Hot take: my 8 hour brisket trim turned into a 3 day ordeal

I keep seeing everyone rave about those fast trim jobs on YouTube where pitmasters knock out a whole packer in like 15 minutes. Well I tried to copy that and ended up spending way too long on a single brisket last month. What they don't show is how much fat you actually need to leave on for a 12 hour smoke. I trimmed off too much, got paranoid, then spent 2 hours trying to patch it back together with butchers twine and hope. Then my smoker temp spiked because I was distracted and I had to babysit it all night. Total time from start to finished product was around 30 hours just for one cook. Has anyone else ruined a brisket by following those speed trimming videos?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubyshah18d ago

@ivanross probably spent more time fixing the trim than cooking it, but an 8-hour ordeal sounds like a flex more than a real problem.

ivanross18d ago

Bro that "patch it back together with butchers twine" part hit way too close to home lol. I did the exact same thing last summer, spent 4 hrs trying to salvage my trim job and ended up with a brisket that looked like a mummy.

joel_martinez18d ago

That 4 hour salvage job sounds rough but I bet that mummy brisket still tasted better than a perfect one from a pro. I once spent 45 minutes trying to untangle a whole roll of twine I'd dropped in the grass, then gave up and used shoelaces instead. My buddy still brings it up every time we smoke anything together. The butchers twine struggle is real man, we've all been there with some janky looking meat tied up like a ransom note.