Should you age your Brisket ?

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gary s

Gone but not forgotten. RIP
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Jan 6, 2011
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I have seen this question asked many times, Brisket is different than Ribeye's or Strip's  So I wrote to Texas A&M who study this and here is their reply. Since they only addressed the tenderness issue I will write back and ask about flavor,

Gary, this is a question we are getting more often and do not have a good answer for. We do not know if aging really helps briskets like it does ribeyes and strips. Because aging doesn't really help with connective tissue tenderness, the main problem with briskets, we do not think that aging briskets does much for briskets used in barbecue. I would recommend that you leave it in the vacuum package and keep in in the refrigerator for about a week before you use it. Keep tuned as we will probably start doing some research in the area in the spring.

Jeff

cc: Ray and Davey

____________

Jeffrey W. Savell | Regents Professor and E.M. "Manny" Rosenthal Chairholder
Holder of the Cintron University Professorship in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence


Leader, Meat Science Section | Department of Animal Science
Texas A&M University

 


On Nov 15, 2013, at 1:33 PM, "Gary Spriggs" > wrote:

 

Hello, I have a question.  I smoke quite a few briskets, I usually buy at Sam’s in Cryovac  Can I age the brisket in my refrigerator if I leave it unopened in the package? If so for how long for the best flavor and tenderness?

Thank you

Gary Spriggs  
 
If you are in good w/ the butcher / cutter where you buy your brisket. Get him to look on the case and give you the date the briskets were packaged.

 Put the cryovac sealed brisket in the coldest part of your fridge and you can go 21 days from pack date.

  There is much debate about (wet) aging and whether it works at all to tenderize and enhance flavor.

Many say it does and others say it's a waste of time.

 Only you can decide for yourself.
 
That is why I wrote Texas A&M they do extensive research on meat, And like they say ageing does not really help with connective tissue. I asked about flavor, probably get an answer back next week. Also said they were going to more testing on brisket this spring.

Gary
 
Just received this back from TAMU

Gary, I think most of the flavor you get from a barbecued brisket is from the smoke, char, basic meat flavor, seasonings, etc., and not from any part of the aged meat flavor like you would from a ribeye or strip.  We need to look into this!

Jeff

____________

Jeffrey W. Savell | Regents Professor and E.M. "Manny" Rosenthal Chairholder
Holder of the Cintron University Professorship in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence

Leader, Meat Science Section | Department of Animal Science
Texas A&M University

2471 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-2471
O: (979) 845-3935 | F: (979) 845-9454 | C: (979) 255-6676
 

On Nov 16, 2013, at 9:20 AM, "Gary Spriggs" <> wrote:

Thanks Jeff for your response. I will be anxious to hear your findings in the spring. Please keep me posted. One other question what about the flavor? Does it improve with ageing keeping it in the Cryovac in the refrigerator? If so what is the time frame?

Gary Spriggs
 
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