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How long to let brisket sit before smoking
If you’re wondering how long you should be letting a brisket sit out before smoking, then you have come to the right place.
Should Meat Be Room Temp Before Smoking? Many People Suggest Letting Brisket Rest for 30 Minutes to 1 Hour.
One reason for this recommendation is that allowing the brisket to reach room temperature can lead to slightly quicker cooking times during the barbecuing process.
If the internal temperature is already at about 60 to 70°, then you don’t need to spend the extra time pushing it past probably around 30° in internal temperature, all the way up to that point to begin with.
This could possibly save you around an hour or so of cook time overall.
Not only that, but there is a lot of debate from pit-masters online and in person, that suggests room temperature briskets can obtain slightly more or less smoke flavor than a cold temperature brisket pulled directly out of the refrigerator.
Should brisket be room temperature before smoking
In terms of should you leave your brisket out and leave it so it comes up to room temperature before you smoking, it’s really up to you.
Understand what your goals are for your brisket.
If you want plenty of smoke flavor, and potentially shorter cook times, then what you could actually do instead of just leaving your brisket out, is simply cooking it at a hotter temperature throughout the smoking session.
That to me is a lot easier to fix and more efficient than simply just wasting time letting it sit out on the counter.
Do you let brisket come to room temperature?
If you want to leave your brisket out overnight and are wondering how long that timeframe should be, just try and leave it on the counter of your kitchen for about 7-8 hours.
This is plenty of time to let the brisket come up to room temperature.
I wouldn’t go past that amount of time, as you would probably be better served just throwing it on the smoker to begin with.
You just want to give it enough time to come up to room temperature at the very most, then throw it on the smoker.
It doesn’t really take the whole night for it to do that, and can potentially harm your brisket by making it spoil for sitting out for so long.
How long does it take to get brisket to room temperature?
It usually takes only about an hour or so to let a fully fledged brisket come up to room temperature.
If you want accurate reading, take a meat probe and promptly slide it into the thickest part of the flat portion of the meat for the best readings.
Final Thoughts
On average, you can let your brisket sit out for 1 to 2 hours. That is strictly to let it come up to room temperature before you throw it onto your smoker.
You can leave it on the counter overnight, but it is not recommended, as that could present issues with it spoiling.
All you have to do is simply take it out of the refrigerator and place it directly on your counter while it is in some sort of container that is easily transportable.
Stick a meat probe in it to measure the internal readings and throw it onto the smoker once its seasoned and is up to room temp.
Enjoy!
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.