Is this a regular brisket cut, or packer's cut?

[hudsonian]

I'm planning on smoking my first brisket this weekend, and I've been reading up here and other places, and think I have a halfway decent handle on cooking it. We'll see.

My issue is, the brisket I got (came as part of the 1/4 cow we bought locally) doesn't look much like the brisket I'm seeing in pics online. That nice flat/point, with fat on one side and leaner meat underneath with some silver skin... mine just looks a bit different. I think it could be a packer's cut, though I'm not sure.

 I shot this quick video of the (still frozen) brisket. Can anyone help ID it, please? Thanks!

http://telodesign.com/test/brisket.mov

 

[bruno994]

Just appears to be a smallish whole packer with a point and a flat.  Point seems to be larger than the flat section, which is ok, the point meat is the best anyway. 

 

[hudsonian]

Thanks, Bruno--much appreciated. So it's good to go with a little fat trim, then just smoke that whole thing? Thanks!

 

[bruno994]

You should be good to go.  It does seem to have a lot of extra fat on and around the point end, so a good heavy trim will do several things, expose more meat to smoke, seasonings and allow it to cook faster.  Good luck and happy smoking.  Briskets just take patience, once you reach 190 or so on the IT, start probing it every 5 degrees of rise after that, once a toothpick slides in like going into butter, she's done.  Pull her from the heat, vent, then rest for at least an hour, preferably until the IT has dropped back down under 165 or so, then slice and enjoy.

 

[boykjo]

IMHO looks like a whole packer cut in half and you got the point side with a little of the flat end....... I like the price at 1.00 per lb

Joe

 

[hudsonian]

Thanks so much for this, guys--extremely helpful information, and very much appreciated! First attempt was great... looking forward to next time. We'll be eating leftovers for days, which is an excellent thing.