I have just smoked my first non-packer cut brisket. I was nervous and just not very hopeful.It’s a trimmed brisket…..plus, what do you expect from buying precooked meat
It's pretty damn good. Beautiful smoke ring. Very tender and moist. And incredible flavor!
The flavor may be partially from not smoking a brisket since I stopped raising my own cattle. The quality of packer cuts at the store is poor IMHO. BIG huge head, but thin ass tails. A lot of that is breed related, but a good part is just how they were raised and then fed out.
Some breeds dress out quite different. I had cattle to make money and I had what I and the family ate.
My first cattle I raised were cheap little dairy calves that were bred with a Brahma for small calves for the heifers first calf. Tasty AF, but poor dressing out production.
Mom's neighbor had bought their daughter or son a registered SinBra for 4H. Simmental X Brahma. All was going good until it stepped on their foot and they got scared of her. He asked Mom if I wanted her, so I bought her. She was a great cow. Tall AF!!!!!!!!! She looked at me square in the eyes. Miss College Mound, her registered name, threw beautiful calves, so I bought another. I AI'd them with quality genes with a beautiful stretch Angus. The second or third calve was just a plain monster bull.....yeah, I didn't cut him. That fugger was MASSIVE! He had the tallness of his mom and the bulk and stretch of the donor. I butchered him at around 18 months. It was mainly from him getting a bit too aggressive around anyone but me......and he was sniffin' his Mom. I had two big freezers on the back porch. Empty, they would not have held him, so a neighbor bought half. He fed out quite well with unreal marbling and a great fat covering. It made for a very nice aging of the carcass before butchering up. I had them additionally dry age the prime rib.
I sorely miss that quality of meat!!! SORELY! If any of you have had quality raised and properly feed beef, you understand what I'm talking about. Just the lowest of low cuts, ground beef, takes on a new level of flavor. Even the ground meat from Mutt N Jeff, the two baby dairy calves, tasted like nothing in the store. Tacos was the first thing I made from Mutt N Jeff. As the browning of the meat progresses, ya take samples. Soooooo flavorful just by itself with no seasoning. Kinda made me rethink of how to season beef and bring out that 'beef' flavor.
That one massive Miss College Mound(named after a small community in the area of my Mom's neighbor) bull. almost made me change my operation and grow for a niche market. The initial outlay of capital for the mom genetics for a large enough operation and the LONG time wait for returns, put the quash on that. I made more money and quicker by buying a bunch of decent quality heifers and a good price, raise them and have my neighbor's very nice Brahma service them and sell 'em off as cow n calf pairs. MUCH quicker returns, but tricky AF to pull off well and profitable. I was lucky with the market swings for the most part. I quickly went from cattle auctions to private sales. I think I was able to negotiate a better and consistent deals that way. Sure cut down on my vet bills! Generally, private sale calves tended to be less problematic with health.
Anyway, enough of today's novel!
Do yourself a favor. Go find a rancher co-op local to you and buy some real quality beef. Yes, even without todays STUPID inflated prices, it will be expensive, but oh so worth it! And you'll be supporting real ranchers, not some big ass conglomerate!
Yes! I'm High AF!..................and hungry AF now after writing this!
Duder sends a hug back 
I worry too much so I'm going to let it cure extra long 48 hr and clean thoroughly just to be safe 
