I am very surprised that there has been no discussion of the cut of smoked meat and whether the places you guys are extolling offer all 5 cuts. If they do not offer all 5, then why should we do business with them? The consumer should have a choice of:
Lean: the lean and less flavourful end. Relatively healthful but dry. The "healthy diet" choice, and the choice of MERBites paying regular visits to a cardiologist for other issues.
Medium and medium fat: the most popular cuts from the middle of the brisket. Occasionally, a sliced mix of lean and fat meats.
Old-fashioned: a cut between medium and fatty and often cut a bit thicker. I like old fashioned sliced thin.
Fat: from the fat end of the brisket
Speck: consists solely of the spiced subcutaneous fat from the whole brisket without meat.
There is no guidance in this discussion as to which restaurant is serving what cut, or how each place slices each cut. Hopefully in future posts you can comment on these criteria because the serious smoked meat eater is kind of left holding his "meat dick", not knowing where to stick it. Thanks.
I will start by saying Snowdon's Deli offers all 5 cuts, or at least 4, not sure about Speck.
