Half a brisket?

[pinghacker]

An entire brisket is a bit much for my small family. Anybody ever cut one in half? Would the other half freeze well?

[Chef Jim]

Yes you can do it but I have found that it does not work as well. I would cook the whole thing and freeze the left overs.

[Alan in Ga]

I agree with Jim

[Boshizzle]

Yep, freeze it with the aus ju after you cook it. You do make aus ju when you BBQ brisket, don't you?

[pinghacker]

Yep, freeze it with the aus ju after you cook it. You do make aus ju when you BBQ brisket, don't you?

I would make aus jus if Boshizzle told me how.

[Rich Parker]

I have cut packers length wise and cooked them up with out any problems. That way you get just enough point and flat to try a new recipe.

Let us know how it goes.

[Hugh Jorgan]

I have cut packers length wise and cooked them up with out any problems. That way you get just enough point and flat to try a new recipe.


That's an idea, never thought of that.

So how about that au jus?

[barbefunkoramaque]

I do this all the time for Brisket sales. I smoke them complete... points and flat still connected (a Packer), then I pull them just as they pull out of the stall and let them rest a bit. I then cut them longitudinally so both halves have a point and flat and IMMEDIATELY wrap them (lest the ooze out their goodness).

They are wrapped very tightly in professional grade wrap and I instruct the client to reheat IN the plastic in the oven at 250 until there is a slight bubble in the plastic.

Please... no supercilious twits and comments about plasticizers and dioxins in food wrap. You will be showing your igno... stupidity. :-)

[thirdeye]

I do this all the time for Brisket sales. I smoke them complete... points and flat still connected (a Packer), then I pull them just as they pull out of the stall and let them rest a bit. I then cut them longitudinally so both halves have a point and flat and IMMEDIATELY wrap them (lest the ooze out their goodness).

They are wrapped very tightly in professional grade wrap and I instruct the client to reheat IN the plastic in the oven at 250 until there is a slight bubble in the plastic.

Please... no supercilious twits and comments about plasticizers and dioxins in food wrap. You will be showing your igno... stupidity. :-)

What brand is, and where are you buying this cook-in clear wrap?

[seattlepitboss]

Please, more on exactly how in a brisket cook you get au jus. I see that funk puts his in a pan with half a beer for some period of time, can't really call that au jus.

I've tried smoking meats with drip pans on the shelf below but what I get doesn't look edible. I'm thinking you'd have to foil the meat and carefully collect what comes out of the foil?

inquiring minds want to know?

[barbefunkoramaque]

What brand is, and where are you buying this cook-in clear wrap?

Chefs and cooking dudes have been using the same industrial wrap in ovens for decades. Keep the temp at under 300 and away from the elements.

Sometimes... if i reheat on the pit, I may wrap it in foil.

I think their's is a black wrap. the Brisket House in Houston wraps theirs and I have only seen it from a distance and they come out black. I was teaching a technique at Papas for ribs and I was not really looking but I thought it was black from the underlying brisket.... well.... I saw them unwrap it and the plastic itself looked black. U know... I should ask my friend that I advised on ribs at Papas (which bought the brisket house for its recipe) maybe he would let me know.

Or I could just go in, have some free Q and take a look. I just never cared cuz the clear plastic has been fine for like 20 years. There is a section in Mills Peace and Love where a guy named Sarge I think uses this technique... except unlike me... he chills all his briskets right down and then heats them the next day back up for the rest of the ride.

[barbefunkoramaque]

pitboss... I stopped panning my stuff whenever I use a pit like the Brazos because I do not have enough pans. I am not sure why adding a flavoring liquid is not considered aus Jus other than the french translation explained below; but in my wrapping there is enough juice to drain once they cool a bit to make a quite hardy jus.

You CAN use what comes out of those pans but they are often reduced more than foil liquids or even panned where the meat cools the liquid a bit below a rolling boil.

You have to strain, you have to separate and depending on your smoker... you may have to add lots of water in the pans... the diverter plate on the brazos is quite hot so it would boil the liquid away.

Aus Jus

"Au jus in French means served "with the natural juices" or a gravy or sauce made from the juices of cooked meat. This means literally that you can add something to enhance the flavor... in France that can mean anything from wine to champange (wine) to tomato or anchovie pastes.

In the US, meals served au jus tend to be defined as served with a light broth-like dipping sauce."

"Typical ingredients in an American au jus include soy sauce (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-soy-sauce.htm), Worcestershire sauce (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-worcestershire-sauce.htm), garlic (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-garlic.htm), onion, and often beef broth. Sometimes, at arbys :-) an au jus is merely a beef bouillon."

"Americans may use the term au jus incorrectly. The French word au translates to with the. Therefore when you serve something au jus, it is incorrect to say you are serving the meal with au jus. This would translate to with with the natural juices."

So, In essence, if I served the Brisket with ONLY the natural drippings from the pan I would be serving poitrine de boeuf aus jus. The beer is added for background and also to frankly keep the emerging juices from searing on the pan and simmering out to a burned crust. The french often use water or wine especially to do the same thing. Without a little liquid added when the meat went back in... the juices, coming out slowly, would sizzle out to ash on the pan. Only rendered fat would be left. But that is my smokers where the grate is hot like a natural pit.


Then again... to be specific, since I take the "Jus" and use it to make a BBQ sauce... it then becomes BBQ Sauce Aus Jus. Some of you who pay atttention and keep good secrets also know another use for this Jus that I personally do.