Heb's prime briskets I checked out looked terrible in San Marcos. I believe in a a good fat cap but these looked like 80% fat.

Costco

AggieFabricator said:

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Heb's prime briskets I checked out looked terrible in San Marcos. I believe in a a good fat cap but these looked like 80% fat.

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Not sure what the issue is - one of the factors that makes it grade to Prime is the fact that it has a higher fat to meat ratio, which is good in brisket anyway. And I'd much rather get one with too much fat that I can easily trim down to where I want it to be than to get a pre-trimmed one that has all the fat taken off already.

Agreed with all that.

Bohlners in SA.

Whitetail said:

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Bohlners in SA.

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This.

schmellba99 said:

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AggieFabricator said:

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Heb's prime briskets I checked out looked terrible in San Marcos. I believe in a a good fat cap but these looked like 80% fat.

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Not sure what the issue is - one of the factors that makes it grade to Prime is the fact that it has a higher fat to meat ratio, which is good in brisket anyway. And I'd much rather get one with too much fat that I can easily trim down to where I want it to be than to get a pre-trimmed one that has all the fat taken off already.

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I'm aware prime is gonna have more fat. I typically buy packer black angus and have great results. I guess maybe I didn't realize prime briskets were that fatty. I wa standing there look at them all thinking there wouldn't be much meat left by the time it cooked down. These looked super fatty.

I've seen prime at my Sams but it's a recent development. Depend on Costco.

I'd imagine that prime is gonna be 20-30% fat maybe?

Anyone know what the actual numbers should be?

Costco has prime ranging between $2.69-2.99/lb in my experience.

Readfield

Taylor Meat Co.

Costco. Their briskets have dropped in price over the last year. Got down to 2.69 before Christmas but I think they're up to 2.99.

They were about 3.50 last summer!

Too much fat cap isn't a problem for me. Just trim it up nicely and it's good to go.

Gonna check sams and trip to SA Friday if not. Laying the super bowl spread is one of my favorite days of the year. Anyone doing anything crazy on their pit? I had some pork belly for the first time the other day smoked and it was wonderful. Really wish I could get my hands on one of those.

Granzins meat market usually has them and it's a short drive from San Marcos to NB. They'll order or hold one for you if you can give them notice

AggieFabricator said:

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Heb's prime briskets I checked out looked terrible in San Marcos. I believe in a a good fat cap but these looked like 80% fat.

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Bon Ton in Kyle. Drive up 21 from San Marcos. That where we have purchased our competition briskets for the last 5 years.

Trimming is always best. Sure you pay for the added weight, but like Schmelba said, it better than starting with a pre trimmed that doesn't have enough fat.

Find a local meat market. The one I use in Conroe has better quality than HEB and they trim the fat for me.

AggieFabricator said:

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schmellba99 said:

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AggieFabricator said:

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Heb's prime briskets I checked out looked terrible in San Marcos. I believe in a a good fat cap but these looked like 80% fat.

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Not sure what the issue is - one of the factors that makes it grade to Prime is the fact that it has a higher fat to meat ratio, which is good in brisket anyway. And I'd much rather get one with too much fat that I can easily trim down to where I want it to be than to get a pre-trimmed one that has all the fat taken off already.

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I'm aware prime is gonna have more fat. I typically buy packer black angus and have great results. I guess maybe I didn't realize prime briskets were that fatty. I wa standing there look at them all thinking there wouldn't be much meat left by the time it cooked down. These looked super fatty.

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That must be what the only barbecue restaurant in my county buys. The last several times I ate there the meat got more and more fatty. The last time it was more than 50% fat and I haven't returned.

When you order brisket, they serve chopped brisket unless you specify sliced. I've long suspected that the main reason for this is to make it difficult to tell how much fat they served you.

FWIW, I put more weight on quality grades when buying middle meat cuts. I'm not sure how much quality grade correlates with brisket marbling. Many will swear it does, butto what extent? I'd like to see a scientific study for confirmation. Cook it right and it will be tender, so tenderness argument with regards to grade is out the window. For something like a brisket, I'd select what's best looking in the case regardless of Prime or Choice grade. All this said, I still prefer not to dip down to Select for whatever reason.

Reidfields has good meat but a tad pricey.

I'm out of state but for where I am Costco is the only real choice I have for brisket. Not only do they carry prime, but they have a lot of them so you have options and different sizes to pick from. You can pick them up and feel them out, make sure they aren't too stiff, don't have too much hard fat. The local grocers here don't stock brisket, and the local butcher shop isn't great. Go early in the day and Costco is the best bet.

aggie_2010 said:

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I'm not sure how much quality grade correlates with brisket marbling. Many will swear it does, butto what extent?

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Prime will definitely have much more marbeling, and cook better if you do it right. It really helps the lean side of the brisket not dry out as much with the extra intramuscular fat. You usually can tell a difference between choice and select as well, especially if it's an upper level choice.

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I'd like to see a scientific study for confirmation.

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Camp brisket, bbq camp, beef 706 are all programs that the A&M meat science department puts on and they test these things. In a blind taste test they do every year, people can clearly pick out quality differences between select, choice, and prime if they are cooked exactly the same.

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Cook it right and it will be tender, so tenderness argument with regards to grade is out the window. For something like a brisket, I'd select what's best looking in the case regardless of Prime or Choice grade.

