This is the best video I've found so far for separating the point and flat. All the others kinda gloss over stuff or expect the viewer to already have some background knowledge. My wife wants to make a brisket recipe that calls for the flat but she came home from the butcher with a whole brisket and I had no idea where to start lol. After watching this video while trimming the meat I ended up with something that I'll call good enough. Thanks!
Thank God for you and the other generous chefs of UA-cam! I bought a brisket for the first time today, planning just to braise it for a long time in my cast iron dutch oven. But noticed while seasoning (because I've worked with pork shoulder) that there seemed to be two roasts. I trimmed down the seam and then felt like maybe I wrecked it. But, seems that was ok. The other thing was I was not planning to trim the fat thinking it would contribute to tenderness, until I watched these instructions. I'm so glad I've now followed your instructions and trimmed the fat --- wow! There was alot! Anyway still need to cook it but thanks to you I feel like I've got a running start.
Depending on the cut... fat can contribute to a lot of flavor. It's situational for separation and fat trim... but I'd say on a nice Choice cut to leave about a 1/4" fat cap over the brisket with the muscles still together. This is a wagyu brisket, which has fat throughout the fibers, so the fat cap and intra-muscular fat doesn't contribute to overall flavor or tenderness. Me -- I'm going to separate and full-trim the flat to make jerky and keep the cap on the point to roast for a holiday dinner. I hope yours turned out great!
It took me about two hours to trim, cut it up in pieces, packages for freezing, and store a nineteen-pound beef brisket (label showed 17.6 lbs.) That included sharpening my butcher, trimming knives, and taking a couple short breaks. The brisket wasn't very cold fresh from the Kroger grocery store. There were five pounds of fat after trimming fairly close to the meat. This was my first one and maybe my last. The price was $3.00/lB and the meat didn't have much marbling. So, It will mostly have to be slow-cooked.
Can I be your dog? Man, have I been doing it so wrong. I have been loping off what I thought was the point but was taking a lot of the flat as well. I did not realize you have to actually filet it away from the flat. Thank you for the great tutorial. I subbed.
First time i've watched someone on the tube do this. I've threatened for years that i was going to smoke a brisket with the two muscles separated. I always separate them after a cook and slice properly. It makes me twitch when i watch people take a cooked brisket, slice it down the middle. And say this half is the point and this other half is the flat. Once cooked the knife blade runs between the two with ease. Just follow the fat line. If you start to get off their will be resistance on the blade from cutting into the meat. When catering a event i use electric knife to speed things along. Little tricky staying in the fat line. But after one or two you get the hang of it.
I know pretty much everything. God-like knowledge. Whey trimming brisket you'll want to leave on some fat when doing pastrami. Makes for a more flavorful sandwich. I actually leave at least a 1/4 in on for corned beef too. Definitely brine your own brisket from scratch to make your own corned beef or pastrami it takes a week but awesome.
Separating the flat and the point is also necessary when making beef jerky. I like to put the flat in the freezer prior to slicing which I still do manually so it's safer and makes more uniform slices, for me. BTW, do you know what the most dangerous thing in a kitchen is? A dull knife.
I've never eaten competition brisket but after watching many videos of competition preparation that include the elimination of all the lovely tasty fat, i think a guy like me should stick to common old briskets done by regular guys in regular back yards. Those briskets are prepped for the grill in about 15 minutes or less, lol.😅
Out of curiosity, why do you separate them? I grew up in Texas where we smoke the entire packer brisket, but I know different regions have myriad preparation styles for their meats.
Jeremy, mainly done for Competition BBQ, cooks quicker, presents better. Also can do this for pastrami if you don't want the fat. 9 times out of 10 I cook full packers.
Having made wagyu pastrami dozens of times, I cried a little bit when I saw how much exterior fat you removed from the flat. My best results have come when leaving a thin layer of fat -- 1/8 - 1/4" -- on the outside of flat all the way through the process. At the end of the day, I think you want that very thin layer of cured, seasoned, smoked fat in the final product. That makes for the best eating. Of course, this is obviously just a matter of opinion. Looking forward to watching your pastrami video.
Hi, the knives are Shun Premiers. The link to them are in my Amazon Shop in my comments. If you order through the link, Amazon give me a small commission but it doesn't change your price. They are pretty awesome, I have a full set 😁
You'll find that using a 6 inch semi-stiff curved boning knife will work a lot easier and quicker than that chef style knife you have. Also, it's a lot quicker to seam out the the two muscles first and then trim them.
