When I lived in Aggieland and in the Houston area, I think that it was always a given that if you ordered brisket, it was sliced brisket.

Around here, though, it seems like chopped brisket is the default.

I will not knowingly order chopped brisket.

My impression is that chopped brisket is preferred by some restaurants because it allows them to serve extraordinarily fatty brisket with the idea that if you can't see the fat, you think it is more lean. I suspect that they don't even trim the brisket at all. They might even mix in extra fat from other meats.

At one now defunct barbecue place in a nearby town, you had to insist on sliced brisket to get it sliced. The next to last time I ate there, the slice of brisket was probably about 60% fat. That isn't counting the fat in the meat itself. Just pure fat between the meat. At least, their sides were okay that time.

The last time I ate there, it was about 90% fat and the sides were pathetic. I swore that I would never go there again. Apparently I wasn't the only one unimpressed with their food because they've been closed for a while.

There is one husband and wife team here who makes barbecue and other foods for catering. I've never seen them do chopped brisket -- it is always high quality, properly trimmed, sliced brisket with them. They also make the best prime rib I have ever eaten. The only exception was one time with Wagyu brisket that the meat portion itself was really high in fat.

I had surgery on July 15 to remove my gall bladder and so I'm trying to figure out what I can comfortably eat and what I need to avoid. One local restaurant had a brisket plate for their lunch special on Monday and so I went over and order it without asking if it was chopped or sliced. It was chopped. If I hadn't already been diagnosed with gallstones and had my gall bladder removed, I would have surely ended up in the emergency room again. I will never order brisket from there again without making sure it is sliced, not chopped -- I don't even know if they even offer sliced brisket.

So what's the deal? Is chopped brisket pushed so that the restaurant can sell the worst quality brisket at premium prices?

Can't speak from restaurant operator viewpoint but from what I've heard anecdotally you've hit the nail on the head. There was a time the point was considered less than the lean flat. Solution just chop it up and add some sauce and sometimes even charge less. Some even say it was what was served out the back door to those who weren't allowed inside. Personally I prefer slices from the point as you can eat around the fat and they're typically more moist. Really good flat from the best places is great just harder to find.

TXAG 05 said:

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Where do you live? Sounds like you are going to some crappy bbq places. Don't think I've ever been to a place that would just give you chopped off you ordered brisket.

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The Texas Panhandle. This isn't exactly the bbq mecca of Texas.

I'm looking forward to my first chance to go to Amarillo and go to Wesley's Bean Pot. This would never happen there.

Point is so much superior to the flat.

Flat is used to make chopped beef sandwiches, loaded potatoes, etc. because it is so lean.

And I have never been to a place that didn't differentiate between the two, that's weird to me.

eric76 said:

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When I lived in Aggieland and in the Houston area, I think that it was always a given that if you ordered brisket, it was sliced brisket.

Around here, though, it seems like chopped brisket is the default.

I will not knowingly order chopped brisket.

My impression is that chopped brisket is preferred by some restaurants because it allows them to serve extraordinarily fatty brisket with the idea that if you can't see the fat, you think it is more lean. I suspect that they don't even trim the brisket at all. They might even mix in extra fat from other meats.

At one now defunct barbecue place in a nearby town, you had to insist on sliced brisket to get it sliced. The next to last time I ate there, the slice of brisket was probably about 60% fat. That isn't counting the fat in the meat itself. Just pure fat between the meat. At least, their sides were okay that time.

The last time I ate there, it was about 90% fat and the sides were pathetic. I swore that I would never go there again. Apparently I wasn't the only one unimpressed with their food because they've been closed for a while.

There is one husband and wife team here who makes barbecue and other foods for catering. I've never seen them do chopped brisket -- it is always high quality, properly trimmed, sliced brisket with them. They also make the best prime rib I have ever eaten. The only exception was one time with Wagyu brisket that the meat portion itself was really high in fat.

I had surgery on July 15 to remove my gall bladder and so I'm trying to figure out what I can comfortably eat and what I need to avoid. One local restaurant had a brisket plate for their lunch special on Monday and so I went over and order it without asking if it was chopped or sliced. It was chopped. If I hadn't already been diagnosed with gallstones and had my gall bladder removed, I would have surely ended up in the emergency room again. I will never order brisket from there again without making sure it is sliced, not chopped -- I don't even know if they even offer sliced brisket.

So what's the deal? Is chopped brisket pushed so that the restaurant can sell the worst quality brisket at premium prices?

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Chopped brisket is usually from the deckle which is the fattier part of the brisket.

Sliced brisket is from the Flat, which is the leaner cut of brisket.

It's not some restaurant conspiracy to push or add fat.

The place I went to on Monday was bite after bite after bit of fat. There was very little meat mixed in.

