Brisket Shot

When talking to customers about how they would like something cut, there is always a bit of guess work involved. Everything has the potential to be cut myriad different ways. To further complicate the matter, most lay people have no language to be able to communicate what it is they like or want. In truth, they may not know what they want at all. They may only know what it is they DON'T want.

Some days this is a tricky format to navigate through. The Brisket is an area that is simultaneously loaded with diverse cutting possibilities, and heightened individual preference. I find it to be particularly difficult to triage how each customer would like me to cut this for them. Henceforth I may point to the images from this blog post to more apptly get people exactly what they want.

The Brisket fat is tremendously good. That being said, fat-phobia runs deep in American culture. There is the option to "denude" or seam and heavily trim the Brisket Point from the Brisket Flat.

This is the flat cut:

This is the point cut, trimmed heavily but not denuded:

As pictured above, "heavily trimmed with 1/4inch windows of fat" would be the most popular customer preference. A nice compromise between denuding and full fat.

Here is the point and flat cut still together, squared off and lightly trimmed:

This is a great option for smoking and low&slow barbecuing methods. You can see that there is a thick seam of fat in between the uppermost point and the lowermost flat. This renders through in a wonderfully advantageous way but will appeal only to those who are not afraid of fat.

If you click on the above picture it will link you to a page with more Brisket photos.

Everyone should cook Brisket periodically. The list of methods and recipies are endless and it is worth trying all of them. Barbacoa and other shredded beef preparations can be made from Brisket. There is nothing better for smoking and barbecue.

"Brisket Shot:" In hunting terminology, this refers to shooting an animal square in the chest when you and the animal are facing each other. The animals chest, being pectoral muscle, is the Brisket.

Here's Steven Rinella at his finest.

#brisketbutcherpointcutflatcutbarbecue