What’s the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear brisket – meat pleasure of ten pounds or more but no less. Whether you are smoking your first brisket or you are a pro of this domain, you understand the process of slowly smoking brisket in an electric smoker. That’s why you end up having loads of leftover briskets.
Today is your lucky day, as this guide won’t let you waste a single slice of your beloved beef. If you want to learn how to reheat brisket without drying it out, read along.
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Best Way to Reheat Brisket
Successful reheating of brisket depends on how you store this precious meat. You’ll be able to enjoy tender beef upon reheating by following these steps to store a brisket:
- Use a fat separator to drain the excess juice.
- Next, place the brisket in a large pan.
- You should vacuum-seal the pan using an expandable plastic bag.
The above steps allow you to store brisket in the refrigerator for up to three days. Additionally, you can freeze the same brisket in a freezer for an extended time.
However, you just can’t reheat a frozen brisket right away; instead, you need to keep the frozen brisket in the fridge for at least two days before reheating it.
Reheat Brisket in the Oven
A rule of thumb is to reheat the food the same way it was cooked earlier. In the case of brisket, the best way is to reheat in an oven. It doesn’t matter if you previously smoked brisket in a pellet grill; because the key here is “Low and Slow” cooking.
Following the above rule, you should never cook the meat faster in an oven set at a higher temperature. If you don’t want to suck the moisture out from the brisket, preheat your toaster oven or convection oven at 325F degrees. A higher temperature can turn brisket meat chewy and stretchy.
Prepare the Brisket
You must do your homework while the oven preheats. First, you must take your brisket out of the fridge and place it in a baking pan at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. This process ensures consistency and even reheating.
If you place the brisket straight into the oven from the fridge, you’ll end up having a crisp warm exterior with a cold center. You surely don’t want to do that.
As a barbeque lover, you should preserve the leftover cooking juices in your fridge to reheat the brisket. Then, you can pour the cooking juices over the brisket. However, you can also add beef broth if you don’t have any leftover cooking juice.
Seal the Brisket Pan
At this point, you have preheated your oven, and the brisket is all ready to get inside the oven. So, what’s next?
You require an aluminum foil, form a double layer, and cover the brisket. You can crumble the foil around the pan edges to create a perfectly tight seal without any leaks or holes.
Now, you are all set to place the sealed brisket in the oven and reheat it until the internal temperature reaches 165F degrees. The reheating time differs as it may take you a long time to reheat a whole brisket than beef chunks.
Reheat Brisket in the Smoker
If you have enough time before serving the brisket, you can reheat the brisket in a smoker. You should know it will take around four hours to reheat brisket in a smoker.
First, you must take the brisket out of the fridge and let it rest for around 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop at room temperature. Next, you need to follow the same steps you did for reheating the brisket in the oven.
Reheating the brisket allows you to infuse aroma and woody flavor to your brisket. You can use hickory or maple, which is the best wood for smoking brisket.
How to Reheat Brisket Using Sous Vide Method
It’s one of the best and most effective methods to reheat brisket. This method requires only three things – sous vide cooker, container, and a lid.
First, fill the container with water, leveled one inch higher than the lowest water line. Next, carefully place the sous vide cooker on one of the edge corners of the water container.
You essentially reheat the brisket in water in this method, so you must tightly seal it in a plastic bag. You can set the timer to three hours, depending on the brisket thickness. In the end, close the lid and wait patiently for two to three hours or until the meat reaches the water temperature.
In the end, take out the brisket, cut it into thin slices using Victorinox Swiss Army slicing knife, which is one of the best knives for slicing brisket.
Reheat Leftover Brisket in Slow Cooker
A slow cooker or crockpot offers consistent heat distribution and even heating. However, there is a limitation, and that’s the size of the crockpot.
Slow cookers are relatively smaller and can’t accommodate large-sized briskets. Nonetheless, you can always slice the meat before placing it in the cooker and, as a result, reduce cooking time.
First, you need to take the brisket out of the fridge and allow it to rest at room temperature for half an hour. Next, place the brisket in a pan and pour the leftover dripping juices on the meat.
You must preheat the slow cooker at 325F degrees before you place the brisket side down inside. Don’t forget to seal the pan using aluminum foil, leaving no leak holes.
The entire reheating process in a slow cooker may take up to four hours. Alternatively, you can use the meat probes to check the internal brisket temperature. If the temperature is 165F degrees, you can take the pan out of the cooker and serve immediately.
Use a Convection Oven to Reheat Brisket
You should know that a convection oven is more effective than a standard oven. It’s because it circulates hot air inside the oven, spreading the heat evenly all around, preventing any hot spots. Additionally, you no longer need to flip the brisket pieces inside, thus reducing the overall cooking time.
For example, you need to preheat a convection oven at 300F degrees and still be able to reduce the overall cooking time by 20 percent. One thing to ensure is that the brisket’s internal temperature should be around 140F to 160F degrees, as it’s the standard serving temperature.
The process of reheating brisket in a convection oven remains the same as a conventional oven. After reheating, you need to let the brisket rest in the foil for 30 minutes before serving.
Is it Possible to Reheat Brisket in a Microwave Oven?
Yes, it’s possible but not at all recommended. It’s because the microwave will turn the water into steam, removing all the essential moisture from the brisket, making it rubbery and dry.
However, if you don’t have any other choice, you can follow these steps to reheat brisket in a microwave oven:
- Place the brisket in Tupperware.
- Loosen the lid to release the steam slowly.
- Adjust the heat settings to 20 percent above the defrost to prevent overcooking of brisket.
- Use 30 seconds bursts to reheat the brisket in the microwave oven.
- Keep on checking the internal temperature in between the intervals.
The meat temperature reaches 140F degrees within two to four minutes, depending on the brisket size.
Conclusion
We are sure after reading this guide; you won’t be looking for leftover brisket recipes over the Internet. Instead, you can bookmark this article for your future reference whenever reheating the brisket on a pellet smoker, gas grill, or oven.
