Will it hurt freezing a Brisket?

[DavidEHickey]

I bought a 8.5 pound vaccum sealed brisket yesterday to smoke today but my plans changed. Will it hurt freezing it? Just wondering if it will make the meat tough. It still vaccum sealed. Any help would be appreciated
David

[ytsejam]

it will be ok to freeze it

[Stevesonfire!]

I froze a brisket once.... didn't feel any pain at all....:-P
As far as making it tough.... it comes that way! Smoking it makes it tender and tasty!

[Bourbon Barrel BBQ]

I've taken 1st place with a previously frozen briskets at comps. You will be fine.

[The_Kapn]

Another thread going on right now about the same thing.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110938

Lots of opinions there.

TIM

[colonel00]

I think in this situation it is a no brainer. Even if it does diminish the quality of the meat a little, that is a whole lot better than having to toss the whole thing out because you didn't find time to cook it. I have been in the exact same situation before where I had a huge packer sitting in the fridge waiting for the weekend. All of the sudden plans change and I knew it wouldn't get to it. So, into the freezer it went. I ended up cooking it a couple months later and it was fine. Just remember it will take forever for it to thaw.

[bigabyte]

Freeze away and sleep tight knowing it will be fine.

[Cook]

Here's my "opinion".

Freezing will not make your meat tough. If anything, it will tenderize it a little. All those tiny ice crystals that form during a slow freeze should tear away at some of the muscle...therefore tenderizing it.

Just my convoluted thoughts.

I'm sure there's some smart person out there who will type a boring 6 paragraph response just to say my opinion is wrong.

[bignburlyman]

If it is in the cryovac from the packing plant it should'nt need to be frozen at all if you are just waiting a week to cook. I have aged brisket in the cryovac for up to 45 days with no problem. One point---I do buy a case at a time and know what the packing date is, so I know how much age is already on the brisket.

[LMAJ]

Wasw it previously frozen?? If so, then I would cook it now. If not - freeze away!