did you know...

[farmboy]

I was wandering if you guys new this or not. I have been taking part in this forum scince Jan 2004. I have learnt alot of things and hope to have offered good advice as well. I have a bit of information to share with the happy family. I have been reading about guys getting a tough brisket, and even after it has been slooooow cooked for 18 hours it still comes out tough. Well as you can tell buy my name that I am a farm boy, we rase close to 1000 head. When we butcher our animals i always grab the brisket for smoking and i al ways have great luck. I have been watching the bulls and cows for some time and have found this very interesting. When a cow/bull lays down they lay on there right side always. When that animal get up they always lead with there right front shoulder, making the musels work harder then the left side. So when you get a brisket there are two sides a right and a left. When we butcher an animal I never thought about it. I gess it was second nature I have always throwen the right side into the meat grinder and kept the left side for smoking. There are alot of good butchers in the country but I am willing to bet that 90% of them do not now there is a noticable differance in the two sides. When you lay out two brickets side by side they look very simaler in aperance but there feel and texture is very different. How many of you new this little bit of info. I now you die hard competors out there are saying this Canadian farm boy dose not now what he is talking about , but I do. Colin

Sorry for the long post.

[Mac]

Farmboy,


This is a great post and potentially very valuable information. I believe you do know what your talking about because Bill has previously verified what you just said concerning the right and left sides of a brisket. I think he made a similiar statement to me several months back when I cooked my first brisket but I didn't fully comprehend the importance. Now I do!

Can you tell us a trick that this city boy can use to identify left from right briskets in a cryovac?

Thanks. :D :D :D :D

[BBQDOUG]

Something I picked up from another forum, another view point.

Posted by rcflats on May 26, 2004 at 23:31:41:

In Reply to: Left Handed Briskets posted by Shingleman on May 26, 2004 at 19:35:36:

Shingleman, The lefthand brisket idea must have something to do with the Mason-Dixon line. Up here in Iowa where we fattened over 600 heqd of steers a year the steers were like the rest of the animal kingdom gritters...about 51% to 49% on being right handed vs. left handed. Or is due to the fact that the left side of the animal gets the freshest blood from the heart? that is the one I WOULD BET ON! rcflats

Posted by Shingleman on May 27, 2004 at 04:49:58:

In Reply to: Re: Left Handed Briskets posted by race r us on May 26, 2004 at 22:07:11:

With the fat cap down and the flat end closest to you the point will be curved to the right. That's a left handed brisket.

Shingleman

I guess the only thing to do is cook up a bunch of rights and lefts and see which one comes out the best,I'm still :? :? :? :? :?

[Mac]

Doug,

Interesting! 8) 8)

[Big Rob]

I love this stuff man. It gives you a different prespective and makes you think!

Great information guys !!!........................

[farmboy]

In one that has been just butchered you will see the right one dose not have as much fat covering the right side on as compared to the left one, plus the meat grain on the right side is wider with little marbling runing threw the grain. The left side has more fat covering the bricket as well as thinner and more grains with marbeling running threw it. That is freash. Now the ones that are frozen it will be harder to tell. 1) The butcher will trim some of the of yellow hard fat off leaving as nice white under laying fat(the stuff you are used to seeing). 2) After freezing any meat (with the exception of fish)the meat grain will shrink thus making it harder to tell which ones are the thinner or the ones that are more muscler. Plus when rethawing every thing will plump up more with the water that it is absorbing. The only way that YOU might be able to tell is the marbling that is running threw the meat(more fat left side more muscle right side).

BBQdoug- I am going to shoot freshest blood idea to hell. This has been proved in medical and sporting times. Wheather it ia humans or animals. The freshest blood is pumped to the areas that are being worked or developed. The blood carries all the oxegen to muscels that are being the most. That way the meat(muscel) will take in the oxegen and protein that it needs to regenrate the spent blood cells that are carring the toxins out of the system. That is why you see football players taking oxygen masks after they ran the full lenght of the feild for a touch down, they are putting pure oxygen into there blood system so it helps to reguvanate there body and muscels. Hope this helps you . Colin

[BBQDOUG]

Farmboy
Thanks for the help at least I'm going in the right direction now when picking out briskets. Is it true a left side briskets point will curve to the right?.

[farmboy]

sorry for taking so long. Have been bussy out in the feilds. Yes doug that is correct. Plus the fat cap will help show you which is left or right. Colin

[txsmkmstr]

Posted by Shingleman on May 27, 2004 at 04:49:58:

In Reply to: Re: Left Handed Briskets posted by race r us on May 26, 2004 at 22:07:11:

With the fat cap down and the flat end closest to you the point will be curved to the right. That's a left handed brisket.

Shingleman

So... I've been searching all the threads relating to left vs. right briskets trying to find the definitive way to tell which is which. This is not to debate whether one's better than the other - but the above description doesn't seem to match up some information I found.

I do like to "call" my briskets left or right only to remember which way to point the end of the knife while slicing. Assuming you have the brisket laying longways left to right, pointing the knife properly will result in cross-grain slicing - regardless of which side the point/flat is on. Right handed folks will likely find it easier to point the knife to the left and so I would call that (for my purposes) a left hand brisket.

