This seems like a no-brainer to me but still want to confirm with the experts here. I have two 17lb briskets wet aging in my fridge. When aged to 45-60 days, is anything wrong with unwrapping, rinsing, drying, trimming, re-vacuum sealing and freezing?
Is there a good reason to delay trimming until thawed before the cook?
I'm not an expert on this at all but my gut tells me no. Seems like you could introduce contamination. To me not worth the risk for something you could do the day of the cook.
I’ve wet aged several briskets. If I saw I wasn’t going to have time smoke one when it had aged to the point I wanted it to I just froze them in the cryovac package. I can’t see it hurting anything to go ahead and trim then freeze though. I wouldn’t want to trim then go back to the fridge but to the freezer wouldn’t bother me.
I've done it both ways. Clean, trim, refreeze, or just pull out of the fridge in the factory cryovac and freeze, saving for another couple of months.
I'd do the latter - there's honestly no benefit to pulling it out, trimming it and then repackaging and refreezing everything. It just doesn't add anything at all but time and effort to your process. Honestly, I've done it - if I get to 80-90 days and I don't have time or inclination to cook it yet, I just toss it in the freezer. Had one I left in there close to a year before I pulled it out and cooked it and it came out great.
Originally posted by DogFaced PonySoldierView Post
I've done it both ways. Clean, trim, refreeze, or just pull out of the fridge in the factory cryovac and freeze, saving for another couple of months.
I'd do the latter - there's honestly no benefit to pulling it out, trimming it and then repackaging and refreezing everything. It just doesn't add anything at all but time and effort to your process. Honestly, I've done it - if I get to 80-90 days and I don't have time or inclination to cook it yet, I just toss it in the freezer. Had one I left in there close to a year before I pulled it out and cooked it and it came out great.
Thanks DFPS,
I know, my OCD is on full display here. In my mind I was doing a piece of the prep ahead of time. Thinking when I thaw I can just inject and rub without needing to trim. Putting ion the time and work now, saving the,e and work in the future. On the other hand, Captain Lee and Hawker's point about introducing potential bacteria / contaminants are spooking me.
On second thought, I'll keep in original cryo till cook time.
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