I bought an 18 lbs brisket. Help!

[OlympicSmoke]

Recently bought a pellet smoker and was looking to use it for the first time this Sunday (I have fired it up to prime the auger and season the grill). Hard to find brisket, but wife found a monster 18 pounder at Costco. Can I separate the top and cook just that? Can I freeze the other half and use it in July? I definitely don’t need to cook 18 lbs at this point and figured since the top and bottom cook at different speeds, this would be the best way to cook a smaller portion. Am I thinking wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

Update: Ended up cooking only the point. Used foil. It was great. Cooked half the flat last week w/o foil and it was not nearly as tender. First new pic is foiled point, second is the tougher flat. Trying ribs now...

 

[IH 1026]

Yes.. you can separate the flat from the point.

 

[bregent]

IMO, the best option is to cook it whole now, and then freeze the leftovers for quick meals. If you have a vacuum sealer great, but you can get by without one. Remember your yield is going to be about 50%, and possibly less depending on how much fat needs to be trimmed.

You could also separate the flat from the point, but that takes a little practice. Another option is to cut in half, so you'll have one half that is mostly flat and another that has flat and point.

 

[thirdeye]

Welcome aboard. That is the perfect size brisket. As you know there are two muscles, the point which is fattier and the flat which is good for slices. Consider this plan. Trim the brisket, being careful with the heavy wedge of fat around the point. Then..... pick a straight line and cut that dude in half lengthwise. Now, you have two briskets, and each will have some point muscle. Which is a good thing.


Cook both, but when it comes to wrapping, wrap one in triple foil with a little beefy broth. Finish cooking both of them tender and have one half for dinner, and sandwiches later. Vent the foil on the other one, rest in a cooler an hour, then quick chill it. An ice slurry is best but your freezer will work. Now you will have a ready-to-reheat brisket. They take about 90 minutes at 250° in your oven. It's hard to tell it from the fresh smoked one. The only difference is the slices are half as long, but you will get over that because you will have some point.

 

[sandyut]

IMO, the best option is to cook it whole now, and then freeze the leftovers for quick meals.

do that! for sure. I wouldnt separate or cut up first. smoked brisket in the freezer is MONEY. use it in everything, samis, mac and cheese, tacos (a fav). just pull it out to thaw and you have smoked brisket at the ready.

Besides, if you r gonna run the smoker - filler up!

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

I'm with sandyut and say smoke it all at once and freeze for later. I mean if u are going to run the smoker for as many hours as any size brisket takes u may as well run it to cook the whole thing haha.

As for cutting up vote for going a simple and logical route.

Once you trim the fat at (hard fat deckle and extra fat) you will remove like over 3 pounds of just fat.
THEN after that I always recommend trimming off the thing portion of the flat muscle so that what is left of the flat on the packer is basically uniform in thickness. I recommend this cause the thinner portion just burns up and is tough or crispy or ruined. May as well repurpose that good meat vs sacrificing it.

In short cut of the flat muscle like this and u will remove another 3-5 pounds:


In "long", check out my post here for more details:

My Brisket Flat Trimming Approach Explained - QView

Well I have had a number of private messages where people ask for more info about what I do when I trim away the thin Flat portion of a brisket I smoke. So today I figured I would just post about it with plenty of pics so it becomes easier to understand vs when I just go "blah blah blah trim...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Back to the point. If you trim fat and trim the way i recommend u will cut away like 5-8 pounds leaving a 10 pound brisket for the smoker.
THEN once done somking that 10 pounds becomes like 6-7 pounds due to weight loss.
If you and the wife eat on it for lunch and dinner that reduces it down to like 4-6 pounds.

If you are like me you will eat on it for a few more days cause it is amazing which leaves like 2-3 pounds to freeze for later hahah

So really it isnt that much meat as u think if u are person that loves brisket and can eat the same thing more than 2 times a week :)

I hope this helps put some things into perspective and helps u figure out what to do. A REAL vac sealer is amazing for excess bbq so think about that cause u shouldnt sacrifice quality due to the fact that u cant eat it all at once :)

 

[schlotz]

Looks like they got you pretty much covered on what to do. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, go out and get one while the brisket is smoking. Oh... and one other good use for smoked freezer brisket, it makes great chili

 

[tallbm]

Looks like they got you pretty much covered on what to do. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, go out and get one while the brisket is smoking. Oh... and one other good use for smoked freezer brisket, it makes great chili

And when u decide to get a vacuum sealer get a good one cause those things are like the most problematic devices known to man and die on you fast unless u get a good one lol