OT: 17 Brisket

[PooPopsBaldHead]

So I understand all of the inflation pressures around meat. But brisket has just gotten absolutely stupid because of meatflation and its particular popularity. Less than 5 years ago I could regularly pick up a 14-15 Lb choice packer for $30 or so. By 2019 that was more like $40-50 and I decided then to get out of the smoking my own brisket business because I could by fully cooked briskets for not much more than that from local BBQ joints or get freebies from all my neighbors. Now that I don't have that option, these bastards are over $100 a brisket where I live. And around the country we seem to be at $5.29-$6.99 per lbs, including the formerly great deals from Costco.

• So if you pay $6.00 per pound for an untrimmed brisket that weighs 14 lbs, you end up with around 7 lbs of finished brisket after trimming and rendering.$84.00
• If you cook it low and slow for 15 hours on a pellet grill, you are out what 10-15 lbs of pellets? $15.00
• Wraps, rubs, and other crap. $5.00

It's $15.00 per lb for brisket.... That you have to cook yourself. Where I live it would be $17.00 per pound because the bastards want $6.99 per lb. I'm calling ********. I love brisket, but I love steak more. You can still get prime ribeye for around $20 per pound and wagyu for $30. We need a national strike on brisket. It's one of the worst cuts of meat on the damn cow, no sense in paying this much. If everyone quits buying them for a few weeks, they'll stack up in a hurry and go on sale.

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In the meantime does anyone have any good substitute cuts that can be smoked low and slow and get you something similar? Has anyone tried bottom round or chuck roast (pot roast meat) on a smoker before? Cause I'm not dropping $118 (last price I saw on a 17 lb packer) on a brisket.

 

[dawgdreamin]

Agree…. Pricing is insane. Throw in all cuts of beef and pork. Have you look at baby backs lately? The Butcher Shoppe in Pensacola has a monthly sale that usually includes non competition Australian wagyu brisket for $8.99 lb. They ship. I’m not paying $5.99 for a Sam’s/Costco choice cut when I can have Australian wagyu cut for a few more dollars a lb.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

20 years ago they were giving brisket away. It was considered a crappy piece of meat. Only place it had any popularity was Texas. Now you can get a nice thick ribeye cheaper.

 

[dorndawg]

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Beef prices in general have gotten outrageous and probably won’t get better for a while.

 

[thatsbaseball]

$19.80 for a damn 2.4 lb chuck roast yesterday......another 17

 

[Dawg1976]

It's still crappy to me.

 

[57stratdawg]

I get the prime brisket from Costco. 10 - 12 hours in the smoke with good water source. Just salt and pepper. Maybe wrap, maybe not. Rest for 4 to 6 hours.

Don’t buy one, because you’re not going to be able to put that genie back in the bottle.

 

[moturfdog]

Find you a good Tri Tip in my area they are runnin $5.99 - $8.99/ lb usually 2.5 - 3 lbs each

 

[dorndawg]

Find you a good Tri Tip in my area they are runnin $5.99 - $8.99/ lb usually 2.5 - 3 lbs each

I love tri tip but to me it's more comparable to a thick steak than a brisket you're cooking low and slow. The tri tips I get (from Butcher Box) run around 1.5lbs. I like to do them reverse sear, put in oven at 250 until it gets to 100-110 degrees, then sear in a hot cast iron for a couple minutes each side. After it rests for a few minutes, comes out a nice medium rare.

 

[dorndawg]

It's still crappy to me.

Yeah you're right, brisket is super disgusting. No idea how anybody chokes it down.

 

[Mobile Bay]

You might try Navel

 

[trob115]

Chuck Roast. Treat it like a more lean brisket. Bark is better and overall is better than brisket.

 

[Dawgbite]

Agree…. Pricing is insane. Throw in all cuts of beef and pork. Have you look at baby backs lately? The Butcher Shoppe in Pensacola has a monthly sale that usually includes non competition Australian wagyu brisket for $8.99 lb. They ship. I’m not paying $5.99 for a Sam’s/Costco choice cut when I can have Australian wagyu cut for a few more dollars a lb.

I went to The Butcher Shop a few weeks ago and it's heaven to a meat lover. I bought every piece a Wagyu they had in the Reduced For Quick Sale cooler. Me and a buddy picked us up a couple of Wagyu ribeyes , the wives were pissed.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Find you a good Tri Tip in my area they are runnin $5.99 - $8.99/ lb usually 2.5 - 3 lbs each

I'm good to go on tri tip. Like Dorn, it falls into the steak category for me. My local Albertsons always has a SRF wagyu tri tip in the case that goes from $15-20 a lb and is worth every penny.

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Here she is after going in to the fridge for a day. You can see that marbling and after slicing it cold. Cut the leftovers cold and throw it in the oven at 300 for a few minutes, melting a little blue and provolone cheese on top, and throwing it on a toasted hoagie bun, it makes the best steak sandy you have ever imagined.

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I'm lucky in that I can pick one of these up for $40 for 2.5 lbs or so when on sale. You can order online from the Snake River Farms website for about $75. If you want to cook nice steaks for a small dinner party, the wagyu tri tip from SRF would feed 4 and be a showstopper for less than you can get good ribeyes for right now. I highly recommend it to anyone.

But it kinda proves my point, I can cook 3 of these bad mofos in 1.5 hours and be at the same cost as a damn brisket. But that's no comparison on flavor and I am a Texas brisket loving mofo.

 

[D4L]

I get a brisket, hashbrowns, and a coke every morning at McDonalds for about $4.00

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

Matt Pittman has a newish video where he cooks a trip tip like a brisket. I can’t find any with enough fat to try, but that one you posted may work. And sorry about the pic. I keep forgetting.

 

[aTotal360]

I belly laughed.

 

[mcdawg22]

I went to The Butcher Shop a few weeks ago and it's heaven to a meat lover. I bought every piece a Wagyu they had in the Reduced For Quick Sale cooler. Me and a buddy picked us up a couple of Wagyu ribeyes , the wives were pissed.

It really is fantastic. Kevin and his team are incredible.

 

[Chris Mannix]

A smoker or two ago when I was learning to cook I was always told by the guy who taught me to start with pork shoulder because if you screw up it’s cheap. Get all my briskets now from a local butcher, 15 to 17 pounds been consistently paying over a 100 for a while now. 15 to 17 hours over night. Meat Church Holy Cow rub and Butcher BBQ Beef Injection, something about your tongue beating your brains out.

 

[Mobile Bay]

For what it's worth this popped up on youtube. I do not cook big cuts of meat myself because it's just me. So I didn't watch. Take that for what it is worth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAzk8dVTpnQ

 

[johnson86-1]

20 years ago they were giving brisket away. It was considered a crappy piece of meat. Only place it had any popularity was Texas. Now you can get a nice thick ribeye cheaper.

It wasn't considered a crappy piece of meat. It is a crappy piece of meat, that can only be saved by cooking it low and slow. And there's not much room for error on it. If it's not cheap, there's not much reason to buy it. You can smoke a whole tenderloin and it's going to be better than brisket.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Confirmed Trob's chuck roast suggestion.