of beef, you should probably break that down into about 4 pieces, each in its own pouch.
Makes enough for 2-5 pounds of brisket.
Equipment:
• large mixing bowl
• box grater
• vacuum sealer and plastic pouch(es) for meat
• immersion circulator and sous vide cooking vessel (a small cooler will do)
Ingredients:
2-5 lb brisket
1 ea onion
1-3 clove garlic
1-2 ea dried bird’s eye chili or arbol, or other dried chili to taste
1-2 Tbsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dill seed
3 ea allspice berries
1 ea clove
1/2-1 Tbsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp pink salt optional
5-10 drops liquid smoke optional
Procedure:
1. Place all the whole, dry spices (black pepper, chilis, dill seed, allspice berries, clove) into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and reduce to powder.
2. Peel the onion and garlic.
3. Using the box grater, grate the onion and garlic into the mixing bowl.
4. Add the powdered spices to the onion mixture.
5. Add the salts and the liquid smoke to the mixture.
6. Stir the mixture together thoroughly.
7. If the meat is coming out of a package, rinse it off if that seems indicated.
8. Place the meat into the bowl with the onion mixture and make sure the meat is covered in it.
9. Place the meat into a plastic vacuum pouch, optionally with all the rest of the marinade, and seal it up.
10. If desired, allow the meat to marinate for a day in the fridge, or get the immersion cooking rig set up and put the meat in immediately.
11. Process the meat at 135F for 48 hours.
12. Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the water bath and shock it in ice water to cool it down.
13. Let the meat sit overnight in the fridge before using for best results.
14. To serve, there are a couple of options. If serving a large group, consider using sous vide to warm the meat back up
135F or so, which will take 2-4 hours. Then it can go, fat side up, into a 450-500F oven for 10-15 minutes, to get the outside crispy.
15. Alternately, to serve over time, take slices off the piece, and sear them in a hot cast iron pan. Make sure to salt and pepper the meat before putting it onto the hot pan. Let them get a good crispy surface and then turn them over, and cook about half the time, something like 2-3 min first side, then about one.
16. This can make an excellent sandwich, or serve with traditional BBQ sides such as coleslaw, raw onion and sour dill pickles.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Cooking using an immersion circulator, the sous vide method, takes a little getting used to. As we have experimented with it, we have found that meats traditionally thought of as tough meats, which do need long cooking times, become exceptionally delicious when cooked sous vide, especially with some good flavor elements added. Simulating barbecued brisket, traditionally one of the hardest forms of barbecue to get right, seemed like a good choice.
If you have the time to be leisurely, you may optionally brine or cure the meat before cooking it. That is a completely separate process we won’t cover in this recipe. Once that’s done, you’d want to wash or very carefully brush clean the meat. Whether you do that or not, you may let the meat sit in its marinade for up to a day before processing in the cooker. Use of liquid smoke is of course a matter of taste; if you use some smoked chilis that should also impart a good smoky flavor to the meat. Pink salt will help keep the meat an attractive pink color in the middle but is not at all necessary.
The 48-hour cooking time produced excellent results for us, and should be suitable for pieces even twice the size we used. If you’re preparing an entire brisket, roughly 22-25 pounds of beef, you should probably break that down into about 4 pieces, each in its own pouch.
Makes enough for 2-5 pounds of brisket.
Equipment:
• large mixing bowl
• box grater
• vacuum sealer and plastic pouch(es) for meat
• immersion circulator and sous vide cooking vessel (a small cooler will do)
Ingredients:
2-5 lb brisket
1 ea onion
1-3 clove garlic
1-2 ea dried bird’s eye chili or arbol, or other dried chili to taste
1-2 Tbsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dill seed
3 ea allspice berries
1 ea clove
1/2-1 Tbsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp pink salt optional
5-10 drops liquid smoke optional
Procedure:
1. Place all the whole, dry spices (black pepper, chilis, dill seed, allspice berries, clove) into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and reduce to powder.
2. Peel the onion and garlic.
3. Using the box grater, grate the onion and garlic into the mixing bowl.
4. Add the powdered spices to the onion mixture.
5. Add the salts and the liquid smoke to the mixture.
6. Stir the mixture together thoroughly.
7. If the meat is coming out of a package, rinse it off if that seems indicated.
8. Place the meat into the bowl with the onion mixture and make sure the meat is covered in it.
9. Place the meat into a plastic vacuum pouch, optionally with all the rest of the marinade, and seal it up.
10. If desired, allow the meat to marinate for a day in the fridge, or get the immersion cooking rig set up and put the meat in immediately.
11. Process the meat at 135F for 48 hours.
12. Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the water bath and shock it in ice water to cool it down.
13. Let the meat sit overnight in the fridge before using for best results.
14. To serve, there are a couple of options. If serving a large group, consider using sous vide to warm the meat back up
135F or so, which will take 2-4 hours. Then it can go, fat side up, into a 450-500F oven for 10-15 minutes, to get the outside crispy.
15. Alternately, to serve over time, take slices off the piece, and sear them in a hot cast iron pan. Make sure to salt and pepper the meat before putting it onto the hot pan. Let them get a good crispy surface and then turn them over, and cook about half the time, something like 2-3 min first side, then about one.
16. This can make an excellent sandwich, or serve with traditional BBQ sides such as coleslaw, raw onion and sour dill pickles.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
