My number just came up on the KBQ waiting list and order is placed.
In anticipation of this we Joined Costco and I bought two briskets. They went right in the freezer.
My question is, should I have aged them before freezing?
Can I thaw them out in the refrigerator and let them age, or are they good to go to put on the KBQ after thawing?
I buy Costco briskets and always end up freezing them until needed. Just defrost in the frig 3 to 4 days before smoking. I don't age them, just defrost and smoke. Good luck with your new smoker.
I have only aged before freezing, so don't really know if it can be done afterwards, but I don't think freezing changes anything enough that it wouldn't work. I wonder if it might even work better, losing moisture from freezing, etc.
I had to look it up and found this, and others that say previously frozen beef can be aged, wet or dry.
"It is possible to dry age meat that has been previously frozen. The meat will need to be thawed before it can be dry-aged. Freezing meat before dry-aging may influence the aging process and, in some cases, may prevent the meat from aging. Frozen meat cannot be dry-aged."
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You wet agers, let me ask a question here. I'm a food borne illness phobe, but the conversations I've seen here have me intrigued with this wet aging. I meant to do a brisket for Mem Day cookoff. I went to Costco the Sunday before, for a brisket, and they were out. No prime beef in the store, literally three choice brisket flats only. So I got one, put in garage fridge, to cook the next weekend. Plans changed, no cooking/grilling Mem Day. Thought would be ok another week, still in the original vacuum pack, still cold in fridge, would cook last weekend. Plans changed, I've started a new job that has been crazy, and have almost not cooked for a while now. So, this weekend I need to cook. For mental health, and also to restock the fridge and freezer for work lunches and prep for evenings when I'm pooped. This flat is still in fridge, looks same, no bubbles or other scary things. I thought I would cook tomorrow or Sun, and decide when I see/smell/get the gestalt about the thing, whether to actually eat it. It has a "sell by" date of May 21. Thoughts?
Prolly good for another 30 days, easy. It's vacuum sealed so even facultative aenerobes gots to derive ATP's from fermentation. Especially in a fridge, they just surviving, no thriving.
I’ve always been intrigued by this, but was afraid I was missing something. You’re saying the prime packer I put in the freezer around 5/1 could have been in the fridge the whole time, and would actually be getting better? Could I then freeze it after 45 days?
I’ve always been intrigued by this, but was afraid I was missing something. You’re saying the prime packer I put in the freezer around 5/1 could have been in the fridge the whole time, and would actually be getting better? Could I then freeze it after 45 days?
Absolutely, yep. I've got 2 in the freezer now that were both wet-aged around 80-90 days before freezing.
I've done this many times. I get the briskie at Costco, stick it in the bottom of the fridge, where it's coldest. I use my garage fridge, which isn't opened and closed much, so temps stay quite even.
I leave them in their factory cryovac. The rule of thumb I've always used has been if it has a 'packed on' date, that is a good starting point, if it has a 'sell by' date, I figure the packing date about 2 weeks before that.
Some of the best ones I have ever done have sat just like that, in the bottom of the fridge, for nearly 90 days from packing date.
.....
Now.... when you open it up, it isn't going to smell like a regular 'fresh' brisket. It doesn't smell bad, but it smells much "richer", to me, I almost feel like it smells "darker" - how is a smell "dark"? I don't know, that just how I feel. It's a very rich and thick smell. As soon as I pull it out of the package, if I rinse it, smell is gone. If I pat it dry, it's pretty much gone. By the time I've started trimming and salting, there is nothing.
I am a big fan of wet aging. I think it definitely makes a difference - I've never done dry aging myself, though. I'm considering one of those Umai bags to do a brisket in. In fact... I've got family coming in early-mid August to send the kiddies off to college, maybe this is the perfect time to run that experiment. I need to buy an Umai bag and one more brisket.
I oughtta use up the 2 I've got in the freezer first, but... you know how it is.
Now I'm really thinking of that Umai bag. I'm tempted to trim a bunch of the fat off BEFORE putting it in the bag, but I know that will decrease my yield, leave more of the real meat as pellicle that needs to be trimmed AND expose the meat to more bacteria before aging. I guess I'll just do a whole one.
Wet aging yes. In the cryopack and keep below 138*F for 30-90 days is done all the time by many here. What I'm here to tell you is THE best brisket I've personally ever made (note to self, gotta do this again soon!) is to DRY age one. If you have the patience (comes with human age) this process produces one of the best results ever. Check out this post where Henrik and I took the dry age challenge which was swirling around YouTube at the time.....
I realize in our fast food, can't wait, gotta go world of living this may not be for you, but like fine wine, the longer you wait, the better the result.
Yeah... just leave it laying around in the garage on a shelf, haha... wear a gas mask when you open the cryovac though! I had a deep freeze die in mid August one year, finding it maybe after 1-2 weeks, and the smell of rotten meat haunts me to this day...
Brisket is a pain to prep. I cut away ALL of the big pieces of fat. I do one brisket cook per year. It's too much quantity otherwise so when I do it, I do it right. No corners cut. This means my chest freezer pretty much always has a Costco prime brisket waiting to be smoked. For all other smoked beef needs it's chuck roast. Nearly as good, easy to prepare and it's the right size for a small crowd.
Con't - I also tend to keep one full packer (always bought on sale) in the deep freeze in case I have a big crowd coming over, and want to do something smoked.
Costco prime packers are always the least expensive beef in my area. Thanks to a vac sealer and meat grinder in my kitchen I use brisket for just about everything beef related.
Thinking about doing thinner slices (pre cook) and making carne asada!
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