Bad Smelling Brisket


 
J

John G.

TVWBB Member
Hi All,

I just opened up a cryo'd brisket and it smells odd. It doesn't have that freshly opened brisket smell. If I get my nose right up next to it, some places smell good, but others, specifically the fat side, has a sulphur smell. I can't remember smelling bad meat before and wondered if this would be the sign of bad meat or it just happens sometimes.

Thanks.
 
If the odor doesn't dissipate shortly after opening, I'd give the meat a rinse and pat it dry, then check the smell again. If it still smells off, I'd ask for a refund.

Regards,
Chris
 
Thanks for the response Chris.

I tried rinsing it and while it does smell better, I can still detect that funky odor. Not just that, but the meat even looks a little discolored in the point area. I'm going to try returning it tomorrow because at this point I don't even want to try eating it.

Thanks,

John
 
When in doubt, throw it out. Even if it doesn't make you sick, how disappointed you would be to have spent 10 to 20 hours cooking a piece of meat just to have it taste bad.
 
I took it back to the butcher shop and the owner agreed with me. After getting it out of the cryovac it just didn't look or smell right.

He said that during the cryovac process, they use heat to shrink and seal the bad. In the case of this brisket he thinks that is exposed to the heat for to long and actually started cooking in places, which is what the discoloration I'd mentioned earlier was.

In the end things turned out well. He gave me another brisket and I'm about to trim some fat and rub it with the Midnight Brisket Rub. In 35 hours I'll be eating well! I'm doing a 26 lb. chuck roll, a 14 lb. brisket and 13 lbs. of pork butt tonight!
 
Same thing here but with a frozen (june 29) double cryo of butts. I thawed in the frig for five days opened it up and whew! Called a chef friend. He said to wash it well and see it the smell dissipates. Nope! So I tossed 15 pounds of meat.

The big question is: I have a similar frozen cryo from the same sell-by date. I am hoping I just had a bad one the first time.

BTW, I just toss the cryo in my excellent freezer as is. I wonder if I should repack before freezing?

Bob
 
Hey Bob, good to see another MA guy on here. As for repacking, it might help if you have a Foodsaver or something to vacuum seal with, but otherwise I'd just leave it in the original package.

Out of curiosity, where do you get your meat from? I've got 6 different places that I usually shop around:

Meat Again - Billerica or Westford
Haverhill Beef - Haverhill
Lowell Provision - Lowell
Lawrence Meat Co. - Lawrence
Budnick & Brown - Dracut

They don't always have Chuck Roll though, which is my favorite thing to smoke. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

John
 
Cryovaced meat is equivalent to Foodsavering (did I make up a new word?) so no need to repackage. Just freeze in the Cryovac.

Regards,
Chris
 
Straying off-topic...

John, you are north of Boston,
I am on the southern edge within the city limits of Boston, and have found good queing meat consistently at:

Costco Dedham (ribs, no butts anymore)
BJs Dedham (ribs, butts , brisket)
Hi Lo Supermarket Jamaica Plain (a hispanic market that always stocks pork shoulder)

The supermarket chains in my neighborhood are very inconsistent for que meats... the reason I have country style ribs on the smoker now!
icon_frown.gif


Thanks for the explanation on cryovaced Chris. I'll thaw my other butts and hope for the best next weekend.

Bob
 
Strange that this should come up now. My last brisket smelled funky (like sulphur) when I opened it and there was a portion that looked dried out. The package was sealed, so I couldn't figure why it should look dry. Maybe it was cooked during the sealing process. I rinsed it, cut off the part that didn't look right, crossed my fingers and threw it in the WSM. Fortunately, it came out great - probably my best yet.
 
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