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true for the most part, I've had plenty of great brisket that started out as a select grade. Looking at individual pieces of meat at the grocery store and not relying on just the grade is always a good idea.

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All this said, I still prefer not to dip down to Select for whatever reason.

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I don't get this because you basically just nullified your entire argument above.

As a graduate of Meat Science program, and one who helped put on all those programs you mentioned, I still stand by what I said. It makes no difference to me if you pay the premium for Prime vs. Choice. However, in my opinion there's not much difference the final product. I put more weight on individual selection of the briskets based on their appearance, not what's printed on the bag. Do I consider grade? Yes, but a good Choice brisket in my opinion eats just as good as a Prime brisket and usually costs less.

See the link below about camp brisket and the findings of the different quality grades. Low Choice and Select were detected. Explains why I choose not to buy Select briskets. However, CAB (at top choice program) was hard to distinguish against Prime. Take it for what its worth.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/what-i-learned-at-brisket-camp/

Smitty's Meat Market in Tomball...

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Do I consider grade? Yes, but a good Choice brisket in my opinion eats just as good as a Prime brisket and usually costs less.

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Ah ok, yes I agree with that. I thought your argument was there's no difference between select and prime. Yeah I've had several people advise me over time that an upper choice brisket can be almost as good as prime and save you a few bucks. I still buy select when it's on sale for cheapness, but if I'm doing a bigger cook for more people and want to impress, I look for either upper choice or prime.

Since you are a MS graduate, let me ask you a question I can't seem to find an answer to:

Why does prime cook faster? I would think since fat takes longer to render, and prime has more intramuscular fat, prime would take longer to cook. But it doesn't, usually it cooks faster sometimes as much as 10-20% faster. Whats the deal? I'd like to understand the science behind it, if you or anybody else reading the thread can explain it.

Man, angus producers have sure marketed the hell out of their breed... I guarantee 99% (whoop) of folks can't tell the difference in breed when tasting beef, but it sure has done a number on the cattle market.

That being said, the next pen of replacement heifers I buy will be angus. When in Rome, get rid of spots and run black cattle.

I also don't get the Prime brisket... It is inherently a poor cut of meat that takes a long time to cook for a reason. You're picking out a high caliber poor cut of meat, not a Ribeye. It's like searching for prime fajita meat... At the end of the day, it is a flank skirt that used to end up on the cutting room floor until a bunch of yuppies found out they make good tacos.

agfan2013 said:

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Do I consider grade? Yes, but a good Choice brisket in my opinion eats just as good as a Prime brisket and usually costs less.

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Ah ok, yes I agree with that. I thought your argument was there's no difference between select and prime. Yeah I've had several people advise me over time that an upper choice brisket can be almost as good as prime and save you a few bucks. I still buy select when it's on sale for cheapness, but if I'm doing a bigger cook for more people and want to impress, I look for either upper choice or prime.

Since you are a MS graduate, let me ask you a question I can't seem to find an answer to:

Why does prime cook faster? I would think since fat takes longer to render, and prime has more intramuscular fat, prime would take longer to cook. But it doesn't, usually it cooks faster sometimes as much as 10-20% faster. Whats the deal? I'd like to understand the science behind it, if you or anybody else reading the thread can explain it.

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I'm not a scientist, nor a seasoned expert in the BBQ arts, but here's my theory (take it for what it's worth - not much.)

It seems from some of the BBQ experts sources I've read that the main reason for the "stall" during a cook is moisture evaporation from the meat itself. Since a brisket is a mixture of muscle tissue (which contains a lot of moisture) and fat (which does not), it would stand to reason that a higher proportion of muscle to fat would yield more moisture to evaporation, thus slowing the cook.

Like I said, just a theory. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has more definitive knowledge on the subject.

OneNightW said:

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Costco. Their briskets have dropped in price over the last year. Got down to 2.69 before Christmas but I think they're up to 2.99.

They were about 3.50 last summer!

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Lean burger craze; brisket was the lean meat mixed in to get the fat content down.

Twelfthman99 said:

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I also don't get the Prime brisket... It is inherently a poor cut of meat that takes a long time to cook for a reason. You're picking out a high caliber poor cut of meat, not a Ribeye. It's like searching for prime fajita meat... At the end of the day, it is a flank skirt that used to end up on the cutting room floor until a bunch of yuppies found out they make good tacos.

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Until the poors figured out how to make it delicious with fajitas. Just like they did with brisket, pork ribs, and wings.

Its hard to pin point why a Prime brisket would finish faster than Choice or Select grades. Evaporative cooling can be attributed to the stall. However, I think you'd be surprised at how little moisture and fat difference there is between briskets of different grades. I pulled some data from the USDA's Food Composition Database (below). Unfortunately, it does not have data for Prime briskets. There really isn't much difference between the Choice and Select briskets.


https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

1/8" trimmed Choice brisket FLAT raw is approximately:

• 58.8% moisture
• 22.15% fat
• 18.12% protein

1/8" trimmed Select brisket FLAT raw is approximately:

• 59.34% moisture
• 22.21% fat
• 17.77% protein

After mastering Prime briskets up here in Dallas, where can I go to get a big chunk of Choice? Sams?

OneNightW said:

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After mastering Prime briskets up here in Dallas, where can I go to get a big chunk of Choice? Sams?

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Definitely