Brisket ID Help

[ryno21]

I am very inexperienced with briskets, I have only smoked 2.  At that time I didn't know there was a difference between the point and the flat.  I had a brisket given to me to smoke this weekend.   I am not sure if it is a whole packer or what. Hopefully someone can help me out.  Thanks

2015-07-03 11.40.12.jpg

• ryno21
• Jul 3, 2015

2015-07-03 11.40.28.jpg

• ryno21
• Jul 3, 2015

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello.  Just MY opinion here.  THAT is 1/2 of a packer.  From what I see.  Since it was a gift and cost you NOTHING I hope you will not mind me saying: that is about the worst packer I have seen in my 57 years!  FAT is needed in brisket but that thing is mostly fat!  NO PROBLEM!  ALL IS NOT LOST!

Don't spend an hour trying to trim that.  You will end up with a about 2 lbs. of meat.  Just smoke the darn thing as is.  I LOVE the fat but even I think it is over the top.  Trim it when you slice it.  When smoking a fatty piece of meat like that remember to add extra spices.  Why?  Because most of it will drip away as the fat renders.  With that piece you don't want to reserve the drippings.  Too fatty and if done right, the drippings will be too salty.  Just my opinion.  GO FOR IT!  You can pull this off and have a GREAT meal!  Keep Smokin!

Danny

Read the link below.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/181613/lets-talk-brisket

 

[bbqwillie]

OH Lord! Like KC5TPY said that is a disaster. I'd trim that large cap to about half it's current size and then throw that sucker in the smoker as is. You may get a few decent samiches out of it. Since it cost you nothing you got nothing to loose. You could always smoke it then grind it up to add as a filling to ABTs.

 

[demosthenes9]

It's a bit late, but that appears to be a packer cut by a back yard butcher so to speak.  You get stuff like this when someone buys a side of beef or a portion thereof.  What usually happens is that they don't follow the packing house / USDA ways of breaking meat down.

In the lower picture, I'd trim off all the hard fat that you can, scraping the little bit of meat on the surface in the lower left of the pic.  Flipping it over, I'd also remove all the "hard fat" that you could from the bottom.

 

[ryno21]

Thanks for the replies on this. I trimmed all the hard fat off the bottom of the top picture, but did not trim enough of the top of it.  It still turned out pretty well for not smoking many briskets. Delicious considering the price

  Sorry no pics, this was a couple months ago.