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Q-talk *ON TOPIC ONLY* QUALITY ON TOPIC discussion of Backyard BBQ, grilling, equipment and outdoor cookin' . ** Other cooking techniques are welcomed for when your cookin' in the kitchen. Post your hints, tips, tricks & techniques, success, failures, but stay on topic and watch for that hijacking. |
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04-04-2018, 09:17 PM | #1 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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Just when I thought I was out...
...they pull me back in.
"They" being briskets, of course. Been about 5 days since I finished doing a 10 brisket cook, and if you'd asked me 3 days ago if I felt like que'n, I'd have told you no way. Yet here we are. Anyway, we are renting a lake house for my brother's bachelor party and while they do have a gas grill, I thought it'd be nice to have a meal ready to go, to leave me time for fishin' and drinkin' and that sort of thing. I plan to do this one on my Primo XL oval, won't have time to feed sticks between now and then and I can set it and forget it while I do other things, like paying the bills. I picked up a bottle of rub from my favorite barbecue joint in KC...Q39, and will use it this time instead of SPOG. I figured I'd take some pics of what I do, maybe it'll help someone blankly staring at their first untrimmed packer wondering how they're going to attack it. While there are many ways to trim brisket, this is the way I like to do it when time permits. I feel it gives good rub and flavor penetration on all sides of the meat since I don't really have to trim anything unrendered off when it's done cooking. I've found little to no difference in the juiciness of the meat compared to a less aggressive trim, all else being equal. I'm certainly not an expert and I don't have the greatest knife skills, but I have trimmed a fair amount of brisket over the past few years and feel fairly proficient at it. You could certainly leave more on the exterior of the point and remove less between the point and the flat. My main goal when trimming to be left with a uniformly flat piece of meat. I've found that it cooks more evenly, and in the stick burner with a lot of moving air, it seems like it'd be more aerodynamic based on my anecdotal and unscientific experience. Here's the untrimmed brisket so we know what we're starting with. I found this nice looking 15.2 lb USDA prime packer at Costco, had a nice thick flat and not an absurd amount of fat.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) |
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04-04-2018, 09:21 PM | #2 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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I start trimming the brisket with the fat cap down. I trim the bits of fat that are easily removable on the flat, but I don't go too aggressive or try removing any of the "silver skin" so that I don't risk putting a crater or divot in the flat.
Then, I remove the big clump of fat nestled on the edge where the flat and point meet. I think this is often referred to as the "acorn". I call it "not edible" so it's gotta go.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) Last edited by sudsandswine; 04-04-2018 at 09:40 PM.. |
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04-04-2018, 09:25 PM | #3 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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Next I flip the brisket over fat side up, and start carving out the area of thick fat between the flat and the point. This will be opposite and above that "acorn" area. I try to get it down to 1/4 to 1/2" in trim at this point, taking care to not accidentally remove any of the flat or the point. I find that the boning knife makes removing these two sections easiest, and I'll use the 8" chef knife for longer broader fat removal like the flat and horn of the point.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) Last edited by sudsandswine; 04-04-2018 at 09:41 PM.. |
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04-04-2018, 09:32 PM | #4 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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At this point, the remaining seam of fat separating the flat and the point is pretty visible and it's pretty easy to run a knife down the middle to pull the flat away from the point. I'll flip the brisket back to fat side down, then I usually cut down following the seam a little bit, clean up the fat I exposed, the cut a little more. I'll usually stop when I've exposed about 1/4 to 1/3 of the point end of the flat. Once you can flip the flat back over on itself some, it makes it easy to clean up the hard fat from the top of the flat and bottom of the point.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) |
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04-04-2018, 09:38 PM | #5 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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Once I've cleaned up the meat between the point and the flat, I'll finish removing much of the fat from the flat-facing side of the point. Then I flip it fat side up and try to get a 1/4" trim on the flat, and remove any thick hard fat from the horn of the point. Any hangy bits or brown/rough meat on the edges gets trimmed off the edges.
