Separating a brisket

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pit 4 brains

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Dec 16, 2009
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Summerville, SC
There's been alot of questions about identifying the point and flat and separating the two so I figured I'd show my technique..

Here is a normal packer brisket. This weighs in at about 16 lbs.

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Here I have outlined the "corn" with a piece of butcher twine.

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This string shows where the point and the flat meet. The flat is atop right of the string.

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Again on the other side. Notice the definate line of fat all the way around.

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I like to remove the corn first.

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Again, here's the separation line.

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Cut along the fat from the top towards the bottom. If you start cutting red meat, just shift up or down to get back into the fat.

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It gets easier as you go. Find where the fat meets the meat and your on your way!

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Voila! A separated brisket!

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I like to trim most of the fat from my point. It's purely optional, I just think the meat is marbled enough on it's own.

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Last edited:
Awesome Tutorial. The use of the Butchers Twine was a huge plus. The first and last time I tried that before it was cooked.....Well lets just say I didn't want anyone to see how bad I did. I will refer to this when I split my next one. Thanks!!
 
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Was referred to this post by another user (ryan-something).  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.  Awseomly done, easy to follow and very clear.
 
CC,

 burnt ends are very easy to make.

 After you have finished cooking your brisket you take the point and cube it into around 1' cubes. Place these cubes in a foil pan ,Hit them w/ some more rub and some sauce. Mix to coat all the meat . Return the pan to the smoker for another 2 - 3 hours.

 end result is burnt ends ,aka meat candy.
 
After seeing how it's suppose to be done... I'm embarrassed at how I did it. Oh well, thanks to your post. I can do better next time!
 
Thanx again.

Another nice thing is you can smoke the point to perfection, pull and wrap it without man handling the whole thing and cutting while hot. I'll cook a whole packer in my horizontal but I split for my drum.
 
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Very nicely done there Pete. I have been smoking by briskets whole but if I ever wanted to seperate one.
 
Thanx Mark. The funny thing is that this thread is fairly old but was dug up by someone doing a search. I've had this in the Wiki for some time..
 
Hi there,
So if I separate BEFORE smoking, I can get more rub on the exterior. So which is better. Smoking whole or smoking in two pieces?
Thanks in advance
BT
 
I finished separating a 20 lb brisket yesterday and both pieces went into smoker 1/2 an hour ago.  I followed the pictures and while mine did not look exactly like the pictures I can not imagine not having the pictures.  Thanks for the information. 
 
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