Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

It's great on a sandwich when chopped. It also allows the use of "waist" pieces. UTee could explain it better than me.

I had occasion in a discussion about BBs to look up the fuel capacity of the Iowa class BBs, 7,500 TONS.

That is the weight of a light cruiser in WW II.

Was it the idea of a fried cheese curd that made you think of this?

It's great on a sandwich when chopped. It also allows the use of "waist" pieces. UTee could explain it better than me.

some folks really enjoy it chopped

some folks just chop it b cause they don't know how to slice it properly

Chopping it is a great way to deal with brisket if you screwed up and overcooked it... 

Yup, not all slices work out perfectly.  Waste bits that get a little overcooked, bits that are too crumbly to slice well, overly fatty bits-- those all get chopped and tossed into a pot to simmer and reduce a little bit, render a little more of the overly fatty part, and put on a sandwich as "chop" or "chopped beef."  Down here in Texico, depending on the joint, that might get sauced, or it might not, and traditionally it was thrown onto a hamburger bun, to make a "chop beef on bun."

These days here in CenTex, more people really like those fatty slices and they actually command a premium over lean, so less of it goes into chop than before.

That can happen pretty easily on the thinner parts, no? Isn't that where the "burnt end" thing came about in KC?

I'm not sure of the history...

But burnt ends are typically the brisket point, whereas slices are typically the brisket flat. Although I believe in Texas they talk about "fatty brisket" which includes a lot of the point muscle--or might even be entirely sliced point.

The thinner parts of the flat aren't typically used for burnt ends as far as I'm aware. It's too lean. You need a LOT of fat content for burnt ends, because you're taking the parts that are already cooked and continuing to cook them in sauce. 

Gotcha. I've never had burnt ends so I really only know what I've seen on TV.

I recommend them. They're delicious.

And for Super Bowl this year I made burnt ends two ways out of pork belly, which is also delicious and doesn't require a brisket--which can be a big investment in time and cost to smoke, especially if you don't have a dozen people coming over to eat it.