Usually I'll wind up with something like this. I trimmed 4lb 6oz off this brisket, leaving me with just under 11lb of meat for the smoker. However, since I've already trimmed off a lot of the fat weight that'd be "lost" during cooking, I've found my yields are usually at least 70% of trimmed weight.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) |
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04-04-2018, 09:44 PM | #6 |
is One Chatty Farker
Join Date: 11-01-14
Location: North Texas
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In the last year I've started trimming that aggressively and I really like the results. More surface area for rub = more bark.
Post pic's when you are done!
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KCBS Certified BBQ Judge SCA Certified Judge Lone Star Grillz Large IVS Cookshack FEC-100 Weber Summit 420 Gasser Pit Barrel Cooker Weber 26" Kettle PK Classic Grill |
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04-04-2018, 09:47 PM | #7 |
is one Smokin' Farker
Join Date: 12-08-15
Location: Midwest
Name/Nickname : N/A
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Nice tutorial
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Yoder YS 640 Orange Comp / Sold: Traeger Lil Tex Elite |
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04-04-2018, 09:49 PM | #8 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 10-12-15
Location: Temecula, CA
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following along...
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LSG 24x48 offset, MAK 2 Star General, Built in Santa Maria Pit, Weber Performer Deluxe 22 w/CB Rotisserie, Blackstone Pizza Oven, WGA, A PBC A 26'er AND A Jumbo Joe |
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04-04-2018, 10:01 PM | #9 |
is One Chatty Farker
Join Date: 07-14-13
Location: Phoenix AZ
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Thank you for the tutorial. I appreciate it.
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Please call me Bill, William is only when I am in trouble Weber 22, Weber 22 OTG, Weber 16 and Kamado |
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04-04-2018, 10:10 PM | #10 |
Grand Poobah and Site Admin
Join Date: 08-11-03
Location: Long Island, NY
Name/Nickname : Phil
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nice demo... added link in the roadmap.. thanks.. :)
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04-04-2018, 10:30 PM | #11 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 12-28-11
Location: Belton, Tx
Name/Nickname : Texas Pete
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Nice write up! I thought I was an aggressive trimmer... Apparently I am not. I also prefer bark to cutting off half an inch of fat as I eat.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
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Paul (aka Texas Pete) SF 24x36 Midnight Edition / Mak 1-Star /Abe's 48" Insulated Cabinet / 22.5 OTG / 28" BS / Jimmy with CB Roti and pizza kit / Red Box on custom cart / Char-Griller Kettle / Barrel House Cooker / Pit Boss Copperhead / Char-Griller Akorn Jr Sign Up for The 2022 Texas BBQ Brethren Fall Bash Here! (Link) |
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04-04-2018, 10:35 PM | #12 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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Lol...and I thought I was exercising restraint.
JK...this is about as aggressive as I'll go short of separating the point from the flat and doing a competition style trim.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) |
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04-04-2018, 11:18 PM | #13 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-08-12
Location: Columbia, TN
Name/Nickname : Robb
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Fantastic trim job! Following this cook :)
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MAK 3 Star — Camp Chef FTG 900 — 26.75 Weber kettle — Weber Q3200 Follower of Jesus, Husband of 1, Father of 9, Lover of people "Ya don't win friends with salad!" Come follow my adventures on Instagram: @rwaltersbbq |
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04-04-2018, 11:29 PM | #14 |
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Join Date: 06-23-12
Location: Kansas City
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Some before/after action. I like how much better the point lays now, as opposed to the edge of the point basically pointing straight up prior to removing some fat between the point and flat.
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Shirley Fab 250g trailer | Primo XL kamado | Red Weber Limited Edition kettle + 26” kettle | Clonesaker PDS (pretty drum smoker) |
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04-05-2018, 04:03 AM | #15 |
Full Fledged Farker
Join Date: 08-20-10
Location: Columbia, Maryland
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Wow nice trim job! At this trim level would it be better to just separate to get more surface area for more bark?
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