Anyone who loves the meaty goodness of brisket might want to mark May 28th on their calendar. That’s because this date is when National Brisket Day is celebrated. Although brisket is a cut of meat that can be very tough when it’s improperly cooked, it can easily be transformed into a rich and tender meat with the application of a slow cooking method. That’s because brisket has a lot of connective tissue that’s chewy, but when cooked long and slow, will eventually dissolve into gelatinized goodness.

The History Of Brisket

As we researched this holiday, we came to two realizations. One, no one knows who or when National Brisket Day was started. It’s just something that’s lost to history. The second thing we realized is that people have been making brisket for thousands of years. In fact, the term brisket comes from the Middle English word “brusket,” which implies that it goes back to the Middle Ages. However, we discovered that the term “brusket” actually comes from an Old Norse word “brjosk,” so brisket probably goes back even further than the Middle Ages.

The Facts About Brisket

Some people might look at briskets and see just a cheap cut of meat that has to be cooked a long time before it’s edible, but we look at briskets a little bit differently. We think that they’re great cuts of meat that deliver hearty goodness every single time they’re served. We also think that they’re one of the most fascinating cuts of meat, as evidenced by the following fun facts about brisket:

• Oak, mesquite, hickory, or pecan are the hardwoods most often used to cook briskets.
• Briskets are known in Mexican cuisine as Suadero.
• Brisket is used to make burnt ends—a popular food in the Midwest.
• Brisket is a pectoral muscle on a cow—which is why it has a lot of connective tissue.
• There are two different cuts of brisket: Flat Cut (also known as thin cut) and Point Cut (also known as Deckle Cut).
• Deckle cut is fattier, which prevents it from drying out during smoking.
• Flat cut brisket is better for braised brisket recipes.
• The beef brisket is one of the eight different beef primal cuts.

Celebrating National Brisket Day

It’s not difficult to celebrate National Brisket Day if one wants to celebrate it. Briskets are literally everywhere—from your local grocery store to your local BBQ restaurant. All you have to do is find the brisket that you love and work from there. And while you’re out there enjoying brisket in its many forms, why not take a few moments and post pictures of your brisket to social media using the hashtag #NationalBrisketDay? We’re sure that everyone is going to want to see what you’re eating on this day.