Same i use a mercer culinary 6 inch semi stiff to trim all my briskets works far better than any other method , sometimes a 10 inch semi stiff is good for removing that silverskin on the bottom of the brisket
Man I've been terrified of doing a brisket for 6 months and am finally doing one as we speak, and this guy is feeding wagyu to his dog. Haha. Hopefully my first brisket is worthy of the dogs approval.
He does a pretty good job on this, especially considering how dull that butter-knife is, and how warm the brisket is (cold = easier to trim). The "liquid-like shimmer" is a sign to stop and put that bad boy back in the flash-chiller for 15 minutes or so, especially with Wagyu and its high marbling ratio. I use a combination of two or three knives when I separate mine: a 7" boning knife, a 7" filet knife, and an 8" chef knife, all fo the razor sharp. Most of the fat is trimmed with the chef knife or boning knife, but the highly intricate cuts, especially the the deckle seam separation, is done with the filet knife.
Blues and B-B-Q, someone might mistake Hector for a Yank🤣 But hey, maybe he self identifies as a Yank and that would be just fine around these parts. Pronouns: Smoke Daddy/Brisket whisperer👍
I think I would have left part of that (thin part) on the brisket and definitely wouldn’t have filed the thick part you really want 1 inch squares minimum
Very nice video. Excellent butchering skills. I am very disappointed in hearing that this is Wagyu beef for it has poor marbling. Is this Japanese Wagyu or wannabe American or Australian Wagyu. Please specify this point in the future for it could be very misleading. Otherwise, looking forward to future videos. Thanks
Man that was broken down into almost nothing... hope the dog ain’t eating everything you cut . Grind it down and make burgers and meatballs... I love my dog but I wouldn’t be giving him that. $
I just had the worst brisket of my life with skin and fat and rubbery bits all over it. Tried to covering the restaurant and they said it was supposed to be done that way. Rubbish.
This guy would have to have one of the happiest dogs in the world!
I wanna apply for dog in his family
Actual trimming does not begin until 3:33. The separation process begins at 8:25
Not all heros wear capes
The hero we needed but didn't deserve...
M.V.P of youtube
@@rattrick1 you don’t know, he might have been sitting there typing that wearing not but a cape. 😂
get to the point. literally.
The best video I have found on separating the flat from the point. So descriptive and easy to understand.
could've done this vid a hell of a lot quicker.
Thank you! I successfully separated my brisket & am getting ready to have some salsa verde brisket burritos!
I wonder if he is making pastrami? Lol. Looks great!
Hehe, I did repeat myself a little (lot) :-)
This is the best video I've found so far for separating the point and flat. All the others kinda gloss over stuff or expect the viewer to already have some background knowledge. My wife wants to make a brisket recipe that calls for the flat but she came home from the butcher with a whole brisket and I had no idea where to start lol. After watching this video while trimming the meat I ended up with something that I'll call good enough. Thanks!
She saved a lot of money! Paying for the flat only costs more than the packer brisket where I am. Labor is $$$.
Thanks Hector…I’m going to try that with my next brisket.
Outstanding again .! I separated the point and flat with your help. Perfect for a snowstorm...Thank you !
Awesome Joe, very happy it was useful. Take care in all of that snow :-)
Thank you, nice video. Initially the music 🎶 made me think of Donovan and Mellow Yellow, but that gave way to some bluesy Muddy Waters type blues. 😄
Thank God for you and the other generous chefs of UA-cam! I bought a brisket for the first time today, planning just to braise it for a long time in my cast iron dutch oven. But noticed while seasoning (because I've worked with pork shoulder) that there seemed to be two roasts. I trimmed down the seam and then felt like maybe I wrecked it. But, seems that was ok. The other thing was I was not planning to trim the fat thinking it would contribute to tenderness, until I watched these instructions. I'm so glad I've now followed your instructions and trimmed the fat --- wow! There was alot! Anyway still need to cook it but thanks to you I feel like I've got a running start.
Depending on the cut... fat can contribute to a lot of flavor.
It's situational for separation and fat trim... but I'd say on a nice Choice cut to leave about a 1/4" fat cap over the brisket with the muscles still together.
This is a wagyu brisket, which has fat throughout the fibers, so the fat cap and intra-muscular fat doesn't contribute to overall flavor or tenderness.
Me -- I'm going to separate and full-trim the flat to make jerky and keep the cap on the point to roast for a holiday dinner.
I hope yours turned out great!
i TOOK A sHOT every time Hector said pastrami. I'm fdrunk now. 🤪 Great tutorial, thx. Just what I was looking for.
AWESOME video!! Thank you for sharing this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was really helpful, thank you!
You're so welcome!
