My son surprised me last night by giving me a 15 lb packers cut brisket as my birthday present. He is good friends with a guy who runs a very popular BBQ restaurant in town. The brisket is still in the cryovac packaging. The question I have is; how long can I leave it before I either smoke it or freeze it? As a follow, on does freezing have any negative effects on the moistness of the brisket when it is cooked? The brisket is 21 inches long so I may have to cut it. I've done a couple of briskets before, using Pachanga's method, and been very happy with how they turned out so plan to do that again. They were a little bit smaller and I was able to fit them in whole by bending into the "u" shape Pachanga talks about.
Any idea when it was cut and pit in the cryovack? I freeze butts all the time and thaw and smoke and have no issues with moistness.
The Briskets I've received from Snake River farms are frozen, no issues with dryness.
Quote from: FLBentRider on January 26, 2011, 05:25:07 AM
The Briskets I've received from Snake River farms are frozen, no issues with dryness.
Ditto FLBR.
If you're not going to smoke your brisket this weekend, I would go ahead and freeze it since you don't know when it was processed and packaged just to be on the safe side. Would hate to lose a brisket, especially a FREE one! :)
Freeze and thaw - no problem either. Just takes a while to thaw.
freeze, thaw no problem,, smoke, freeze no problem, so take your choice, once smokes do vac seal before freezing
Okay, brisket is in the freezer waitng for a good time to smoke it. Thanks for the advice.