Help finding Brisket!


 
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Tom P

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I have 3 smokes under my belt. 2 smoking BB ribs and the 3rd doing 2 pork butts. All 3 came out great!

Now I want to give a brisket a shot, but not sure what to get. I talked to a few of the meat markets in the Detroit area and they had briskets in cryovacs that weighed approx 6-8 lbs and they would trim down to about 4 -5 lbs. Does this sound right? I thought a brisket would weigh about 11 lbs. Also Costco has them in their meat case, but those look like the point and weigh approx 4 lbs. Has anyone used these? Any info will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Tom
 
Get the big cryovac one, but don't let them trim it!! You want a big ol' honkin' fat cap on it. Find and read the instructions on this site for selectin and preparing a brisket. It's really easy to trim the fat off (since you definitely WANT alot of fat to stay on it) but my family has now forbid me to trim fat anymore since they LOVE it on the brisket----it is so tasty.

The 4 lber you saw was probably too small. I had to use a four pounder this weekend cuz it was the largest I could find. Angus, but didn't have the big ol' fat cap I sought, and it came out a wee bit drier and tougher than the larger, fattier briskets I've smoked.

Get a big one...!
 
Tom. If all you can do is find a 4 - 7 lb flat, get it and try it. I was in the same dilemna. Could not find a brisket with both flat and the point. The flat I bought still had somewhat of a fat cap.

I was worried that the small part of the flat would get dried out but it didn't. The brisket came out great and now I'm prepared for one of those big o'l bad boys in the 12 lb range.
 
Thanks Susan & George. I'm heading over to Sam's club to see what they carry. I'll get whatever they carry and trim it myself.

I was thinking, could'nt I get 2 of the 4 lber's and tie them together w/ the fat cap on the ouside and treat it like an 8 lb'er?

Tom
 
Tom,

You might also give Gordon Food Service a call. You've got one in Rochester Hills at 1370 Walton Blvd, 248-656-6000.

Regards,
Chris
 
Tom,
If you're willing to go downtown (Detroit) to the Eastern Market, there are a couple of meat packing places there with retail outlets. They have any cut and any quality of meat you want. From Rochester, you're about a 45 min. away. Let me know if you're interested and I can give you some names and directions.

Jerry
 
George,
Let me know how your 12 pounder cook goes. I got a flat for my first brisket cook (about 6#) and then I got a 12 pounder full brisket for my second brisket cook. I think the flat was better. By the time the 12 ponder got up to temp, the thin part of the flat was pretty dry. Also, I did the flat in about 9 hours. The full took 19 hours. For the time spent, the flat again was a better deal. Also, I wasn't prepared for all the meat of a 12 pounder. I had to get the vacuum packer from my in-laws to freeze the meat. Not sure how it will heat up, but generally, I don't like frozen food so again, the smaller flat was a better deal (for me at least).
 
Thanks Chris & Jerry,
I'll give Gordons a call and Jerry if you can give me the info re: Eastern mkt. that would be great! I work at 9 & Hoover, so it's not that far.

Tom
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jerry N.:
George,
Let me know how your 12 pounder cook goes. I got a flat for my first brisket cook (about 6#) and then I got a 12 pounder full brisket for my second brisket cook. I think the flat was better. By the time the 12 ponder got up to temp, the thin part of the flat was pretty dry. Also, I did the flat in about 9 hours. The full took 19 hours. For the time spent, the flat again was a better deal. Also, I wasn't prepared for all the meat of a 12 pounder. I had to get the vacuum packer from my in-laws to freeze the meat. Not sure how it will heat up, but generally, I don't like frozen food so again, the smaller flat was a better deal (for me at least). <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If I ever do the 12 lb'er I'll let you know. It is only the wife and I so I really have no hurry to do a huge piece of meat. What a great reason for a party though. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Chris,
Just hung up w/ GFS. They do not carry the briskets, but I can special order them by the case!

Different areas of the US must stock diff. items.

But they do have a great price on beef tenderloins @ $7.75 lb

Thanks

Tom
 
Tom,
The Eastern Market is at I75 and Mack (two blocks east of 75). There's Wrigleys, Empire, Fairway and probably a few others. I'm looking for Empire. Fairway is really a whole sale place, but if you go in the back door, they will sell retail. The have prime meats. http://www.fairwaypacking.com/ Wrigleys is right next to fairway and is obvious as you enter eastern market off of Mack. I'm still looking for Empire. I heard they are a Jewish owned, kosher establishment - I'm thinking they should know where to get hold of some brisket.
 
Jerry,

Thanks for the info!
I just talked to the folks at Fairway Packaging and they have the full briskets in the cryovac. Approx 11 lbs @ $1.89.

I'll be heading down at lunch to pick it up.

Looks like I'll be smoking brisket this weekend!

thanks again!

Tom
 
I was just about to do a post on this very question...thanks for all this great info!

I go down to the Eastern Market all the time....usually buy meat at the Gratiot indoor market. Are there better places to buy ribs? I am going to call Fairway about brisket. Really hard to find brisket up here in the North.
 
I picked up my 9 lbs of beautiful brisket at Fairway. Super nice people. I can hardly wait to fire up the WSM tommorrow night !

Jimmy- I have had pretty good luck with baby backs from Costco. The come 3 to a pak and sell between $3.89 & $4.09.
If you find them at a better price, let me know!

Tom
 
I got baby backs a couple of weeks ago from one of the 4 or 5 butcher tables in the Gratiot Market @ Eastern Market for $3.69/pound....but they we're up to over $4 pound last I checked. I need to check out Costco.
 
Well, we are starting to get quite a good size group of WSM'ers here in the Detroit area. That is great to see.

Another place in Eastern Market is Embassy Foods or Meats. They sell retail.
 
>>Get the big cryovac one, but don't let them trim it!! You want a big ol' honkin' fat cap on it.<<

Hmm...many people seem to have experience with smaller cuts drying out. But couldn't the butcher conceivably cut one of these large cryovac cuts down to 4 pounds and still keep the fat cap on that portion?

I actually saw brisket at Meijer on Little Mack, but it was just one 2 pound flat with almost no fat.

P.j.
 
Update:
I smoked the brisket Sat night. Used the Rub from the midnight cooking recipe. Brisket went on at 3:30 AM and came off the smoker at 2:30 PM when the Polder hit 185 deg. Wrappped in HD foil w/ 1/2 cup broth, put in cooler w/ towels where it sat untill 6:00. I sliced about 1/8" thk and poured the juices from the foil over the slices.

The meat was very tender and tasted great, although I thought it was on the dry side. My question is this: How moist should the brisket be? Should I expect a moist cut of meat? You did'nt need a drink to get it down though! The only time I ever had brisket was @ Smokey Bones Resturant here in the Detroit area. I don't recall theirs being any better.

Are my expectations too high?

Also I can definetly see A Et-73 in my future!

Tom
 
If you started with a gloriously large fat cap, you'll have a glistening crown of fat on top of that baby when it's done. Shouldn't be dry. I've only had one that was a teeny bit on the dry side, and it was a little bitty four pounder with only a modicum of fat on it. It was still good, but drier than the others before it.

Did you slice her real thin against the grain?
 
Briskets are hard to come by in North Carolina also. I asked the butcher I get my shoulders and pigs from, his answer was "You from Texas".I did get him to order some , by the case. Took two weeks to get them, they where prime , yeah $$$. Now I go to Sams . The price is much better but the best I have found there is choice. So out of 20 or so briskets in the counter I can find 3 or 4 that look useable. That is all I need at one time anyway.

Good luck in you search for briskets , you will do just fine .

Rick
 
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