Briskets...to trim or not to trim?

mcoupe

mcoupe

Knows what a fatty is.
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What are the benefits of seperating the point and the flat prior to cooking? Why would you do this over just cooking the whole thing? Just curious what the pros and cons of each are. If its just time, would you do a whole hot and fast brisket over a trimmed point and flat? Going to do my first brisket for the fourth, and I have a 18lb packer in the freezer.
 
Some advantages of separating the two brisket parts are that it provides more surface area to make bark and if you want to leave the point in the cooker longer than the flat to make burnt ends it's a little more convenient, IMO. That being said, I rarely separate the point from the flat.
 
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I keep mine whole but trim out some of the thick fat hard layer between the flat and point.
If it's too thick and/or hard it doesn't seem render down at the same rate as the flat fat
 
It depends on who I'm cooking for,if I trim brisket or not. I have one person who wants the fat left on and I have another person that wants their brisket as lean as posable. If it's. If it's for me I trim it if it has a large fat cap, if it's small I leave it alone.
 
With the few briskets I've done, I separated the point. Just found it more convenient. Plus, as others have said, more surface area for smoke & rub flavor. I don't remove ALL the surface fat, but I do trim it down as much as possible. Some say no more than 1/4 of an inch- I trim even further to get it as thin as possible. Again, helps with smoke and rub penetration.
 
I only trim when the moon is waning. Seriously though, if there is some fat on the flat part, I trim that off for more bark. As for the big chunky bit of fat that juts out from where the point and flat meat...no sense trimming that unless you intend to separate the point from the flat, because that's how far it goes.
 
I never separate the pint and the flat but it does seem to me that there may be some advantage since they are two different thickness they cook at different rates.

Lately though I have been thinking of making something that will hold the brisket point up so that the fat from the money spot runs down over the flat helping to keep it moist.
 
I had the butcher trim the one I bought this week. I paid a higher price per pound, BUT, I didn't pay for any fat, like I would have with an untrimmed brisket.

CD
 
I trim off any fat I can find...I've heard all the arguments for fat cap up...fat cap down...I fall into the group that thinks that it makes no difference. Having said that, I don't need the fat cap. All the fat cap does is get in the way of my bark. Do like I did...try it all different ways and see which you like. I do my briskets and butts the same...no fat cap and they are delicious. I do try to keep an open mind tho because we always want to improve on what we are doing. My next brisket project is T's "night train" brisket cook. Trying to grow my brain.

Holy cow...this post just made me a full fledged farker!
 
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I used to spend a lot of time debating this with myself.
This and the "fat cap up or down" discussion that comes up all the time.

So, I just remove it all. (Butts also).
Then, there are no decisions to make.

And, it works for me.

1st and 5th in brisket for my last two FBA contests.
3rd in Pork at the last one.

TIM
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll go with seprating the two, and trimming. Plan on using Cosmos Q injection the night before. Then next morning mustard, then rub. Then into the smoke machine! Throwing some st louis on as well later that day. Thanks again all!
 
Last night I trimmed some fat off that brisket I started. But the other night I did not.
 
When doing brisket on an 18.5" WSM I find that seperating the point from the flat, placing the point fat side down in the center of the grate and laying the flat over the point fat side down creates enough room that the whole thing fits on the grate. This technique also produces superior looking slices for comp turn in, IMHO.
 
I was about to start a thread asking the same question. In the past I have always bought just the flat. This time I thought that I would try and make some burnt ends. I separated the point and flat so we will see how that goes. I like the idea of the extra surface area for bark.
 
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I trim for comps...not for personal or catering.
 
Capozzoli said:
I never separate the pint and the flat but it does seem to me that there may be some advantage since they are two different thickness they cook at different rates.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that they are two completely seperate muscles that have different texures and have very different internal fat content. Just seems reasonable to think that they wouldn't get done at the same time.
 
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