Does Rudy's Inject their Brisket?
 

Ok hear me out I know injecting a brisket is a cardinal sin. However, I had Rudy's last night and I always get Moist (the point). I have never had anything like it and I have been to Blacks, Louie Muellers, and a few others. Their moist is generally like how I have everywhere and the fatty doesn't just melt into your mouth. You can actually see the fat in most cases for those places.

However, when I go to Rudy's their moist is crazy moist and you cant see a substantial amount of fat. At first I thought maybe they use a high grade of meat I haven't smoke but the fact their meat is only $6.50/lb suggested otherwise. I mean you can buy really high quality meat and only charge that much.

So this has led me to believe that maybe Rudy's is injecting their meat. I am trying to match up my moist as close to them as possible so any tips would be appreciated. What are your opinions thoughts?

I would think an au jus ladeled over it before a commercial joint such as Rudy's actually injecting. Especially a brisket.

I doubt it. They cook too much brisket to mess around with injecting it. Maybe they use a super secret type butcher paper? :twisted:

I can't believe they have the time to inject either. I recently cooked two select packers and got the results you are looking for. Less visible fat, melt in your mouth texture, juices dripping from the meat. You don't need to inject, you do need to cook the point long enough to get the rendering done right, and that means, as long as, or often, longer than the flat.

There are a large number of competition teams that inject their briskets, just look at products like Butcher's, Kosmo's, Fab for example. I don't know if that means Rudy's injects but just wanted to comment that it may not be a cardinal sin. Just for the record I don't inject my briskets.

Well I guess I'm a sinner, I inject my briskets.

Yeah, me too. I've injected butts and brisket for years. And turkey, and I inject cure into my corned beef, hams, bacon, etc. Injection is mostly a way of getting "brine" to diffuse more evenly in a large piece of meat.

I doubt they inject their briskets. If you say it was good, then have them call the Rudys in San Antonio and give them some pointers, cause their BBQ has gone WAY down hill last time I was there.

No Rudy's don't Inject my Dr worked his way through Baylor at the Waco location according to him. S&P, Oak or Pecan & Beef, that's it and they keep their pits around 275.

nah you Fl crackers just don't know better:razz:

Thanks everyone for the input, I think I will just have to suck it up and buy a more expensive piece of meat then what the offer at Costco. I could always try injecting one just for fun.

Is injecting briskets really that big of a deal? All of us are accustomed to tiny syringes but I'd wager that using a brine pump with a 3 needle injector wouldn't take any time at all.

That's what i was thinking also. If you look at other commercial restaurants they do a whole mess load of stuff their products. Hell when I was cooking, making the god dang sauce took two days between roasting bones, making stock, reducing wine etc. When I look at someone making meatloaf commerical, I'm thinking that's a lot of work there. Compare that to the average bbq joint - Trim, rub, toss in smoker.

Plus if you think about it, the man power is also much less too. Think about that poor sap who has to saute the same chicken breast 150 times all night vs us who take out of warmer + slice.

Not saying we SHOULD inject. But if it really made things that much marginally better, I couldn't see a good kitchen manager being able to schedule extra time for it.

As I said earlier, I inject brisket most of the time. But, as an observation on Point...I love point hot and fresh. I can't stand it reheated or after it cools off. But, that's just my preference. I'll eat flat all day long hot or cold. It's just a fat/texture thing.

Remember Rudy's is a Chain, I bet them briskets come out of the back of a Cisco of a Ben E. Keith truck. You get the same thing at Costco. I've hauled meat from IBP to all them places. Meat is like gasoline' Gas comes from the same pipe and goes into different trucks to all different stations, Meat comes out of the packing house on to a refer truck and the same truck will have a few stops on it for different outlets.