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What temp is a brisket done?
If you want to know what temperature any type of brisket should be considered to be finished cooking, just know that at 200 degrees and internal temperature is when that occurs.
The reason why 200 degrees Fahrenheit is so important to consider when saying a brisket is done, is because that is basically when the collagen and connective tissues within the meat have rendered down completely.
You also have to understand what you are barbecuing to begin with. A brisket is a huge hunk of meat that is derived from the breast portion of a cow. It has high fiber content and is very tough to eat if you don’t cook it thoroughly enough.
That’s why it can take quite a bit of time to smoke one all the way, let alone bring it all the way up to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit and internal temperature. Not only that, but the temperature readings at that stage aren’t even really the main thing that you should be considering when finally pulling it off the smoker for good.
What you should be doing is using the 200 degree Mark as a mere guideline to say that the rendered down contents have either started or completed. Specifically, to test that for your individual brisket, you need to take your thermometer out of the brisket and begin reinserting it multiple times throughout the meat.
If you don’t want to do that, grab a toothpick or other type of probing device and start playing around with the brisket and test for any resistance. You want to make sure that there is no resistance. That is indicative of a done brisket.
If there is resistance, then the brisket has not completed that process, and you should continue to cook it at the current temp for about another 30 minutes or so, and then reassess.
Final Thoughts
Briskets are not necessarily finished cooking at a specific temperature, but more so how they probe out. Just grab a toothpick or the thermometer that you already have at hand, and make sure to begin reinserting it all throughout the piece of barbecue. Test for no resistance, and think of it like it’s going into a warm stick of butter. That is a tried-and-true method and the tell tale sign that it is truly done.
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.