Meat Supply in NW Suburbs of Chicago


 
D

Dale Groetsema

TVWBB Super Fan
After much searching, I finally found a butcher near my home that sells quality meat for smoking. It is Orchard Prime Meats on Main Street in Cary, IL

For the Texas Brisket Cookoff on November 1st, I ordered 2 Prime Grade Briskets, with the bone, to be aged for 3 weeks. They will remove the bone after aging it for me in their coolers. Price? About $3.60/lb. They actually had Angus Brisket in their display case today and I was very tempted to buy it but was assured they always have it available.

So, for those up north or west of Chicago, you might want to check out this place for very good meat

Dale
 
Hi Dale,

Just wondering if Peoria Packing is anywhere close to where you live. I've heard that they have pretty good meat.

Brian
 
It is in downtown Chicago and even tho I live in a suburb, it is a 90-120 minute drive. Well worth it if you want to stock up on pork-ribs, butts, tenderloins, etc. No brisket, some beef that did not look that great.

I finally grilled up a couple filets from my butcher shop--even tho I overcooked them they were mighty tender.

Dale
 
Peoria Packing in downtown Chicago has great pork and chicken. I'm less impressed with the beef.

Dale,
I live in South Bend, IN and it only takes me about 75 minutes to get to Peoria Packing.
 
Made my first trip to peoria packing yesterday as I was in Chicago and wow was it worth it!!! The pork was great not tumbled and only .79 /lb

Also picked up steaks and had some last night. Really good choice meat and tasty and very cheap.!!!

Thanks for the post guys!!! Never would have known about this place and it was great to bring a couple of coolers worth back to Milwaukee.

What a different and neat shopping experience.

Thanks
 
Tom,

Go down the street towards downtown to Excel Corned Beef. They will sell you fresh choice briskets and/or corned beef. Great stuff. I've even got some CAB briskets there occasionally. I rarely go to Chicago without an ice chest to fill at Peoria Packing.

You can also buy lump charcoal and wood chunks in quantity in the general area. There are some great resources in Chicago. Gary Wiviott (2-Ton WSM Fame) has a file of great bbq food resources in Chicago. I've been to a few of them with him and they are great.
 
Dale,

As far as I’m concerned Peoria Packing should have The Pork Store in parenthesis after its name, I never buy beef there, sometimes chicken, which is usually very nice, but never beef. Actually, that is not 100% true, if I go there very early on a Saturday or Sunday morning, I’ll buy a couple of rib eye steaks, slice them paper thin (horizontally) and fry them up, with the free eggs PP hands out, for breakfast.

Excel, as Bruce Cook said, always has choice beef brisket at a very good price available, sometimes they have CAB as well. I have been wanting to try a prime brisket and also a bone in brisket, sounds like I can get a two-fer with your butcher shop in Cary, I think I will give them a call. Thanks for posting the information.

Speaking of bone in brisket, why do you have them remove the bone, I’d think that bone would help keep the brisket moist and also serve to transfer heat into the brisket effectively.

Regards

Smoking in Chicago,
Gary
 
Gary, I agree with the "Pork Store" nickname suggestion for Peoria Packing, except they do carry what seems to be a good quality corned beef (not yet having attempted to make my own).

I don't have an answer for why one should remove or not remove the bone. As it turns out, they were unable to get brisket with bone-in on my first order. There may be some restrictions on competition that requires boneless brisket, but, I am not at all sure about that, nor do I know where I could find out. Maybe someone around here knows that answer.

I agree with your estimate that the bone-in would enhance flavor and tenderness--in fact, the butcher prefers it with meat he is aging. Both fat and bones add to the flavor and tenderness, according to him.

If you contact them, just mention the BBQ guy that has been buying their meat lately--most probably do not know my name yet.

I'm probably going to place an order this week for a couple aged briskets that I plan on cooking the week before Christmas. That will give them 3-4 weeks of aging before they hit the smoke. Let me know if you want one or more ordered for you and we can arrange some kind of delivery service in exchange for some of your good cooking (even samples would be appreciated)

Dale

p.s. And please, if there is still room, add me to your St. Pat's dinner list, I have already made a note in my calendar regarding this special event. Sorry I could not make it to the last one.
 
Dale,

I too have been tempted to buy corned beef from PP, then I realize that that ExCel is only a few blocks away and I pop over there for corned beef.

Thanks for the kind offer, I would like to piggyback on your order and get at least one bone-in aged prime brisket, two if it’s not a problem. As I do not compete in BBQ contests I would prefer the briskets with the bone still attached.

Speaking of unusual brisket configurations, last week my cousin, Mark ‘The Goat King’ Wegman, smoked a 24-lb brisket that still had the –top plate- attached. I did not see the brisket, he called me on the phone, but he said that there was a 3.5-inch rim of meat running along the top back of the brisket. (I always orient brisket with the deckle (point) to my left)

The Goat King said that the rim was quite delicious, nice texture and very tender, and that the 24-lb brisket, top plate attached, took about 12 hours to tender perfection. The Goat King uses straight wood in a horizontal propane tank style pit, and runs on the hot side, so 12-hours is about right for a 24-lb brisket for him.

