Shoutout to the pitmaster in Kansas City who showed me why I was over-trimming my brisket

Last Saturday I watched him take off maybe a quarter inch of fat cap and leave the deckle completely untouched, and my briskets have been dry for 2 years because I was shaving everything down like I was prepping a steak.

3 comments

3 Comments

corap2113d ago

Gotta disagree hard here. Ive been trimming deckle clean off for years and my flats always came out dry and tough. That fat protects the meat while it cooks slow and keeps moisture in. If you trim it off you lose all that. The whole point of low and slow is to break down connective tissue not to expose every inch of meat to direct heat. I think a lot of people overthink this and end up ruining their brisket. Leaving it on changed everything for me.

ward.jamie12d ago

Haha, I feel like I'm the guy who accidentally trimmed off all his fingers trying to get the deckle just right. In my experience, I used to leave the whole thing on and just pray, but then @thomas_sanchez brought up a good point about that hard fat not rendering. I've found that a super light trim and a good score lets the smoke get in there without sacrificing all the moisture. Your mileage may vary, but I've landed somewhere in the middle and my flats have been way more forgiving since.

thomas_sanchez14d ago

Ngl, I gotta push back on this a bit. Leaving the deckle untouched is a huge mistake in my experience. That hard fat doesn't render down at all, so you're basically eating unchewable chunks or trimming it off after cooking anyway. I've found you gotta at least score it or do a light trim so the meat underneath actually gets some smoke and heat. A quarter inch fat cap is fine, but ignoring the deckle just means you end up with a spot that's always tough and fatty. I swear, how hard you trim that area makes or breaks the whole flat for me.