It took me about two hours to trim, cut it up in pieces, packages for freezing, and store a nineteen-pound beef brisket (label showed 17.6 lbs.) That included sharpening my butcher, trimming knives, and taking a couple short breaks. The brisket wasn't very cold fresh from the Kroger grocery store. There were five pounds of fat after trimming fairly close to the meat. This was my first one and maybe my last. The price was $3.00/lB and the meat didn't have much marbling. So, It will mostly have to be slow-cooked.
Low-n-slow wins the race.
Can I be your dog? Man, have I been doing it so wrong. I have been loping off what I thought was the point but was taking a lot of the flat as well. I did not realize you have to actually filet it away from the flat. Thank you for the great tutorial. I subbed.
Very informative!
Glad you liked it
First time i've watched someone on the tube do this. I've threatened for years that i was going to smoke a brisket with the two muscles separated. I always separate them after a cook and slice properly. It makes me twitch when i watch people take a cooked brisket, slice it down the middle. And say this half is the point and this other half is the flat. Once cooked the knife blade runs between the two with ease. Just follow the fat line. If you start to get off their will be resistance on the blade from cutting into the meat. When catering a event i use electric knife to speed things along. Little tricky staying in the fat line. But after one or two you get the hang of it.
Great video. I watched 2 others. You made me understand it.
Awesome! Thank you!
Great explanation and execution of how to do this!
the best part is when I turned the prattling wind bag off after 10 minutes.
Do cc
Great trimming job. Very nice.
I know pretty much everything. God-like knowledge. Whey trimming brisket you'll want to leave on some fat when doing pastrami. Makes for a more flavorful sandwich. I actually leave at least a 1/4 in on for corned beef too. Definitely brine your own brisket from scratch to make your own corned beef or pastrami it takes a week but awesome.
Thanks chef hector I needed this video
This video is great. I successfully separated the flat from a brisket last night and it's brining for a pastrami smoke this weekend. Thanks!
Im bringing the beer. What time shall I arrive?
Separating the flat and the point is also necessary when making beef jerky. I like to put the flat in the freezer prior to slicing which I still do manually so it's safer and makes more uniform slices, for me. BTW, do you know what the most dangerous thing in a kitchen is?
A dull knife.
I'm from KCMO , where we do burned ends, nor Pastrami.
Excelente. De México. Saludos!!
I've never eaten competition brisket but after watching many videos of competition preparation that include the elimination of all the lovely tasty fat, i think a guy like me should stick to common old briskets done by regular guys in regular back yards. Those briskets are prepped for the grill in about 15 minutes or less, lol.😅
Same here, at home I do minimum trimming, love the flavour of the fat 😀
Out of curiosity, why do you separate them? I grew up in Texas where we smoke the entire packer brisket, but I know different regions have myriad preparation styles for their meats.
Jeremy, mainly done for Competition BBQ, cooks quicker, presents better. Also can do this for pastrami if you don't want the fat. 9 times out of 10 I cook full packers.
Great video. Very detailed. Thanks.
How would the cooking times differ if you wanted to cook both the point and flat?
Do you do the fat trim when the brisket is at room temp or refrigerated?
Having made wagyu pastrami dozens of times, I cried a little bit when I saw how much exterior fat you removed from the flat. My best results have come when leaving a thin layer of fat -- 1/8 - 1/4" -- on the outside of flat all the way through the process. At the end of the day, I think you want that very thin layer of cured, seasoned, smoked fat in the final product. That makes for the best eating. Of course, this is obviously just a matter of opinion. Looking forward to watching your pastrami video.
Cheers Ronnie, I'll definitely have a go your way on the next one and see which one I prefer 😁
I agree. I’ve made pastrami several times as well, never wagyu, and I leave 1/4” at least.
Those are some great knives. What are they? I want them!
Hi, the knives are Shun Premiers. The link to them are in my Amazon Shop in my comments. If you order through the link, Amazon give me a small commission but it doesn't change your price. They are pretty awesome, I have a full set 😁
@@HectorsSmokeHouse Thank you! I'll check them out
BTW, Hector good video. Accurately stated for the 2 muscles in the brisket cut: there's the Point and the ... not FLAP!
🎉Thank you so much‼️
I use a Milwaukee electric knife, Fuel 12 volts. AWESOME.
You'll find that using a 6 inch semi-stiff curved boning knife will work a lot easier and quicker than that chef style knife you have. Also, it's a lot quicker to seam out the the two muscles first and then trim them.