My research found a handy little picture guide (lifted from another forum) that I just had to share. Turns out Shingleman's quote might be wrong if I'm reading the quote correctly. Bottom line for me is my definition of a left hand (hoof) brisket is actually a left hand brisket based on the picture below. Also, in case you haven't noticed things are a little slow at the office today. :roflmaoha0:

Enjoy....

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/4357/beefside2.jpg

[totally smoked]

tx...Thank you for that info. If indeed this is true, I will be investigating this theory..you can be assured. :thumbs:

[Mac]

It is good to see a thread so old being used years later!

[PitBull]

Well I'm a little confused by the post with the pictures. His discription of left and right hand briskets doesn't match the picture lables. Which is correct?

[Texana]

As far as theory's go ... yep it is one I suppose.

After reading this original post in 2004 I have spent the last several years observing cattle in the field when laying down.

I am happy to report that I can see no significant difference in how cows will lay down. It seems to be pretty well split between left and right side ... Imagine that .... :rolleyes:

Must be them Canadian cattle that only lay on one side :shock:

[txsmkmstr]

Well I'm a little confused by the post with the pictures. His discription of left and right hand briskets doesn't match the picture lables. Which is correct?

The picture in the center shows a right side of beef (head to left) looking from the inside - notice the ribs showing. The brisket cut shown in the center picture is fat side away from you (fat cap to the skin side) and matches the R.H. brisket shown enlarged... got it now???

And yes.... "His" - being Shingleman's - description does NOT match the posted picture and that's sorta what my post was all about. :stirthepot:

[Texas 1836]

Thats good stuff Txs. Sometimes those office slow days really pay off after all!!

Texana---shouldnt you be drumming up some TPJ??

[Texas 1836]

And what is the "Plate" cut used for??

[TexLaw]

Snipe feathers make the best pillows.


TL

[vinman]

And what is the "Plate" cut used for??

Isn't that also considered the "belly"?
I think that's what they use for the good pastrami at those fancy New York deli's.

[Zilla]

As far as theory's go ... yep it is one I suppose.

After reading this original post in 2004 I have spent the last several years observing cattle in the field when laying down.

I am happy to report that I can see no significant difference in how cows will lay down. It seems to be pretty well split between left and right side ... Imagine that .... :rolleyes:

Must be them Canadian cattle that only lay on one side :shock:

It's true fellas. Craig hasn't told many folks yet but he quit his job several years ago and has spent almost all his time lying down on top of his truck watching cows through his binoculars. He has also been taking pictures of them too. He says he has thousands now. Supposedly got him a book deal for one of those fancy coffee table books on Cows. I ain't got no coffee table myself so I guess I can't get one a his cow books. :shrug:

[totally smoked]

It's true fellas. Craig hasn't told many folks yet but he quit his job several years ago and has spent almost all his time lying down on top of his truck watching cows through his binoculars. He has also been taking pictures of them too. He says he has thousands now. Supposedly got him a book deal for one of those fancy coffee table books on Cows. I ain't got no coffee table myself so I guess I can't get one a his cow books. :shrug:

:lol: Cow Books? Chapter one...Udder Nonsense...:roflmaoha0:

[Teddy N Texas]

Very interesting info. I will be checking this out the next time I go to the store.:thumbs:

[Quart Low Cookers]

Farmboy, it's ironic you posted this thread. My uncle is a large cattle rancher in South Texas and about 6 months ago he asked me if I could tell the difference between right and left sided brisket. I had never considered it, so I asked him to observe his cattle and let me know. Turns out, most cows are right handed! LOL I now only buy briskets from the left side of the cow. Thanks for giving my secret away! Just kidding.

You really want your butcher to think you've lost your mind? Ask him for left handed brisket, it's pretty funny!

[Buckeye]

Whut if tha cow iz ambadextreeous? :rolleyes::rolleyes: Duz that meen tha briskets will onlee be half az tender az they cood be? :rolleyes::shrug:

[bigwheel]

Yes you have stumbled over a deep truth on this deal. An ideal cow would be a quadraplegic. They already sorta got it. Its called Veal. Or they usta have it. Now aint sure being blind would help but it couldnt hurt none. Least they wouldnt be moving around any to be able to get tough.

bigwheel

[jts]

Must be them Canadian cattle that only lay on one side :shock:

And only the French Canadian cattle are the ones who lay down and roll over!!!!

[Texas 1836]

And only the French Canadian cattle are the ones who lay down and roll over!!!!

Now thats funny right there! And then they run.

[Buckeye]

Now thats funny right there! And then they run.

Ackshualee they jus throw up their hoofs an surrender.:roflmaoha0::roflmaoha0:

[carnivore]

:lol: Cow Books? Chapter one...Udder Nonsense...:roflmaoha0:

Chapter two... Bull ****,, fact or fiction..

[bigwheel]

Somebody might could get a PhD on this one. Meaning piled higher and Deeper of course:)

bigwheel

[redneck cooker]

Ok guys this has overly run itsd course, so "Good night Graicie"!!this thread is closed...:roflmaoha0: