Round or flat?

Do you prefer your corned beef as a round or a flat cut?


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Sac Arrow

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What say ye, and how do you like to cook it?
 
Round in the crock with cabbage and red potatoes.
 
BTW, you forgot the option for a point cut.
 
Educate me.
Point and flat are 2 parts of a whole brisket. @Matthew can probably do a much better job than me, so I'll just leave a picture here to get started on the discussion.

Bandera_Brisket_DSC_0018.jpg
 
For the record, I by far, much prefer rounds. More tenderer. More juicier. More leaner. More tastier. And even cheaper here for some reason which I have never figured out.
 
Point and flat are 2 parts of a whole brisket. @Matthew can probably do a much better job than me, so I'll just leave a picture here to get started on the discussion.

Bandera_Brisket_DSC_0018.jpg

Interesting... learn something new every day.
 
I sous vide almost all meat now. Makes it perfectly every time.

Tim
 
Any way you want as long as you don’t get it or it’s smell anywhere near me.
 
I sous vide almost all meat now. Makes it perfectly every time.

Tim

But have you actually done corned beef that way? I used to bake it, but one of the reasons I stopped is because it still retains all of the salt, and part of the process of simmering in water is to leach out most of the salt. Or at least enough so it isn't overly salty.
 
But have you actually done corned beef that way? I used to bake it, but one of the reasons I stopped is because it still retains all of the salt, and part of the process of simmering in water is to leach out most of the salt. Or at least enough so it isn't overly salty.

Yes, I actually have a corned beef cooking that way now. Takes much longer, but I set it and forget it, 140F for 48 hours is the current run I am doing.

Tim
 
Point and flat are 2 parts of a whole brisket. @Matthew can probably do a much better job than me, so I'll just leave a picture here to get started on the discussion.

Bandera_Brisket_DSC_0018.jpg

OK, ladies and fellas, pull up a chair because Matthew is here.

That photo is a pretty good representation. That's a whole brisket. If you are the kind of person that hits on the opposite sex by trying to explain how IPAs got the name, then you would call it a packer. The flat is just that, flat. The point can be pretty gnarly and have a lot of connective tissue in it. Cook the point a little longer in order to melt all that tissue and make it extra tender. You can't cook the flat that long or it will dry out. On the Kansas City BBQ Society (KCBS) contest circuit, and pretty much at any restaurant here in town, the point is then cubed and called "burnt ends". Used to be it was chopped, but then someone won a ribbon by cutting it into cubes so now everybody does it that way...even the restaurants.

KCBS contest rules have a brisket category, and no specification on point or flat. KCBS rules also don't say you can't separate the two prior to cooking, so it's pretty common to trim in such a way they separate and then cook them as two pieces. (KCBS rules on pork butts specifically say it has to be a single piece until 165 and then you can separate pieces and finish any way you want.) At KCBS contests it's very common to turn in slices (about #2 pencil thick), and burnt ends. It sometimes backfires when one of those is very good and the other is very bad - but that's a story for another day.

Different regions will cook that brisket differently. I can't speak to Texas as an expert, but I think it's normal down there to cook the whole thing as a single piece, then slice through it all. You get a nice thick slice with that fat layer that separates the point from the flat. In KC you can order brisket or burnt ends. Brisket will be the sliced flat, and burnt ends will be the point.

Here are a couple pics. The first is the whole brisket, the 2nd is that same brisket that's pretty heavily trimmed and shows the two different muscle groups. The third pic is a different brisket that shows the point and flat separated.

DSCN3319.JPG
DSCN3320.JPG
DSCN3453.JPG
 
We always cook multiple corned beefs so we have leftovers to make Reubens.

From the subject line of this thread, I thought we were discussing the shape of the world...
 
I keep meaning to make my own pastrami, but never seem to have the time.


Hmmm, I have never tried. I may look into this. i love a good NY Deli style Pastrami sandwich with at least a half pound on meat on there.

Tim
 
Hmmm, I have never tried. I may look into this. i love a good NY Deli style Pastrami sandwich with at least a half pound on meat on there.

Tim
I think where I end up stuck is that I figure I should make one, then find out I didn’t leave enough time to make a corned beef myself and there aren’t any store bought available.
 
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