I smoked two briskets last weekend to serve this weekend. They are currently in my freezer and I plan to reheat with my sous vide based on Texags recommendation.

Do I need to thaw them ahead of time?

In reply to bam02

bam02 said:

---

I smoked two briskets last weekend to serve this weekend. They are currently in my freezer and I plan to reheat with my sous vide based on Texags recommendation.

Do I need to thaw them ahead of time?

---

Nope. I do that a lot. 90-120 minutes at 150 in my cooler sous vide rig and they're good to go

Thank you. I was hoping that was the case but this will be my first time. I cooked ahead of time to avoid any last minute stress. I'd be even more stressed if I found out it wasn't going to thaw in time!

I thaw mine slowly in the fridge for a few days before sous vide. They talked at Camp Brisket about cellular membrane rupturing and compromised taste if heated too quickly, or something like. Like college, I was half asleep during that class (meat coma this time vs alcohol the first time in school).

I've always done it that way so I'm not sure how big the difference it is. If NCol goes frozen to sous vide and likes it, then it's probably not a big difference. I trust his tastes.

In reply to BSD

BSD said:

---

I thaw mine slowly in the fridge for a few days before sous vide. They talked at Camp Brisket about cellular membrane rupturing and compromised taste if heated too quickly, or something like. Like college, I was half asleep during that class (meat coma this time vs alcohol the first time in school).

I've always done it that way so I'm not sure how big the difference it is. If NCol goes frozen to sous vide and likes it, then it's probably not a big difference. I trust his tastes.

---

There's probably something there similar to re-freezing meats that have been froze before, but basically in reverse.

I cook on a BGE so when I cook brisket I usually do two. Sometimes I take the second one to work the next week to feed the office and wont freeze it. Other times I've frozen it to save for a party or tailgate. Don't have any recollection of one being better than another. But you still have the variables of the cook and each brisket being different than another.

OP, if you've got room in the fridge for two briskets then I doubt it would hurt to do what BSD mentioned.

Daniel Vaughn of Teas Monthly has an article about he put a chilled Franklins 7lb brisket in an empty cooler and poured near boiling water over it. 3 hours later it was perfect.

In reply to LCE Yep do that when I cater. Works well. Just make sure the vac sealed edges out of the water. I've had a couple fail after bending in the hot water for some time.

OK thanks I'm gonna go ahead and throw them in the fridge today and let them thaw. We will be eating Saturday afternoon so I will just put it in the sous vide that morning at 165 unless y'all suggest otherwise.

Not to derail this thread, but what brand of Sous Vide cooker would you recommend? Thanks.