I have an old brisket... should I cook it?

[realdocBBQ]

So I got a Prime Costco brisket last year, left it in my drink fridge to wet age for a long time - something like 80-90 days. No biggie, I've done that before and it was fine, still cryo-vacced.

But I wasn't ready to cook it at the time and gave it to a friend to put in his deep freeze. It's been sitting there as-is for... I think about 14 or 15 months now? lol. I believe it was March or April of last year.

Think it's still good or overly freezer-burned?

We don't do brisket much. Too much meat goes to waste and The Wife loves pork ribs and pork butt 1000x more. I'm not worried about throwing it away, hell, if I don't want it my friend will throw it on his 500-gallon offset, I'm sure.

[Craigar]

Only one way to know, thaw it out and open it up. If the cryovac is in good shape, you should be okay. Check out the Baby Back Maniac vid:

[realdocBBQ]

I'm mainly worried about freezer burn more than anything. I don't know how I would even know. I guess I could trim the heck out of it.

[texastweeter]

Freezer burn shouldn't happen if properly cryovac. It needs air to freezerburn.

[HawkerXP]

Trim off any freezer burnt ends off like you would the hard fat.

[smokin fool]

Agreed, as mentioned if the cryovac hasn't been compromised there should be no freezer burn.
If there is some burn, HawkerXP is right, just trim it off

[Donw]

I believe it will be fine, especially in the original packaging. A year or so back several members here did a little off-hand contest of finding the oldest thing buried in the freezer and then cooking it. I found some cut of beef, can’t remember what exactly, that was approaching 3 years old and cooked it. Turned out great as did most members’ items they tried. If it doesn’t smell I would go for it. It might take a little trimming, but think it as found money when you enjoy it to double the pleasure.🙂

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

that sounds fun, I need to talk the wife into a chest freezer so we can try this in a few years

[jfmorris]

If it has been in cryovac and in a chest style deep freezer, freezer burn is not a concern. If it were in a fridge/freezer or other freezer that self defrosts multiple times a day, that is when freezer burn happens.

I would be more concerned over a 90 day wet-aging than I would 3 years in the freezer...

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah I was a little nervous the first time I did it, but I've had good luck. It does smell a bit strong and a very rich meaty smell, but I rinse it and it's fine. Of course if it smells 'off' I'm not using it.

[Murdy]

I have an old butt that's been hanging out in the deep freeze for a couple years. Plan on opening up and taking a look soon, but I anticipate it being okay.

[Starsky]

Go for it!

[Bogy]

Beef in a deep freeze, still in the cryo-vac, as others have said, it'll be fine. Like jfmorris said, if it was in a freezer where it was running the defrost cycle, then I'd worry about freezer burn. I've got beef and pork in my freezer, in the old style butcher paper from the processor, that I still find that's been there well over a year, and never have a problem. Chest freezers are the way to go if you like to stock up.

[rickgregory]

I mean... if you don't cook it, it will be kind of hard to eat so, yeah, I'd cook it.

[bbqLuv]

Give it the smell test, cook it and give it the taste test. Myself, I error on the side of safety,
Freezer Burn, make them into burnt ends, I suggest.

[FireMan]

Yeah, burn the freeze!

[Huskee]

I never had luck going 80 or 90 days, 2 attempts and both swelled up like a balloon and smelled like 6 dead monkeys. (My personal limit is 70 days since). But, obviously yours didn't or you wouldn't have frozen it. I'd defrost it and proceed as normal! If it's freezer burnt, trim a little layer off the whole thing (you're trimming it anyway) and go to town!

[FireMan]

6 dead monkeys! Wow! I can’t imagine what 6 of em would smell like.

[Bogy]

The only time I threw away something so freezer burned that there was nothing salvageable was one time when we were out in California visiting my wife's mother and her brother. They lived 2 doors apart. Mom had bought salmon fillet portions on sale, who knows how long before we came, and brought them over for us to cooked. Looked awful. Opened one of them and it smelled worse. Dumped the whole mess and went to store and bought some nice fillets. We wondered if she would notice the salmon had miraculously healed back into full fillets, but she never said a thing. Probably figured I had taken the "pieces of fish back into whole fillets" class in seminary.

[tstalafuse]

I guess the worst case scenario is you die from food poisoning, and the best scenario is it is the most tender brisket you have ever cooked.. I say, roll the dice, thaw, open it up and if it smells like 12 dead monkeys (no idea what they smell like but apparently Huskee does) toss it out. Otherwise, fire the smoker up and let your least favorite family and neighbors feast first...

[Huskee]

Well, not 12, only 6 really...

[tstalafuse]

Huskee, is there really a difference between 6 and 12 dead monkeys? The only difference I can smell is the size of the room you find them in.....