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[Woody]

Maybe some of you can help me understand something.  The reason I'm into smoking meats is because of my love of brisket done right.  It's strange though because I don't even know how I got into my brisket obsession because I can't remember ever having good brisket at any restaurant.  I do not have many friends who are smoking brisket or other stuff and I think I must have had a bbq sampler at a restaurant one day and recognized the potential with the mysterious muscle.

Since then I've become ok to kinda good at producing a decent brisket on my smoker.  Tons of reading and trial and error, although I still screw one up now and then.

Anyway, how in the heck can restaurants serve good brisket on the timeline of the ordering customer?  Maybe that's why I've had bad brisket at over a dozen bbq restaurants,...they had to serve me leftovers.  I've read that Aaron Franklin sells out every day so he gets to serve it at it's prime, but what about those who aren't selling out every day?  Can it be good and not just finished and rested?

If it can, it sure annoys me that I struggle so much making prime grade brisket that I'm happy with.   

[Ross77]

You are right, they are usually sitting in a warmer, waiting to be served.  They'll use beef broth to try and keep it moist.

Franklin's book has a timeline of a typical day.  It's pretty intense.

[Bar-B-Lew]

yep, my brother uses juices from his cook and keeps it in a steam table on low temp and other supply is kept in warming box of his cooker in sealed aluminum pans in juice.

[TheFatTick]

A well wrapped and insulated brisket can stay in a cooler for several hours without an appreciable loss of any texture or flavor.

Most bbq restaurants probably have either warming ovens or coolers where they can keep the day’s finished briskets wrapped and resting.

Brisket is actually pretty forgiving after it’s done.

[Bentley]

Define good?

Maybe some of you can help me understand something.  The reason I'm into smoking meats is because of my love of brisket done right. 

Anyway, how in the heck can restaurants serve good brisket on the timeline of the ordering customer?
 

[GREG-B]

Define good?

Exactly, I've never had what I would consider good or anywhere near as good as what I can produce on my own DB.  Like "Woody" said, sometimes it's a hit and or miss, but usually better than any restaurant can give me.

[wilpark]

I would time the briskets at different intervals.  Start them in 1 hour increments Or maybe certain spots on very big cookers have cool and hot zones and the briskets in the hot zone cooks faster.

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[Woody]

I wonder, if restaurants hold their finished briskets in a steamer or wrapped with some liquid, they must really lose bark.  Unlike Bentley, I love the bark and the best part a brisket, pork butt, or almost anything I smoke is the salty, fatty, crispy bark.  I wonder if the bark can be as satisfying on the second day as it is on the first, right after resting.  That's the real valuable method which I seek.

I've warmed leftover brisket in near boiling water after vacuum sealing it.  That method has surprised me with how good it is, but you still lose the bark