Brisket trimmed or not?

Well,without knowing where you are located and availability of brisket,the usual answer is buy a packer trim in cryovac.

I'm in Kansas City they have the cryovac briskets but they also have trimmed brisket that has really little to no fat on it at all. It looks like it ought to be awesome to smoke and eat but I'm worried about it being too lean and losing moistness and flavor.

Thanks

I would want as much fat as possible on my first few brisket attempts. On my packers, I leave the flat portion alone and trim the point leaving only 1/4" of fat on it. The excess fat will simply slide off when you're done. I'd go with a packer cut if I were you.

Smokin' or someone else has refered to the fat as "the Texas crutch". It saves my briskets from drying out. I am sure there are others on here who would recommend trimming far more fat than I do.

Thanks I kind of figured that based on how totally lean the brisket looked. It was only about an inch thick also so figured that might be problems.

Thanks!
Dave

Yep! We all have our quirks & differences. I like to leave a 1/4 inch fat cap on my brisket. Call it a crutch or whatever, I am a firm believer that the fat cap keep it from drying out.

Good luck with your smoke and let us know how goes it

There are some comp cooks that can do an excellent flat.

There are a lot that can't.

Flats are great if you do a cater and time/labor cost is an issue.

The down side is,you get no point-which is the best eatin'.IMO

Lot of good reading on here,about which to do.

I like to use this post from a forum member,to get folks in the right attitude.

Darcy's Indirect Cooked Packer

I thought the Texas crutch was FOIL!

My crutch is my Smokette!

After a quick search, I stand corrected, GLH. Hey, at least I keep my door closed!

Tom, why does Darcy recommend scraping the fat off the flat before slicing? That's where all the rub and carmelized goodness is. I've found I prefer to trim that fat cap down so I don't lose that flavor.

I'm interested in your opinion on this.

Nothing beats the cookshack smoker when it comes to a Texas cheat. My friends and family fight over the fat slices even though they don't eat much of the fat. The fat is like lime in a Corona, just makes it better. Never had a dry piece of meat when smoked like Cookshack Cookbook recommends.

My guess is that he is giving instructions as to finding the grain.

He is also trying to stop entusiastic trimmers from hacking up the raw packer,when it is easy to defat after cooking.

Many cooks will just slice and serve,for home consumption.

For presentation,comp cooks in Tx,Ok,etc.,may leave a clean [but unjudged] smokering on top and a layer of flavor fat on the bottom of the slice.

Cooks choice.

Just a couple of thoughts.