Freezing cryo brisket question??

[scotts1919]

morning guys. I had planned on possibly doing a brisket tomorrow but the impending forecast(rain,thunderstorms) has changed my mind a bit. First of all, i bought an excellent 11 pound prime brisket for $2.99 a pound yesterday. I think i am going to throw it in the freezer and use it next weekend.

Whats everyone's experience with freezing and then thawing? What do you anticipate for thaw time? I planned on leaving it in the cryo for freezing.

Thanks

 

[mikemci]

I usually put my cryovac brisket in the fridge for 3-4 weeks before cooking them. Wet aging makes them better Imogen. You can freeze and thaw if you want. I just prefer the wet age technique.

 

[jwcfta06]

I was about to ask this same question. I was Houston a couple of weeks ago and stocked up on some prime grade briskets and one wagyu but I had to freeze them. I would be interested to see how to defrost them.

 

[FireChief]

I've kept brisket in the freezer up to 6 months with no discernible ill effects. Such a big, thick cut of meat. For that short a length of time you have nothing to worry about even if you didn't threw it in the freezer unwrapped.

 

[chasbates]

If it will be next weekend why not just let it set in the frig?
If you freeze it, it will take two days to freeze solid and two to three days to thaw.

 

[troy64]

Found out by default how frozen/thawed brisket tastes. I've had two briskets in the garage frig for about 2 weeks. I'm guessing between the infrequent use of frig and the temp being set on "coldest" (Louisiana summers) that this aided in freezing most of the brisket. It wasn't frozen solid. I rubbed them down with apple cider vinegar and put them back in the fridge on Wednesday night. Yesterday they both were thawed and I trimmed them to smoke. Both turned out great. Now this is not quite the same as dealing with a solid frozen brisket, thawed and smoked but still I did not notice anything wrong.

 

[scotts1919]

If it will be next weekend why not just let it set in the frig?
If you freeze it, it will take two days to freeze solid and two to three days to thaw.

isnt that getting little close to how long you can keep things in the fridge before it spoils? Ive had cryovac butts go bad a few days past sale date and i would hate to waste money..

 

[Big Swole]

Sub'd

 

[jwcfta06]

I cook maybe a brisket a month so this is 4 to 6 months of briskets for me. Although this will be my first football season with the Shirley in tow so it may be 4 Saturdays worth. I just can't find prime grade or wagyu briskets where I live in east Texas so when I make a trip to Houston every couple of months I like to stock up. I hope I can thaw them without hurting anything too much.

 

[Cole Train]

I have thawed out many Briskets and have not noticed any difference in taste. I usually thaw them out in the fridge for three days prior to the day I want to smoke the brisket. Heck I have even got the point that I will cook two to three briskets and once they are done I let them rest for about an hour. After an hour rest they go into a foodsaver bag and get vacuumed down and into the freezer. To serve them I thaw the brisket for about a day and then put the brisket in a pot of boiling water at about 170 degrees. It usually takes about 2 hours to get it heated up to serving temperature. I like doing it at 170 degrees because you don't run the risk of cooking the brisket even further. To be honest the cooked/frozen/re-eated briskets tend to be the best tasting..I don't know why...

 

[toys4dlr]

isnt that getting little close to how long you can keep things in the fridge before it spoils? Ive had cryovac butts go bad a few days past sale date and i would hate to waste money..

Pork and beef are two different animals (see what I did there) when it comes to wet aging or aging for that matter. Think about the great steak houses that dry age beef for 45 plus days. I like 30 -45 days of wet age from the kill date on my briskets for comps, the enzymes start to break down the meat and will make it more tender. As long as the cryo is in tack, a week only help with the flavor. Just put it in the coldest part of the fridge, which is usually back bottom.

 

[scotts1919]

Pork and beef are two different animals (see what I did there) when it comes to wet aging or aging for that matter. Think about the great steak houses that dry age beef for 45 plus days. I like 30 -45 days of wet age from the kill date on my briskets for comps, the enzymes start to break down the meat and will make it more tender. As long as the cryo is in tack, a week only help with the flavor. Just put it in the coldest part of the fridge, which is usually back bottom.

Understood! Thank you much

 

[SmittyJonz]

I leave them out on the counter overnite - from 11pm or midnight till 7am or so.
If I wanna prep it the nite before I'll pull it from freezer and put in 5 gallon bucket of Hot water for 2-3 hrs then trim it, rub it and put in fridge over nite.

 

[VoodoChild]

And Dont forget this as well...May give you some other usefull info.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233974

 

[rikun]

Our import briskets have 4 months from slaughter to use by date! In cryovac.

We used previously frozen Wagyu brisket just recently in a competition, placed 5th out of 31. I froze it in a regular freezer, so you can bet it froze pretty slowly and formed big ice crystals :-D