On this episode of "Name That Meat": is this brisket?

[Lost in China]

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Is this a brisket? It is beef from the front part of the cow, that's all I know.


Okay, story time. So, my Chinese friend says he can get me the cuts of meat I want. But we have to go to this one place. So I meet him for lunch on Friday and we walk with his friend who knows the place. Ten minutes into obscure side streets, we finally find the place. It's a neighborhood wet market, pretty much like all the others. One of the stalls does beef. So we get in, I explain what I want with the diagram from the cow.



My friend is speaking Wenzhou language to the butcher, which is totally different from Mandarin and I don't know what he's saying. I try to make sure and communicate what I want. From the front part of the cow, near the belly. They say come back tomorrow.

I come back and the guy has a whole upper leg carved out in one piece. Rear leg, of course. Not what I asked for at all, not even close to a brisket. But they did have this other piece of meat there, which looked like a brisket, and the butcher said it came from the front part of the cow. Or maybe he just agreed with me because he wanted me to buy it. So anyway it's mine now and come what may, I'm cooking it tomorrow.

I'm going to cook it like a brisket, slow smoke on the Weber 22". I guess if it needs 18 hours I better get started tonight. Maybe I can do it partway in the oven. Anyway, if anyone knows what this cut of beef is, please let me know! It is 9 pounds. Thanks!

[6th Borough BBQ]

Wow - I don't know what that is but it doesn't look like the brisket I threw on the smoker this morning. I'm curious now though so hopefully it can be identified!

[dtassinari]

I might be completely off, but that looks suspiciously like one of the cuts of meat I buy to grind into bolognese sauce*... Which would be from the rump.

(There's no point in me naming the cut in Italian, right? I'm not sure what you'd call it in American terminology, but it looks to me like it's what you'd call topside or thick flank in Britain. But then again, I'm a pastry chef, so I could be more than 100% wrong.)

The cuts I have in mind are lean, of average tenderness and with very little connective tissue, and definitely not something you'd want to cook like brisket. Maybe you could slice a small piece off and try to pan-fry it quickly?

* Yes, I am aware that I buy overpriced lean meat for essentially stewing. Sadly it's the way people like it here. For myself I save trimmings from beef and pork ribs, which is definitely a better way to go.

[RonB]

Is there any way you could show the butcher a video? Here's a link to a youtube video showing the brisket being removed from the carcass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StSAotOxswY

[Lost in China]

Are there any of this site's beef recipes that apply to this kind of meat? I could grind this into hamburger but I don't have the 20% fat needed to bind the patties together. Plus hamburger is kind of too easy to cook. I like a challenge!

Could it be picanha?

[Steve Vojtek]

It does not look " grainy" enough to be a brisket. I agree with dtassinari about slicing a 10 mm piece off the end and frying it up medium rare like a steak. If it comes out tough than maybe it needs low and slow like a brisket. If it comes out tender than I would cook it like : http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/...rib_roast.html
This is just my humble opinion I am not a brisket expert by far.
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[Steve Vojtek]

Also found this:

https://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/2008/01/15/cuts-beef-chinese

And :

https://funasiangames.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/ive-got-a-beef-with-you/

May help in the future maybe.

[HorseDoctor]

Is there any bone it it anywhere? That would help ID the cut. It appears to be made up of pretty much one or two large muscles and I'm having trouble figuring out how that could have come from anywhere on the front leg and not have a bone in it. My best guess is that you have a chunk of round from the upper hind leg. The very top part may be a picanha though I'm used to seeing that with fat cap intact. Will forward the pix to a neice who is taking a meat science curriculum and see if her instructors can be of more help.

The recipe for Baltimore Pit Beef strikes me as the way to go on this piece.

[Lost in China]

The second photo is looking inside the bottom right section of the first photo. The piece appears to be completely boneless. I'm gonna trim the skin off it, dry brine it, and then carve off a hunk and fry it in a skillet. We'll see what happens!

[Lost in China]

I pan-fried the gigantic chunks I carved off trimming the skin off. The one piece had the skin on it, and it was awful and almost inedible. Definitely remove all the skin and fat. The cooked meat was chewy and tough to eat, even after I remembered to slice across the grain.



During carving it easily separated into two pieces. Still need to trim that white skin on the bottom.

[bardsleyque]

This is just a guess but it might be a big piece of chuck i.e. clod! Treat it like brisket cook to 200 or so(probe tender) and chop or "pull". Good luck and enjoy!

[bardsleyque]

and the cambro rest

[Lost in China]

That need the full brisket 18 hours?

[bardsleyque]

How much does that weigh? I've done a couple of big clods 30ish lbs. 14 hrs. had them close enough but I will allow more time for the next one!!!

[6th Borough BBQ]

Maybe it isn't beef?

[Lost in China]

It's beef.

[Omega-Man]

Maybe Long Cut Shoulder Clod? Scroll down at this link http://bravoproducts.ca/category/beef/chuck/

[Lost in China]

Well, I rubbed it with Mrs. O'Leary's Cow Crust and put it on to cook. But, because nothing is ever easy, the fire wouldn't get up to temperature. The fire wouldn't get up to temperature because it was shitty insta-light charcoal that caught fire all at once and then disintegrated into powder that clogged up the air circulation of the SnS. It was shitty insta-light charcoal because when they sent my grill back from the bar, two bags of charcoal arrived with it. Great, free charcoal, I thought. I didn't see that it was insta-light.

I lit it and came back and the whole sear side of the SnS was ablaze. Slow-burning this ain't. So I just threw some mesquite chips on there and let them burn up to give the smoke flavor. By the time the wood chips burned out, the fire had nearly collapsed due to the briquets burning fast. This was bad enough, but then they collapsed into dust which blocked oxygen, which made everything worse. The temp wouldn't go above 190 with the lid closed.

I just brought it in and am going to finish it in the oven at 300 or so. Treat it just like it's a chuck roast, I guess, since it's probably one part or another of the chuck muscle. My guests are gonna be a bit disappointed not to see the grill in operation. Maybe I can fire up the rest of that insta-light charcoal and sear the outside of the roast on it.

[Mr. Bones]

It is great fun to follow your adventures!!!
Anxiously awaitin' how this cook comes out...