Trimming

Mornin',i2.

That asst. to drbbq was fast eddie maurin,one of the top brisket cooks in the country.

Eddie was talking about prepping and cooking for competition and he makes some adjustments.

Eddie buys 15 lb. CAB briskets in cryovac that he keeps in his meat cooler for 45-60 days at 33�.

He hauls his own meat on the plane to contests.

He uses the big brisket,so that when he is cutting across the center there is an adequate amount for good presentation slices.

He was doing a 1/8-1/4 inch trim removing some of the surplus fat wedge,shaping a little ,and marking the tip of the flat to show the grain after cooking.

Some of his cooking techniques don't necessarily fit our smaller Cookshacks,so I won't touch on them.

That brisket you tasted was provided by Publix,I believe and cooked by our own drbbq
several days before.

Pretty good eatin',huh.

Hi i2BBQ!

I have found that briskets and fat caps will depend greatly on whether you are cooking the entire brisket or just the flat.

I only do flats anymore and you have to trim almost all of it to the meat. I have started to trim the entire amount in one piece and then place back on top once I have seasoned it.

For doing a whole brisket, on my WSM I needed to trim to within 1/8". Not sure if the moisture factor keeps the fat from rendering, but when I hear folks say trim to 1/4", that just doesn't work for me.

One factor I never hear mentioned is that your rub will not penetrate that fat cap, so you must be sure to trim enough so that it renders out and "releases" the rub into the meat.

One other thing about trimming and rubs, if you don't trim enough, you will have a layer of fat on the top of your meat. Now, some equate that to flavor, but I will always trim that off..especially for judging/guests. Why take the chance of turning off a judge/guest who may not like the fat?

That is why a brisket can be so challenging...you must trim the right amount so that at the end, it is all rendered and the rub gets to the meat.

Hope this sheds further light on the subject.