Help me salvage this Brisket Point

Jclayto

I am a long-time egg head, but limited experience with brisket, and no experience with brisket points. We bought a 1/4 cow recently from a local farm that has been amazing meat, and have decided to make the brisket for some friends tomorrow. I've been slowly trimming away the hard fat, being careful to leave softer fat to render.  However, I am starting to panic a little because this 9lb brisket seems to have way too much rock-hard fat and I'm worried it won't yield much meat for 6 adults. Looking at the last photo, it seems the thick band of fat is running all the way through the middle with limited meat.  Should I continue to try to shave away or just roll with it as is? I feel like I've already messed up by exposing some of the top of the point by removing the hard stuff.

Any tips for hot/fast with a point? I am not opposed to low/slow all night tonight for dinner tomorrow , but would prefer to do the cook tomorrow if possible.


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lkapigian

ping @lousubcap

Looks like some flat in there.....the way it looks, I would separate it at this"point " cook point and flat separate ( better view in first pick ) My 2 cents 

RyanStl

I agree. OP what is your final weight after trimming? I bet it is Enough unless you're feeding all males.

lousubcap

Starting with 9 lbs you will likely trim  around 1.5 lbs or so.  I figure the brisket final yield weight to be around 60% of what I started with after trimming.  I'll save the math at this point.
As you note, that hard fat band separates the point and flat.  It is quite thick and won't render.  I'm with @lkapigian here; separate the flat and point via that hard fat band and cook separately.  
No need to run an all-nighter for a dinner cook with the final weight you are working with.  Just run around 260-280*F on the calibrated dome.  Figure around 1 hr/lb and give yourself a 2-4 hour window to finish the cook and allow FTC.

Jclayto

Thanks, everyone! Just to make sure that I am understanding correctly, from the first photo, I'll slice "horizontally" to separate the meat from above the thick fat band (the flat?) and the meat from the bottom (the point?) and then cook both simultaneously at 260-280F?  And I really do appreciate the advice?! 

lkapigian

Jclayto said:

Thanks, everyone! Just to make sure that I am understanding correctly, from the first photo, I'll slice "horizontally" to separate the meat from above the thick fat band (the flat?) and the meat from the bottom (the point?) and then cook both simultaneously at 260-280F?  And I really do appreciate the advice?! 

yes, that fat separates the flat ( lean thin on the bottom) from the point , cook eat enjoy 

lousubcap

As addressed above referenced to your third pic, the flat is on the bottom of the fat seam.  
When you cook both (at the same time, they will quite likely finish at different time.  The flat is finished when the thickest part probes with no resistance using a skewer or quick read thermo, (likely in the low 200's*F),  The point has much higher fat content so you can run it up to around 210*F to get more rendering.  The flat will not be uniform in thickness, so foil protect the thinest portion for a few hours into the cook to help preserve moisture.  

lousubcap

@Jclayto - I just reread your opening post.  You mentioned a quarter cow. Each cow only has two briskets.  If the meat was reasonably equally divided you are working with one-half brisket.  Depending on the weight of the cow, 9 lbs is a solid weight for one-half brisket. Just FYI and possibly why the shape is different than a full packer.  

Jclayto

lousubcap said:

@Jclayto - I just reread your opening post.  You mentioned a quarter cow. Each cow only has two briskets.  If the meat was reasonably equally divided you are working with one-half brisket.  Depending on the weight of the cow, 9 lbs is a solid weight for one-half brisket. Just FYI and possibly why the shape is different than a full packer.  

I think that is what I am dealing with. We picked up the full 1/2 cow, and carefully divided it between my family and the other family. I know that both families received a brisket cut. 

I separated the point and flat earlier, from a 9lb brisket I ended up with a ~4.5lb flat and 1 lb point. Tomorrow I will smoke while brewing 20 gallons of beer. I feel a long and productive day ahead