The best way to get a brisket to stay warm is to cover it tightly and put it in an insulated container. This can keep your brisket warm for up to 6 hours (or possibly more.)
When I was a commis chef at a barbeque restaurant, we had a commercial holding oven to keep smoked recipes warm all day. I don’t have this option at home, and I doubt most people do. Warming ovens is not a viable option when you have to travel to potlucks or picnics with your brisket.
So I’ve detailed the most practical ways to keep your brisket warm in this article. You won’t need any fancy equipment. The methods below have worked for me when I needed to keep a brisket warm for several hours. Read on:
I have experimented with a number of techniques for keeping brisket warm. From my experience I can say that the following are the only methods that actually work to keep meat warm for more than an hour (without a hot box):
I once asked the head chef at the aforementioned barbecue restaurant how to keep brisket warm at home. He told me to use a cooler as it works to keep brisket moist for longer periods too.
Iceboxes generally keep things cool. It turns out, they can store things in hot temperatures as well. What a cooler does is create an insulated environment for food. It can preserve heat surprisingly well.
There are some steps you need to take to prepare your cooler for this process. Let’s start with removing any ice that might be left inside. Then you will need a few items.
You need to turn up the temperature of the container before placing the brisket in it. The easiest method is to pour in some hot water and close the lid.
Be careful about pouring boiling water inside. Most have plastic linings that might cause the boiler to melt. So it’s best to stick to lukewarm water for this part.
There are other ways to do this if you want to avoid hot water. I have a friend who uses a heating pad, and my backpacker uncle uses hot bricks when he’s out camping!
You can try any preferred way to ramp up the temperature of the cooler. Once you can feel the heat, quickly close it up.
I don’t allow my brisket to stay out of the oven unless I’m serving. So, if I need to keep the meat warm and juicy for a prolonged period, I wrap it in heavy foil soon after the cooking time is done.
You don’t necessarily need heavy-duty foil; any type of tin foil will do. The trick is to wrap your brisket tightly without leaving any air space. Keep your brisket sealed in the cover as much as possible.
You can additionally cover the heavy foil in pink butcher paper as extra insulation to keep the brisket warm. While butcher paper is great for preserving moisture in cooked food, it’s not as good as tin foil at insulating. So, you need to cover your brisket in foil beforehand.
If you don’t have butcher paper, you can use plastic wrap. You can use a kitchen towel as well.
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Place the brisket in the container as soon as it has been wrapped. Close it quickly.
I sometimes place steaming beef broth or beef stew in there as well. It introduces additional heat to the insulated environment which helps keep the brisket from cooling.
If you are like me and have a remote thermometer, you can occasionally check the brisket to make sure it’s not cooling. It will help in case you messed up the wrapping.
Now you can prevent your smoked meat from cooling for at least 6 hours without needing to reheat it. Not only will this method keep your brisket warm, it will keep it moist as well. If you have to reheat, you will ruin the tender texture.
This will work well when you need to transport your foodstuffs to a guest’s house or picnic.
There’s more than one way to keep a brisket warm. If you don’t have a cooler, you can use an oven.
I’m not talking about the holding ovens at restaurants. Your oven at home will work just fine.
The method is simple. Wrap your brisket in foil as mentioned above. Then, place it in your oven and shut it tight.
Keep the oven door shut until you need to serve the meal. Sure, your oven is designed to hold in hot temperatures, but not if you keep opening the door all the time.
You can preheat the oven to make sure the temperature inside will not cool. However, be careful not to overdo it or your carefully cooked brisket might turn dry.
A home oven can keep a brisket warm for up to 6 hours. I can keep brisket moist and warm for nearly half a day with my oven at home. It won’t be sizzling after 10 hours, but it will still taste great.
I should make in an important note here: Your oven at home won’t be able to keep your meat warm as well as a commercial holding oven. However, it’s a good enough substitute.
Don’t slice your brisket before wrapping it.
Sliced meat loses moisture fast. So it’s best to wrap your brisket whole after cooking.
You can probably prevent foodstuffs from turning cold in a smoker for about several hours. I sometimes leave mine in for a couple of hours after smoking to allow it to cool, but not get cold.
Don’t expect your smoker to self- regulate internal temperature well once it’s turned off. If you want to keep your brisket hotter for longer, it’s best to wrap it as I’ve mentioned above.
This really depends on the cooler and certain factors. If you use water or a pad for heating like I’ve detailed above, your brisket can stay moist for up to 6 hours or more. You can expect a cooler to prevent brisket from getting cold for at least a couple of hours.
Some final thoughts: don’t panic that your brisket will suddenly get cold. Prepare in advance, wrap it, and place it in a temperature-insulated container to serve it fresh and moist.
