TIL I was trimming briskets all wrong for 5 years

I always trimmed that fat cap down to a quarter inch like I was told in school. Then this old timer at the shop I deliver to watched me one time and just shook his head. He said I was taking off too much of the deckle fat on the point side, that's where the moisture lives during a long smoke. Next brisket I left more on there and it came out way juicier than anything I'd done before. Anybody else get shown up by some retired butcher with 40 years of experience?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyf881mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, you were taught in an actual school to trim down to a quarter inch? That's wild to me. I always just eyeballed it and went off what my grandpa taught me, but hearing there's a class teaching people to strip that much off makes me wonder how many other "rules" I've been following wrong. Glad that old timer set you straight though, those retired guys always seem to know the real tricks.

gavinw4512d ago

Oh man, your grandpa taught you the eyeballing method? That's how I learned too, though my grandpa's "eyeballing" usually meant "add a little more salt and hope for the best." Sounds like we both had some hard lessons coming our way (mine involved a brisket that could've doubled as shoe leather). That quarter inch rule is definitely one of those things that sounds too specific to be real, but then you try it and suddenly your meat doesn't taste like a dried-out science experiment. Makes you wonder if all those YouTube "pitmasters" are just making stuff up as they go, same as the rest of us.

drewsullivan1mo ago

Funny timing on this, I just watched a video last week with that same tip about leaving the deckle fat on. Always figured the fat cap was the only thing that mattered but now I'm wondering how many dry briskets I've made over the years.