Depending on where you live you might have some trouble finding a full packer at your local grocery store. If you live in Texas you can probably find them anywhere that sells meat but for most of the country you won’t find much more than some flats in your local grocery store meat case.
In many locations Costco sells some very nice prime briskets generally for about $3-4 per pound. These briskets have some solid marbling and fat content and as a result some great flavor and texture. But I have seen some questionable butchering on some of their briskets lately. I had a couple I did recently that had some weird flaps of meat on them that are usually trimmed off. The cynic in me says they didn’t trim those off at the meat packer to add a few extra ounces of meat that the customer has to pay for. And those pieces will get trimmed off anyway before cooking. Overall though I am usually pretty pleased with the Costco briskets.
Restaurant supply stores will also usually have full packers but most that I have seen are Choice or Select grade. They can still cook up great but there is less margin for error when cooking those grades. Your local butcher can probably get you a brisket if you ask but most that I have seen run $6-8 per pound. Sam’s Club would be another place to look.
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If you are really looking to take your brisket game up a notch I would look to Snake River Farms and their American Wagyu briskets. Most of the top competition bbq teams get their briskets from Snake River Farms. Snake River Farms sells two grades of American Wagyu briskets: Black Grade and Gold Grade. Both of these grades are basically graded above USDA Prime and have some insane marbling and fat content. Snake River Farms sells over 92,000 briskets per year which is over 1.1 million pounds of meat.
The quality of the fat in these American Wagyu briskets is excellent as well which you will see as you trim it up. You can almost feel the fat melting in your hands as you trim up these briskets and there is a definite difference between those briskets and what you will find at Costco or the grocery store.
The Black Grade briskets start out at $139 (about $14 per pound for a 9-12 pounder) and go up to $209 (about $10 per pound) for some 20+ pound monsters.
Gold Grade briskets start at $209 for 14-16 pound briskets and go up to $259 for 20+ pounders. And if you buy more than one there is a price break.
The American Wagyu briskets are expensive but you can tell the difference in the finished product. I probably wouldn’t buy one of these for every brisket cook I do but once or twice a year it can be nice to splurge. Practice with cheaper Costco briskets but when you really want a great brisket go with one of the Snake River Farms briskets.
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?
