Obviously if you are buying a brisket online from Snake River Farms or one of the other online retailers you will get whatever they ship you. But if you are at your local butcher or warehouse store you will probably have a couple briskets to choose from.
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When you are at Costco or wherever you are buying your brisket don’t just grab the first one you touch. Take your time to look through all the briskets they have available. Generally speaking at my Costco there are usually 3-5 briskets out in the cooler. Sometimes I have seen 10 there and sometimes there is only one or two. At the butcher shop I used to go to they would have a couple of them in the case.
The first thing I want to see in a brisket is a thick flat. Feel the thinner end of the brisket and if it feels super thin look for another one. A thin flat will be tougher to cook and keep moist than a thicker flat. If you can find one look for a flat that is about an inch thick at the thinnest spot. ¾ inch will work fine but if you start getting down to ½ inch thick it will be a bit trickier to cook. 15 pounders can generally have a decent flat thickness. If you go much smaller than that you can find them with good flats but they are a bit more difficult to find.
The next thing I look at is the size. I like cooking 15 pound briskets. I have cooked 20 pounders and have cooked 10 pounders but like the size, shape, and generally cooking time of the 15 pounders. If you are cooking for a lot of people grab a bigger one. If you want to have a super quick cook for just your family grab a smaller one.
Take a minute to feel the overall texture of the brisket too. A floppier brisket will generally turn out a bit better than a stiff one. Of course how it is packed, how tight the cryobag is, if it is frozen, etc. will all affect this but if you notice one brisket is considerably floppier than another go with that one.
The last thing I tend to look at is the overall shape of the brisket. I prefer a narrower, thicker brisket than a wide, flat one. A thick brisket will probably take a bit longer to cook than a flatter one but I think it is easier to get it tender and juicy.
Marbling is a bit tougher to gauge on a brisket than say a ribeye steak so I don’t really look at the marbling too much. If you stick with prime briskets you can be fairly confident they will have a decent amount of fat in them. Choice gets a bit more dicey.
Of course it is hard to get all those different criteria every time you buy a brisket. You might find a thick flat but the brisket is as stiff as a board. Or the shape could be good but it is too small for what you need. But when the stars align and you see a good brisket throw it in your cart and save it for when you need it. I look at the briskets at Costco every time I go in and if I see a good looking brisket I buy it even if I don’t have any plans to cook any time soon. They keep well in the freezer for quite a while and you can even just stash the cryobagged brisket in the fridge for a month with no ill effect.
If you do buy online from somewhere like Snake River Farms (and I would definitely recommend them) you do have to take what you can get but for the most part all their briskets will be very good or better. There is a reason a lot of the competition teams use these briskets. You will occasionally get one with a flat that is a bit thin but I have always been very please with what I have received.
12 Commonly Asked Questions About Brisket
- What is a brisket?
- Where can I buy a brisket?
- What should I look for when buying a brisket?
- How big of a brisket should I buy?
- How should I trim a brisket?
- How should I season my brisket?
- What type of wood should I use when smoking brisket?
- What temperature should I cook my brisket at?
- How long should I cook a brisket?
- Should I wrap my brisket?
- How long should I rest my brisket?
- How should I slice my brisket?