Just as an aside, IIRC, in the past plate was one of the meats commonly used to make corned beef and pastrami.

Dale, absolutely, you are invited to our St. Paddy’s Day corned beef (simmered and smoked) extravaganza. Though we really should get together and smoke a few hunks of something before March, maybe after the holiday season is over.

Regards

Smoking in Chicago,
Gary
 
I never seem to get down to PP early enough before Excel closes for the day, so if I am shopping for Corned Beef, I just plan to buy it at PP.

I will call the butcher today and place an order for 4 prime, bone-in briskets, to be picked up on Friday, December 13th. They will probably get them this coming Friday, which will give us 3 weeks of aging.

We'll arrange delivery either Friday evening or sometime during the day on Saturday. Saturday morning is Breakfast with Santa for my daughter and Saturday night is department party, so we'll squeeze it in somewhere.

That is amazing, only 30 minutes per pound. I am finding that the prime briskets take less time, but never have I seen one done in less than an hour a pound. Of course, I usually target 225 at the dome on my WSM, that may explain the difference?

dale
 
Dale,

Sounds good, thanks for taking care of the ordering. I would also be interested in a few prime dry aged steaks, though maybe we should take this off list.

I did a 12.5-lb choice brisket from Excel in 9-hours yesterday in my WSM. Sand in a brinkman 2-gal charcoal pan and it held a rock steady 270? with one small addition of Kingsford at around the 6-hour mark. I normally use lump, but as I was gone most of the day I used Kingsford.

I posted some pictures of yesterday’s cook, along with ‘humorous’ captions on a web page, I will link to the site. The humorous captions are due to the fact that I am slightly anti high tech and much of the talk on the BBQ-Porch has been high tech lighting and thermometers as of late. Well, either that or off topic.

Actually, I know Dale is on the BBQ-Porch, so the caption explanation is for anyone who might view the pics who is not on the BBQ-Porch email list.

Regards

Smoking in Chicago,
Gary
Custom Air Flow High Tech WSM
 
Gary,
How did you do the air-flow testing? Looks like maybe the WSM was dropped from a low flying airplane, or maybe a speeding pickup truck. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif The 2 large air flow diverters on the lid look like they would very difficult to duplicate with any accuracy. /infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif Seriously though, I think these pictures show how tough the WSM is, an ECB would have been totally destroyed by whatever happened to your WSM. Yet yours still works well and is capable of turning out some excellent looking and I'm sure excellent tasting Que. Well done.
Don
 
How did you do the air-flow testing?
<SNIP>

Rumor has it something about Tequila, forehead, and stitches. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
 
I have only purchased brisket from Excel once, so I don't remember what I paid. However, at my prime butcher in Cary, I am paying about $4 pound for prime brisket that is aged up to 4 weeks.

I am picking up 4 briskets next Thursday (Mr Wivott is taking two of them) and I expect to be paying between $160 - $200 for the bunch

Spendy, but, wait til you taste the difference between choice/select and prime. I took some cooked prime brisket out of the freezer last night to have as appetizer today. Melt in your mouth tender. I am forever spoiled.

Dale
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tom Raveret:
[qb]on average what prices are you finding for Brisket at Excel? CAB Choice or Prime ??[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I've bought a couple from them. The price frequently varies and haggling is not appropriate. Seems I always paid less then $2 lb. and more like $1.50. I'm not one that quibbles about price when I go there. Its a great place to buy brisket and corned beef. Locally owned and operated. Nice guy owns it too.
 
Considering that my local grocery (Dominick’s) had choice flats for $5.79 per lb today the $1.50 +- that Excel charges for choice and, occasionally, Black Angus, is quite reasonable. I, absolutely, agree with Bruce, negotiating would not be appropriate. In fact, I think that would be the last time that person ever set foot in the door.

Dale, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into a dry aged prime brisket, we need to figure out a mutually agreeable place to meet, hopefully one with foamy adult beverages on tap. <G> By the way, have you ordered any dry aged rib eye or porterhouse steaks from this butcher, is it too late to add a few steaks to my brisket order?

Thanks again for ordering the briskets for me.

Regards

Smoking in Chicago,
Gary
 
It sounds like you guys have a killer butcher!!. I may have to drive down from Milwaukee one of these times to get in on one of these purchases!! I think I'm a bit confused about Excel I was confusing it with the packing house Excel which I find briskets from at my local meat market with an excel label on the cryovac. Do you think this is a different operation?? The ones I've found locally in Milwaukee I always make them bring out in the cryovac because I want them untrimmed. I still have yet to find one of these that has a fatcap worthy of the smoker though the one from Sams club was choice and 1.25 a lb had a nice one with the point attached.
 
How do I get this list of Gary Wiviotss? I would love to have it. Im in the Chicago area as well.thanks!
 
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