Slice a Whole Brisket

[K-JUN]

Hey Guys
I started to post this in an ongoing thread about the Franklin method of cooking brisket. I had second thoughts because it was not relevant to cooking a brisket just cutting it. Self moderation

I found this interesting maybe others will too. It's about slicing a whole packer brisket after its cooked.

You can see the whole article here.
Start by slicing the flat across the grain until you encounter the point muscle on top of the flat. In the photo above he is one or two slices from hitting the point.

The remaining hunk has two muscles with the grain going in different directions. Slice it in half as above. The right section is a butt end with one cut edge. The left section, actually the middle of the brisket after the sliced flat is removed from its left, and the butt from its right. It has two cut edges.

Slice the center section as shown, from the outer edge in.

Slice the remaining butt end of the point in the same direction as you cut the flat, continuing along the cut face.

Thin parts of the flat can be chopped and some of the fat from between the point and flat can be mixed in for moisture. The results are crunchy, heavily seasoned, and juicy. They can also be doused in sauce, and served on a bun like they do at many restaurants in Texas.

[NickTheGreat]

That's actually pretty helpful. I tend to butcher my meat when I am slicing, and that is NOT a compliment

[Bludawg]

I'm TX Born & TX Bred & When I Die I'll be BY God Tx Dead! I've eat TX BBQ all my life and I never once went to a TX BBQ Joint and saw much less eaten a Burnt end Samich! Much less BBQ drown in sauce. Coonass

[landarc]

I don't know where the reference to Burnt Ends in Texas comes from, that is a KC thing mostly, with a little bit from the South. East Texas does have a chopped brisket tradition is a small regional area.

Most all of the modern Texas tradition (as I understand it) is about sliced brisket, ordering lean (flat) or fat (point). My cousin, from North Texas (go Panhandle State Aggies , who knew there were rodeo scholarships?) said that brisket was supposed to be lean, and he always ordered the lean, the fat would make you weak.

[K-JUN]

Originally Posted by Bludawg

I'm TX Born & TX Bred & When I Die I'll be BY God Tx Dead! I've eat TX BBQ all my life and I never once went to a TX BBQ Joint and saw much less eaten a Burnt end Samich! Much less BBQ drown in sauce. Coonass

Great.
I am eager to learn maybe you can show us how a Born & Bread Texan slices a brisket.

[BobBrisket]

Originally Posted by onexchef

Great.
I am eager to learn maybe you can show us how a Born & Bread Texan slices a brisket.

That would make for a very useful thread. Much more useful than a random post simply "proclaiming" it.
We could all learn from it.

[BobBrisket]

Originally Posted by Bludawg

I'm TX Born & TX Bred & When I Die I'll be BY God Tx Dead! I've eat TX BBQ all my life and I never once went to a TX BBQ Joint and saw much less eaten a Burnt end Samich! Much less BBQ drown in sauce. Coonass

Let me add a bit to this as Bob the Member and the Mod too. The OP goes through all the trouble to create the thread, give info, explain, and add pics. Then, at least in the way I read your post, you shoot it down for one specific detail, yet all you have to really offer the thread is "born," "raised," "bred," and "dead."
Next, depending on how you intended the word "coonass" and also how it is received, it can be a disparaging term.
In the end, your post offers nothing more than criticism and your proclamation of being a Texan which has nothing to do with the thread once again.
On the Mod end, it's posts like this that really turn NEW and not so new members off and makes them not want to post anymore due to feeling that all they will get is negative criticism or a condesending tone.

Bob

[Bludawg]

I start the slicing process in the prep before the cook. While prepping I take note of the grain structure. I make a small nick of a cut across the grain on the corner of the Flat. After the rest I use the back of my knife to separate the Point from the Flat. I then locate the nick and slice as much as I need of the flat in 1/4" slices.( I normally give this portion away and rarely slice it except for 1 slice from corner)
The Point I rotate 90 deg and cut it in 1/2. This puts the first cut across the grain, then I slice as much as I need in 3/8"slices.
Slicing the whole brisket at one time will dry it out in short order and make it difficult to reheat with out drying it out completely.

The alternate method I use if serving the whole packer to a large crowd is cut to order. I will locate the thinnest part of the point and cut the brisket strait across in that area then I rotate the point 90 deg as above, locate the nick in the Flat and start to cut as needed.

The difference in the two methods is because I normally give my Flats away and keep the Point. Doing it that way I get all the Point and the lucky recipient gets the complete Flat.