What are the names of these places you are going to. I'd like to look at their menus.

TXAG 05 said:

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What are the names of these places you are going to. I'd like to look at their menus.

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One of the two is long gone. I don't think that the building is still there, either.

The other doesn't list an on-line menu that I know of. They also don't list their prices anywhere. They used to scribble their menus on a whiteboard, but I don't think they even have that, now.

My biggest attack was from summer sausage with crackers. I was in a lot of pain the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before the 4th of July. It was intense enough to push me to going to the emergency room where they diagnosed the gallbladder / gallstone issue.

For about a week before the surgery, I was feeling better and better and I considered adapting my diet to avoid the issue, but after reading about some of the potential increased likelihood of having other issues such as pancreatitis, it was clearly better to have it removed.

Last Friday, I was talking to one farmer from the Oklahoma Panhandle who told me about having gallstone problems when he was much younger and working as a cowboy for a local rancher. He didn't want to take time off for the surgery so he just modified his diet and that worked for a few years.

After a number of years, it was no longer an option. In addition to removing the gallbladder, he said that they also removed part of his liver and part of his pancreas.

By the way, the incisions didn't cause much pain. I could easily have done nothing for them. What was painful was the right shoulder because, I understand, of the gas bubbles. The 7.5 mg opioid and 375 mg acetaminophen didn't do much to relieve the pain and that minor relief lasted only for about 5 to 6 hours.

So I tried taking two 500 mg acetaminophen and rubbing Aspercreme into my shoulder. That gave me faster and greater pain relief and lasted for 12 to 15 hours. Of course, this wouldn't have been as effective if the incisions had caused pain issues.

Deckle = point in my book.

You know what I meant.

Though I appreciate your pun.

Me thinks you need to check your sources.

Having eaten BBQ in the center of BBQ heaven for 70 years, chopped beef was only used on sandwiches, never served by itself. It was made from the fat trimmed off the brisket (back when they used to do that). It was drowned in sauce on put on a bun. If you ever saw it refrigerated in a bucket, it looked like dog vomit.

eric76 said:

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My biggest attack was from summer sausage with crackers. I was in a lot of pain the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before the 4th of July. It was intense enough to push me to going to the emergency room where they diagnosed the gallbladder / gallstone issue.

For about a week before the surgery, I was feeling better and better and I considered adapting my diet to avoid the issue, but after reading about some of the potential increased likelihood of having other issues such as pancreatitis, it was clearly better to have it removed.

Last Friday, I was talking to one farmer from the Oklahoma Panhandle who told me about having gallstone problems when he was much younger and working as a cowboy for a local rancher. He didn't want to take time off for the surgery so he just modified his diet and that worked for a few years.

After a number of years, it was no longer an option. In addition to removing the gallbladder, he said that they also removed part of his liver and part of his pancreas.

By the way, the incisions didn't cause much pain. I could easily have done nothing for them. What was painful was the right shoulder because, I understand, of the gas bubbles. The 7.5 mg opioid and 375 mg acetaminophen didn't do much to relieve the pain and that minor relief lasted only for about 5 to 6 hours.

So I tried taking two 500 mg acetaminophen and rubbing Aspercreme into my shoulder. That gave me faster and greater pain relief and lasted for 12 to 15 hours. Of course, this wouldn't have been as effective if the incisions had caused pain issues.

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In my case, I tried to ride out an attack for about 4 days before driving myself to the emergency room, turns out my gallbladder had become gangrenous and I ended up staying in the hospital for 5 days in what should have been a one day stay.

Point being, just get the damn thing removed.

What does gallbladder pain feel like?

MichaelJ said:

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What does gallbladder pain feel like?

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In my case, it was very sharp but localized stabbing-like pain. Hard for me to describe.

In my case, I felt a lot of major discomfort in my back even up to the shoulder blales. It showed up most when trying to go to sleep in a bed or on the sofa no matter the position. Recliners were not any better. The most comfortable was sitting in my office chair.

I read somewhere that you put more pressure on the gallbladder when on your right side or on your stomach. I rarely sleep on my stomach, but I do tent to switch from left side to right side. A few hours after I started sticking to my left side or my back, the amount of discomfort started to improve, but it still took a few days to improve much.

MichaelJ said:

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What does gallbladder pain feel like?

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For me, it started out (around 2am) feeling like a tense muscle pain in the very middle of my back (about an 1" or so diameter area). I first thought it was muscle spasms. Over the course of a few hours it morphed to where it felt like someone was shiving a broom through that spot in my back and pushing on the bottom of my sternum. I was in severe pain and went to the ER around 6am. I was shocked when they said it was my gall bladder. Fortunately, they were able to take mine out later that day (around 3pm).