Need some advice regarding grades of brisket.

[landarc]

Nice hard white fat is a win, that tastes the best. I suspect we will be seeing smaller cuts across the board. Much of California's beef herd are being shipped to finishing yards already. No pasture.

 

[luke duke]

I was out there in October and it was there...looked pretty new still. All that seeing it did was piss me smooth off since there ain't one within 20 minutes of Denton! :mad2:

Granbury would be unrecognizable to someone who hasn't been there in a decade.

 

[THoey1963]

Nice hard white fat is a win, that tastes the best. I suspect we will be seeing smaller cuts across the board. Much of California's beef herd are being shipped to finishing yards already. No pasture.

This is the first I heard any mention of liking the hard fat on a brisket. Can you expand on why it is good? I usually remove it when I do my trimming.

 

[landarc]

There are several types of fat you will encounter on any piece of meat. The sloppy, loose fatty connective tissue, that doesn't cook up right. Soft and hard yellow fat, this is a sign of oxidation, it will not taste good. Then there is hard, white fat. This is fat that is not oxidized, it will have the sweet flavor that fat at it's best possesses. It is also a sign that the meat has not been exposes to excess oxygen, meat that has been exposed to oxygen for more than a few hours will begin to decay, soft yellow fat means it has been exposed for many hours.

When I buy any brisket, I look first at the fat, even in cryo, I can see if it is hard, white and tends to break into leafs, or yellow, soft and pliable. First indication of a cut that will taste better. Fat is largely a molecular form of sugar, stored in a cellular structure of proteins. As it breaks down, the sugars turn rancid, yellowing and taking on off flavors.

 

[landarc]

Incidentally, this is also true of steaks, even dry aged steaks, once properly trimmed, the fat is not supposed to be yellow or tan. A properly aged steak, one just off the carcass, whatever, the fat should be hard and white.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

To the OP, I'll never do anything less than Choice brisket wise. Some folks can take a select and make it a feast. If it's trimmed too close, do you have some type of deflector you can install between the fire and meat? A pizza pan or the like?

 

[THoey1963]

Thanks Landarc! Luckily, I don't think I have ever come across a brisket with a large chunk of soft / yellow fat. Always hard and white.

Do you still cut this fat off when trimming? I wouldn't think anyone would want a slice with that much fat attached...

 

[landarc]

I trim the cap to 1/4" and remove the wedge underneath the point. BUT, some folks don't trim until after cooking, so there is that.

 

[Hawg Father of Seoul]

Save the best fat. I use it for any grinding I do. It is almost impossible to buy high quality beef fat.

 

[SmittyJonz]

I would Grade my Briskets a B+

 

[Butt Rubb'n BBQ]

If I'm buying prime for a contest no one is trimming it but me. That's 2 much money to be farking around with.

 

[Crash]

A good brisket read!!!!

http://www.tmbbq.com/what-i-learned...ction_type_map=["og.likes"]&action_ref_map=[]

 

[jestridge]

Well over the years I have cook a lot of brisket , grass feed, grain feed , Sams Walmart, I even cook one from a 1,800 # bull, prolly the best one was from a 3 year old Jesey grain feed steer ( a jersey have a natureal yellow fat) What ever I cook have always turn out good . Turn a undesirble cut of meat ,into something good is why we bbq

 

[Hawg Father of Seoul]

A good brisket read!!!!

http://www.tmbbq.com/what-i-learned...ction_type_map=["og.likes"]&action_ref_map=[]

Pretty good article, but flawed. I personally feel like I can get the most out of each of those cuts. So I cook select, "high choice", prime, and waygu much differently. If I cook a choice like I cook a prime it gets a "bready" mouth feel. If I cook a prime like a choice, it will not be tender enough. (I must admit that I am in the pickiest 1% of this site)

The best thing for a novice cook to do is to cook similar briskets until they nail them every time.

 

[Hawg Father of Seoul]

Well over the years I have cook a lot of brisket , grass feed, grain feed , Sams Walmart, I even cook one from a 1,800 # bull, prolly the best one was from a 3 year old Jesey grain feed steer ( a jersey have a natureal yellow fat) What ever I cook have always turn out good . Turn a undesirble cut of meat ,into something good is why we bbq

Jersey is good meat, as is Holstein, but unless you see the animal...... there is no way to determine that a brisket comes from a dairy cow. People should not go off looking for yellow fat as a sign of quality as they will be sorely disappointed 99 times out of 100.

Facts about Jerseys

 

[landarc]

Well, I have never seen Jersey out here, nor Holstein, except for cow meat. I suspect that most of what we see out here are either CAB, Angus (not CAB) or one of the hybrids such as Beefmaster. Lot of the animals look Hereford-ish, and that was the dominant steer for CA for many years.

 

[ClintHTX]

UPDATE.....the prime briskets came in at HEB and all I can say is I'll pass. At $3.98 a lb for pre trimmed brisket. No thank you. Cheapest packer was $70. Ended up buying a 15 lb packer in trimmed with a THICK flat for $2.28 a lb 34 bucks. Maybe one of these days I'll break down and spend the extra money on prime. But not today. Thanks for all the posts and advice!

 

[Hawg Father of Seoul]

UPDATE.....the prime briskets came in at HEB and all I can say is I'll pass. At $3.98 a lb for pre trimmed brisket. No thank you. Cheapest packer was $70. Ended up buying a 15 lb packer in trimmed with a THICK flat for $2.28 a lb 34 bucks. Maybe one of these days I'll break down and spend the extra money on prime. But not today. Thanks for all the posts and advice!

Sorry dude. We pay 20 cents more for prime.

 

[ClintHTX]

Sorry dude. We pay 20 cents more for prime.

Yes I know I sound like a cheapskate. But, with the brisket I bought and cooked properly it SHOULD be good.

 

[bananablack]

Brisket is brisket if cooked properly IMO, I would not waste the extra money on a prime