Same i use a mercer culinary 6 inch semi stiff to trim all my briskets works far better than any other method , sometimes a 10 inch semi stiff is good for removing that silverskin on the bottom of the brisket
Yeah I use a boning knife for all my meat
At 10:34 the flat is vaguely reminiscent of the shape of Texas. Coincidence? Yeah probably
Total coincidence but now I wish I had done that 🤣
I've seen a northern American redwood cut cleaner
Which part is better for smoked pastrami? the Flat or the Point??
I got a new drinking game you have to take a drink every time he says point or flat you will be totaled in the first four minutes
Wonder if he's gonna make pastrami...
I’ll take the dogs meat please! Lol 😹 his dog eats better then me! Good video, very informative. Not joking about the dogs meat btw.
This is what I was thinking. Pretty darn expensive snack. Dog probably won’t even chew. Just swallow it
did he weigh how much he trimmed off
Man I've been terrified of doing a brisket for 6 months and am finally doing one as we speak, and this guy is feeding wagyu to his dog. Haha. Hopefully my first brisket is worthy of the dogs approval.
My dogs eat literal poop. Most dogs ive met would eat anything. They would definitely qpprove. Lol
My last brisket became dog food because i messed up the cook.
Skip to 3:12 to get to start seeing the point of the video.
I dont see why that part you cut off has to be removed. 20:00
It's more for if you are doing burnt ends for a competition and want to keep them square and uniform. Otherwise you don't need to tidy it up.
Wait, Which one is the point and which is the flat?
He does a pretty good job on this, especially considering how dull that butter-knife is, and how warm the brisket is (cold = easier to trim). The "liquid-like shimmer" is a sign to stop and put that bad boy back in the flash-chiller for 15 minutes or so, especially with Wagyu and its high marbling ratio. I use a combination of two or three knives when I separate mine: a 7" boning knife, a 7" filet knife, and an 8" chef knife, all fo the razor sharp. Most of the fat is trimmed with the chef knife or boning knife, but the highly intricate cuts, especially the the deckle seam separation, is done with the filet knife.
Where do you source your Wagyu from?
Hi Adam, either directly through Sher Wagyu or through Kellys Meats in Cranbourne.
Sorry, and I love my dog, but he ain’t getting NO Wagyu ANYTHING!
Loose definition of live huh? lol
video starts at 1:02 ... you're welcome.
Blues and B-B-Q, someone might mistake Hector for a Yank🤣 But hey, maybe he self identifies as a Yank and that would be just fine around these parts. Pronouns: Smoke Daddy/Brisket whisperer👍
Just curious, what are you going to do with that flat? lol
I dont know but dont take all that fat off like he did its pretty much only good for pastrami or grindin for burgers or tacos at that point holy
@@g.1667I was going to suggest that he use it for pastrami. Bet he never thought of that. 😉
I think I would have left part of that (thin part) on the brisket and definitely wouldn’t have filed the thick part you really want 1 inch squares minimum
Dude needs to stone that knife edge some,... it'd be a bunch easier
It was a lil frustrating watching him struggle @ about 6:00 in
A curved boning knife is much better for this.
Prolly great video but you lost me at the long musical intro. 😂
Point_
Id definitely leave a lot of the fat there for it to render
What are beggars are they the same as burgers
22 minutes for what should be a fairly straightforward process? Next!
Very nice video. Excellent butchering skills. I am very disappointed in hearing that this is Wagyu beef for it has poor marbling. Is this Japanese Wagyu or wannabe American or Australian Wagyu. Please specify this point in the future for it could be very misleading. Otherwise, looking forward to future videos. Thanks
Man that was broken down into almost nothing... hope the dog ain’t eating everything you cut . Grind it down and make burgers and meatballs... I love my dog but I wouldn’t be giving him that. $
Hey Michael, it all gets minced some goes to the dog but most is used for burgers, Shepard's pies etc 😁
Hectors Smoke House I like your Chanel Iv watched other videos... good stuff pal
yeah... no wagyu for the dog!!
The cutoffs are great to slice thin and use in chinese cooking.
Wayyyyyyy too much trimming done here , even of you were making pastrami you mutilated the fat cap on the whole thing
Give wagyu to the dog ? I don't think so !!!
10% of the video gone and I'm still not learning anything,
FFS mate,. GET TO THE POINT! (and the flat) immediately.
Followed your steps ended up with shit
I just had the worst brisket of my life with skin and fat and rubbery bits all over it. Tried to covering the restaurant and they said it was supposed to be done that way. Rubbish.
One minute showing us a brisket? Get on with it!
He is feed his dog Wagyu trimmings...
Whats wrong with giving them a small piece??
You are an absolute monster for destroying a wagyu brisket and turning it into pastrami and dog food. You should be ashamed.