Beef brisket on the bone or boneless

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LexB89

Smoke Blower
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Apr 26, 2020
107
26
Hi guy's,

If I'm buying beef brisket to smoke do I buy boned or boneless?

When I watch videos it looks like there is no bone.

When you look at pictures of boneless brisket it is rolled.

Which I don't want?

Will the butcher's do a smaller cut of brisket still with the flat and point? Instead of a full brisket that will be 5-6kg.

Can anyone help?
 
If you buy it with the bone, it will probably still be alive and walking around. Brisket has no bone. Briskets can be bought whole like a packer brisket with all the fat on it and you trim or trimmed up. You can buy the brisket split up into flats or points if your store carries it that way. You should be able to talk a butcher to cutting your meat any way you want it. I prefer to buy packer briskets and trim my own. You can usually buy them in 3 grades, Prime, Choice and Select...............Prime being the best because of the fat marbling. Select will be cheaper to buy but will also be somewhat tougher, less fat marbling, depending on how you cook it or smoke it. Brisket should not be rolled, it is a full chunk of meat. From what I have seen in my meat market, 14-16 pounds is about average when buying a brisket. I prefer them bigger myself
 
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Ok. That makes sense.

What am I looking at here?

 
It might be a British thing.

I think the rolled up flat thory is sound.

I thought the meat was rolled and tied to hold it together when the bone was removed.

Obviously not.

I definitely want a cut with the flat and the point.
 
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full packers (the full point and flat still connected) are much more forgiving to smoke.
 
Ok great.

Thanks.

Appreciate the help.
 
What am I looking at here?

That may not be a bad idea for a small flat that you want to smoke. Very often, small flats don't turn out well because they tend to dry out because of the large surface area, and small amount of fat. If you can find a flat with fat on one side and roll it up, the fat could protect it a bit from the heat. Never tried it, never heard of anyone trying it, but could be worth a shot. Otherwise, SmokinAl's method for small flats is your best bet.
 
Yes, a brisket has a bone. It is from the foremost point on the carcass cage, or chest. It is easily removed, See uimage:

beef bone in brisket1.jpg


If it is rolled like a rolled roast, that is a common British technique, and simply untie it and lay it flat. The Point is usually put into chuck stew or, if lean enough, chuck cube steak material. The flat is meant to be slow-roasted, many times over a slow-turning pit when rolled to roast slowly, or slow baked in an oven or in water in a pot, similar like a pot roast. The "Texas-Style" is smoked slowly to make it slow-roasted to break down the connective tissue.
 
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