The facts: I smoked the prime brisket flat portion for 3.5 hours at 225 then into sous vide for 50 hours at 135 degrees. Then I seared it on a hot grill, sliced it and poured the jus from the bag over the slices. I'd say the texture was like strip steak and had chew but not overly so. You had to give the slices a little tug to pull them apart but it wasn't dry or mealy or overcooked. For what it's worth, I smoked this to an internal temp of 155 before vacuum sealing it so I don't know if going above 135 greatly affected the final product.
My opinion: The flavor and texture was pretty good with just salt and pepper. I very much missed the bark and while there was plenty of smoke flavor, it lacked the well rounded bbq flavor that I'm used to(whatever that means). In fairness, even though this was prime grade, a half a flat is a pretty unforgiving piece of meat to truly test the potential of this method. I figured that if somehow this flat came out jiggling, which it certainly did not, then I'd have a new favorite cooking style. I believe that others' experiences in this thread have been better than mine and I may try this with a whole flat. I'm certain that the point would come out more to my liking, but that's always been the case.
