A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and
chili meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for
almost 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and
tastes good, but it's very fatty.

Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after
cooking) Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very
much of at a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.

Bob

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
>A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and chili
>meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for almost 24
>hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and tastes good,
>but it's very fatty.

I like to try to separate as much fat from the meat as I can by
refrigerating and then just getting my hand in it and extracting the meat.
Then shredded beef for taco meat, or as you mentioned, vegetable soup, that
sort of thing. Add it to noodles with Asian sauce. I've never frozen it
though. (I do this with so-called "country style pork ribs" (slices of
Boston Butt is what they are) all the time. I brown, braise, refrigerate,
and separate. I also like the meat on a sandwich with a bit of my favorite
barbecue sauce.

zxcvbob wrote:

> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and chili
> meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for almost
> 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and tastes
> good, but it's very fatty.
>
> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after cooking)
> Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very much of at
> a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.

Vaca Frita: Shred the meat into thin threads and put into a glass container.
Add lime juice, minced garlic, and salt. Toss well, then soak overnight.

Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat until smoking. Use
tongs to pick up some of the meat, shake off the marinade, and add to the
pan. Cook until crisp and then remove from the pan to a heated platter. Cook
the remaining meat the same way, adding oil as necessary (it might not be
necessary at all). When all the meat is cooked, add a sliced onion to the
pan and cook until browned. Scatter onion slices over the meat, then scatter
parsley over the onions. Serve immediately (preferably with black beans and
white rice).

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and
> chili meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for
> almost 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and
> tastes good, but it's very fatty.
>
> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after
> cooking) Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very
> much of at a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.
>
> Bob


Chill it well, scrape and cut away the fat. Shred and heat either with
your favorite BBQ sauce or make a gravy with the drippings, sauteed
onions and peppers, garlic, basil and oregano and serve with the meat on
hard rolls for "Italian Dip".

gloria p

zxcvbob wrote:

> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and
> chili meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for
> almost 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and
> tastes good, but it's very fatty.
>
> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after
> cooking) Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very
> much of at a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.
>
> Bob

I assume that this is the point end of the brisket, not the flat.
Yep, they're fat alright.

I fridge it so it's completely solid. Then I cut it into thick
slices and pull the chunks of fat out with my fingers. That's a
good 40-50% of it. What's left is lean enough for me.

--
Reg

zxcvbob wrote:

> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and
> chili meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for
> almost 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and
> tastes good, but it's very fatty.
>
> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after
> cooking) Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very
> much of at a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.
>
> Bob

Pate?

--

Mr. Joseph Littleshoes Esq.

Domine, dirige nos.
Let the games begin!
http://fredeeky.typepad.com/fredeeky.../sf_anthem.mp3

On Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:12:44 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>zxcvbob wrote:
>
>> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and chili
>> meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for almost
>> 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and tastes
>> good, but it's very fatty.
>>
>> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
>> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after cooking)
>> Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very much of at
>> a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.
>
>Vaca Frita: Shred the meat into thin threads and put into a glass container.
>Add lime juice, minced garlic, and salt. Toss well, then soak overnight.
>
>Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat until smoking. Use
>tongs to pick up some of the meat, shake off the marinade, and add to the
>pan. Cook until crisp and then remove from the pan to a heated platter. Cook
>the remaining meat the same way, adding oil as necessary (it might not be
>necessary at all). When all the meat is cooked, add a sliced onion to the
>pan and cook until browned. Scatter onion slices over the meat, then scatter
>parsley over the onions. Serve immediately (preferably with black beans and
>white rice).
>
>Bob

Yowsa! By cracky that's the ticket! Fried cow!

I was thinking of chopping the fatty beef (removing any large fat
chunks) and poaching it in stock till the fat melts. When enough of it
rises to the top, you can skim it off. Then strain the meat out and
boil the juice down to almost nothing before dumping the beef back in
and mixing it all up. What you'd get would be at least partially
defatted and ready to freeze in dinner-size portions for future use in
tomato sauces, tacos (apropriately seasoned), and so on.

But at least some of it should go towards your vaca frita.
--

modom

Lynn wrote:

> Vaca Frita sounds like a cross between Carnitas (pork) and Carne Asada
> (beef).
> Am I way out in left field???

Well, the recipe I follow for carnitas crisps them in the oven rather than
pulling them out of the marinade and pan-frying them. Carnitas are also
supposed to be left in chunks, rather than being shredded into the thin
threads I mentioned. (Because of those thin threads of beef, vaca frita
should be more crispy than carnitas, though that's a matter of personal
taste.)

On a more macro level, they're both slow-cooked in liquid and then cooked
again to make crisp, so you're not COMPLETELY in left field.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> Lynn wrote:
>
>> Vaca Frita sounds like a cross between Carnitas (pork) and Carne Asada
>> (beef).
>> Am I way out in left field???
>
> Well, the recipe I follow for carnitas crisps them in the oven rather
> than pulling them out of the marinade and pan-frying them. Carnitas are
> also supposed to be left in chunks, rather than being shredded into the
> thin threads I mentioned. (Because of those thin threads of beef, vaca
> frita should be more crispy than carnitas, though that's a matter of
> personal taste.)
>
> On a more macro level, they're both slow-cooked in liquid and then
> cooked again to make crisp, so you're not COMPLETELY in left field.
>
> Bob


Thanks. I got several ideas here. I really like the one about
shredding it and refrying it, although I'll probably do so in its own
grease that renders out rather than using OO.

For now, the roast is wrapped up tight in heavy-duty aluminum foil and
in the freezer. I'm kind of beefed-out for now (that almost sounds
dirty) ;-)

Bob

In article >,
zxcvbob > wrote:

> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and
> chili meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for
> almost 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and
> tastes good, but it's very fatty.
>
> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after
> cooking) Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very
> much of at a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.
>
> Bob

Sliced, you can remove that fat layer and have lean meat left. I used a
lot of the brisket I smoked to make a meat salad, some to make frittatas
and some just got re-heated and eaten as is.

I gave about 1/2 of it to my brother in law as I had so much other
smoked meat and shared some of that too.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein


Subscribe:

Omelet wrote:
> In article >,
> zxcvbob > wrote:
>
>> A week ago, I ground up most of a big brisket to make hamburger and
>> chili meat, but I roasted the big end in a covered electric roaster for
>> almost 24 hours. I still have half of it left. The meat is tender and
>> tastes good, but it's very fatty.
>>
>> Should I cut dice it and freeze it for adding to vegetable soup this
>> winter? Or use it in chili? (can skim most of the fat off after
>> cooking) Or is there some better use for it? It's too rich to eat very
>> much of at a time like it is. There's a couple of pounds of it.
>>
>> Bob
>
> Sliced, you can remove that fat layer and have lean meat left. I used a
> lot of the brisket I smoked to make a meat salad, some to make frittatas
> and some just got re-heated and eaten as is.
>
> I gave about 1/2 of it to my brother in law as I had so much other
> smoked meat and shared some of that too.

When I smoked a whole brisket, I packaged the leftovers in vacuum
packages and froze them. When the meat is cold it's easy to get the
extra fat off.

I dice up the meat and make tacos out of it. Really good. Also good in
charro beans.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.