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
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
