Grinding brisket

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Hijack73

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Aug 9, 2020
1,018
1,117
SC, just a smidge from Charlotte
I've seen a few posts lately but I haven't seen anyone post technique. I love using brisket for grind, and select is absolutely fine. There is enough fat in the deckle and point that you don't need choice or prime.

Brisket grinds kind of soft. I bought a 13lb because I have been craving corned beef and bigger cuts under 6 bucks a lb here have been hard to get hold of the last few weeks, so I conquered 2 birds at 2.69 a lb as I've also been out of ground beef. I started by trimming it. I would have taken a few pics but I wasn't planning on posting. Al's delicious looking meatloaf did inspire me to go ahead and do it.

What's important here is to get all of the fat off that isn't the kind of clean hard white fat. Go aggressive on the fat cap. You'll want to get every bit of that kind of wrinkly spotted stuff off. Trim the edges. Get every bit of the gray yucky stuff off. I even trim the other edge. That gray yucky stuff is caused by hot water during processing. It's not freezer burn or anything, it's cooked meat.

But back to the fat. Go up under the point flap and get all that icky stuff. You want only clean, very white, very firm fat in your grind. If you are grinding the whole thing, get all the inside deckle fat (that big fist sized lump between the point and the flat. It's too much. Save it if you choose to add to leaner cuts. I buy whatever is on sale and lean roasts can be ground with deckle fat to make great grind. Get visible silver skin and whatnot off of the lean side. Very important to do this, because of the way I grind it.

I split this one about 70/30. I took about a 3 inch slice off of one side for grind and have the rest pickling. Some folks will separate and pickle a flat and grind the point but I like picked point so I separate it on the long line so I get some of both.

That 3 inches gave me about 3.5 lbs of the best grind you can make a burger out of. I mentioned that it grinds kind of soft, so my tip is to strip out that long piece into strips that will fit down into your grinder and firm them up in the freezer. Grind on coarse plate 1x, mix lightly to distribute fat evenly, bag it up and use it as you will.

Try pan seared burgers with this stuff.

Can't beat it on price or taste 🙂
 
I don't like it at all, nor does the wife.
It's too gamey and after discarding all the hard fat, it's too dry.
We prefer ground chuck.
 
I just did my first one the other day.. I didn't trim enough fat off and it is every bit of 60/40... I really haven't played with briskets enough to figure out/understand all the things your mentioning here...
 
I saw someone take thin cut ribeye and just chop it up with a knife to make a burger patty. I tried it and it was a very beefy burger. Maybe I will try that with brisket trimmings.
 
I disagree!
Living in a small town in Northern Canada with only one grocery store Brisket is a rarity. It is a special order and never on sale, guaranteed it will be minimum $100 bill, usually more. If and when I can get one it is treated with the utmost respect. If it goes into the freezer it’s double, tripled wrapped and carefully placed in the freezer on the top so it can be monitored for freezer burn. No over night smokes unsupervised. Should the smoker catch fire, save the brisket, letting the house burn to the ground is okay as long as the brisket is saved. When it comes to grinding beef for burger there are too many other common cuts to grind. Not trying to shoot you down just pointing out that those of us that don’t have access to ample and affordable brisket grinding is not an option. If my wife caught me grinding brisket for burger I’d be hanging from the rafters by my testicles. The trim, nope can’t grind that either, burnt ends or slice it very thin against the grain and a quick fry with butter, onions and fresh garlic. Please don’t take offence to my opinion it’s just me being jealous of you having the luxury of having enough brisket to be able to grind it.
 
Good info. I've thought about grinding one. I'll have to find a smaller 10lbish one to grind up in case we dont like it.
 
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