Unpopular opinion: half the YouTube butchers can't seam out a whole brisket properly

I keep seeing these guys with nice cameras just slicing through fat caps like it doesn't matter. You can't just cut off the fat and call it trimmed. You gotta work the point and flat separately otherwise you end up with a dry flat and a greasy point. Last month my buddy bought a packer from Costco and followed some influencer's video. He ended up with a 2 inch fat cap on one side and bare meat on the other. I showed him how to find the deckle seam and it took 10 minutes. Anyone else notice this trend getting worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mason10d ago

You're right that a lot of these guys skip the deckle work, but the issue is even simpler. Those "influencers" are often just good at editing, not butchering, and they leave out the hard parts of trimming to make it look easy. I'd rather watch a grizzled BBQ pit boss than some clean-handed cook who's never worked a real whole packer.

thead4410d ago

The whole "grizzled pit boss" thing is just gatekeeping honestly. Some of those guys have been doing it the same way for 20 years and call it tradition when really they're just stuck in their ways. I've been following a guy named Meathead Mike on YouTube who breaks down trimming in 3 minutes flat with no fancy editing tricks and his briskets win competitions. A clean-handed cook can still nail the fat cap and deckle if they took the time to learn from a good source instead of some guy with a smoker and a beard. Plus half the old school guys trim too aggressively and leave no fat to render which dries out the flat anyway.

shane_ross2d ago

Can you name one specific step in Meathead Mike's trimming video that an old school pit boss would actually call wrong, or is it all just vibes with you?