Brisket

[Grill Padawan]

Have a question concerning trimming a brisket. When cutting off the fat cap, should you also cut out the fat that is between the flat and the point?

[smokin fool]

Your call.
Sometimes I trim to death other times not so much.
Some separate the flat and point.
Personal preference gained over a few cooks, try cooking a brisket with varying fat contents and decide where you want to go.

[Jerod Broussard]

I do, it's just too thick for my taste. I've had 1 out of 200+ that was paper thin and didn't require it.

[Starsky]

I usually trim it a little. If the flat is a thinner one, I leave more fat on that to protect it

[captainlee]

Agree!

[bbqLuv]

Great question. I love the questions that are the people's choice. Some do, other don't remove the deckle.
There are many "How To trim a brisket" on YouTube.

[Spinaker]

I always do. Then I like to separate them into two pieces of meat. They really cook at different rates and they are done at different times. I always find that repeating is the way to go.

If you are not going to separate them, then I would still remove the deckle. All that fat latter does is prolong the cook. I would take a 10 hour cook over a 18 hour cook any day.

Plus, I think the meat cooks more evenly with the deckle removed.

[Mosca]

I have. But not the last few. I just hack out some of it, like an inch deep or so. Too many have wound up separating the point and flat, and my briskets have come out better when I didn’t do that.YMMV, of course.

[rlozinak]

I trim until about a 1/4 of inch of fat is left.

[Alan Brice]

Just finished a 13 lb. 72 hrs in the hot tub. Ice bath, overnight in fridge. Really easy to trim at this point. Seasoned and back into fridge cpl hrs. Then appx three hours in PBC,PBC,PBC!
Easiest cook I ever did. I am lazy n this came out AMAZING!

[Grill Padawan]

Thanks for all the input, have done 3 briskets now - trimmed all the fat and they've all come out fantastic (Meatheads recipe of course), but wanted to get some more insight. Doing my 4th on the 4th and think I'll leave a little more of the "deckel" on this time. Thanks again!

[Mosca]

This made me realize, I haven’t done a brisket since 12/2019. Just ordered one to fix that.

[Washblue]

I’ve got a 7 lb brisket on the 22” WSM this morning…
There’s a high chance of rain during the middle of the day so we opted out of using the big pit for one piece of meat…
Trimmed up nicely… SPG & a little Killer Hogs Steak Rub is sitting at 250° right now…
I put the put the trimmings in a pan next to the brisket, so I can add some back this evening if I trimmed too much…

[Washblue]

So, I’m no brisket expert, as I seldom do brisket… I cut my trimmings down to uniform pieces, and have had it on the WSM for 4 1/2 hours… I’m occasionally brushing the brisket with the tallow…
that’s the right thing to do, right?
Trim the fat away to expose more meat to seasonings…. Then add the tallow back?

[ecowper]

This is what my briskets typically look like after trimming. I trim pretty aggressively, but do not fully separate the point and flat.

Just took it out of the cryovac



Trimmed a lot and going in the fridge overnight


The rub is on before going on the smoker. You can see where I’ve trimmed into the deckle, but not taken it out completely.

[smokin fool]

I would rather leave the two pieces of meat together also, but to each they're own.

[Grill Padawan]

Well, it's been over a week since I grilled my brisket, but so everyone knows, it was perhaps the best brisket I've done yet. Very tender and most, but with that crunchy bark. And now, because it's a relatively inexpensive cut off meat (compared to other cuts) my wife wants me to do it more often now. Not sure if that's a good thing or not....