At 135°F (57°C), brisket will never achieve the fall-apart texture of a traditionally barbecued brisket. Instead, it will soften while retaining its structure. After 12 hours, it's still quite tough. After 24, it's as tender as a New York strip steak. After 36 hours, it's even more tender, and, by 72 hours, you'll have brisket that can be cut with a spoon, while still giving you a meaty bite and juicy texture.
At 145°F (63°C), the meat will just barely start to separate into a traditional brisket grain, but it will be a little drier than it is at 135°F. This is sort of a temperature dead zone for me: too cool to significantly break down muscle fibers to the point that they shred like traditional brisket, but hot enough that the meat will dry out as it cooks.
At 155°F (68°C), we get much better results than at 145°F. Yes, the brisket will expel a lot of moisture as it cooks, but what it loses in water it gains in tenderness and moisture, in the form of more connective tissue breaking down and fat rendering. For me, 155°F for between 24 and 36 hours is ideal.
To Cook:Set your precision cooker to 165°F (74°C) for more traditionally textured pulled pork, or 145°F (63°C) for sliceable but tender pork. When the bath is at temperature, add sealed bag with pork and cover with foil or plastic wrap. Allow to cook for 18 to 24 hours. After this stage, pork can be refrigerated for up to 1 week before continuing.
From <[https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/07/sous-vide-barbecue-pulled-pork-shoulder-recipe.html](https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/07/sous-vide-barbecue-pulled-pork-shoulder-recipe.html)>
At this low temperature, ribs retain plenty of moisture as they tenderize. The result is an extra-meaty rib that has the texture of a moist pork chop, but is still tender to the tooth. It pulls away from the bones nicely with just a little tug. I've never gotten meat with this texture using more traditional means of cooking, so if you really want to see what sous vide can do, this is the way to go.
Traditional Barbecue–Style Texture: 165°F (74°C) for 12 Hours
Relatively hot and fast = traditional barbecue texture.
At 165°F (74°C), you end up with meat that's a little more loose and shreds more easily, though it's by no means dry. This is meat that pulls off the bone and almost melts on your tongue, washing it with porky flavor and leaving behind shreds with a more significant chew. The texture is very much like that of traditional barbecue, though a little bit moister.
You can extrapolate from these two temperatures and timings to figure out what other combinations in between will yield. Cooking at 152°F (67°C) for 24 hours was a close runner-up, resulting in a texture that's a little more tender than the 145°F ribs, but a little juicier than the 165°F ones.
So, while ribs cooked at 145°F will take about three times as long to tenderize as ribs cooked at 165°F, they'll end up with a meatier, more succulent texture that eats almost like an extra-tender steak. Ribs cooked at a higher temperature will have a more traditional barbecue rib texture, with well-rendered fat and meat that shreds as you eat it.
For Extra-Juicy Ribs, Turn to Salt!
With temperature and timing addressed, I turned to the next question: the rub. I mixed together a basic spice rub using our guide to spice rubs as a template, adjusting the flavors until I got something I was happy with. I ended up with a combination of paprika, mustard seed, black pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano, coriander seed, and red pepper flakes, along with brown sugar for sweetness.
A couple of questions came up immediately. Some sous vide recipes recommend against adding spice rubs to the bag as the meat cooks, because they can alter the flavor in a negative way. I have never found this to be the case, whether I'm cooking a steak, vegetables, or ribs. Spice rubs work just fine in sous vide bags.
The other, more important question was that of salt. Specifically, when and how much to add. Salt can have a profound effect on the texture and flavor of meat proteins. As salt sits in contact with meat, it will dissolve some muscle proteins, which in turn helps the meat retain moisture better. That's the reason a ham has that particular juicy and tender texture—which is great in ham, but not always desirable in barbecue. I tried cooking a few different sets of ribs side by side.
From <https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/the-food-lab-complete-guide-sous-vide-pork-ribs.html>
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