Brisket at Costco - couple questions

CharleyR

I stopped by Costco today and saw they had a whole section of prime packers and flats.  I was thinking the price was good, so I picked up two whole packers - one to smoke this weekend and one to freeze for a later smoke.  My first question is how long do you think I can keep the one frozen packaged as it is?  Next, should I have any different expectations when smoking a thawed out  brisket?

Also, it's been a long time since a bought a brisket - is $2.99 per lb a good price for prime?

WeberWho

$2.99lb for prime? Lucky! You must be from the south?

SmokeyPitt

You can keep it frozen indefinitely in the cryovac.  Only advice is give it a few days to thaw in the fridge before smoking if you want it completely thawed.  There is actually no harm in cooking it from partially frozen but it can throw your time off.  

$2.99 is an excellent price as far as I'm concerned.  In my area that would be $6-$7 per lb on sale and I would have to drive an hour to get it. 

Hans61

great price! might lose "some" moisture in the freezing thawing process but doubt it'll be noticeable. 

lousubcap

As above, great price-around here the price  at Costco went up 80 cents/lb for prime brisket between the end of May and end of July.  Latest was $3.69/lb.
And no worries on the duration of the freeze.  I give briskets a good four-five days to refrigerator thaw.  FWIW-

Eggcelsior

Depending on how long you are going to wait to cook the second one, you can just wet age it in the cryo right in the fridge. I've done 8-12 weeks without issue.

KiterTodd

Eggcelsior said:

Depending on how long you are going to wait to cook the second one, you can just wet age it in the cryo right in the fridge. I've done 8-12 weeks without issue.

Really?  I had no idea...but I also haven't researched aging.
I'd see that 8/27 sell-by date on the package and if I didn't cook it or freeze it by then, I'd be nervous!  

So...why  does it only list a 7 day shelf life if you can let it go for 3 months in the fridge?

stlcharcoal

A lot of comp guys will age for 45 days.  I remember listing to one guy on the radio that recommended keeping it in the fridge for longer than that, and all you had to do was rinse the slime off of it every few days toward the end.  Then he recommended leaving it out on the counter at 70F for 6 hrs then putting it back in the fridge.  Apparently brisket behaves a lot different than other cuts of meat since it's so tough, plus it's not like pork or chicken where you have to worry about bad stuff.  It looks NASTY, but the finished product is awesome.  You can also inject with phosphates or something else to help.

ThrillSeeker

I bought a prime one at Costco when I was in Chicago last month.  I think I paid 3.49/lb. 

Thanks for bringing this up, though.  I need to take one out the freezer and put it in the fridge so it can start thawing for Labor day.

Brisket_Fanatic

My local Costco also was full of 2.99 prime briskets. They must have just dropped in price because a month ago or so they were in the 3.60 per pound range. Keeping the other frozen will be fine for a year or more easy but like Eggcelsior said above if you are cooking in the next few weeks its fine. I personally wouldn't wet age it more than a few weeks and remember it will smell really nasty when you take it out of the cryovac. Don't freak out and just rinse it well under cold water and all is good.

feef706

WeberWho said:

$2.99lb for prime? Lucky! You must be from the south?

Define the south? I live in the panhandle of Florida and prime brisket is no where to be found and certainly wouldn't be 2.99.

I attempted to pick a couple up while in Texas but wasn't able to find someone with a Costco membership.

WeberWho

feef706 said:

WeberWho said:

$2.99lb for prime? Lucky! You must be from the south?

Define the south?

Well, Iowa is technically south to me! I guess Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, etc. You guys in Florida can't complain too much about brisket with all that fresh seafood you have. Come up to Minnesota and we have lutefisk, spam, and full price brisket.

feef706

@WeberWho well now that you put it that way it makes sense. My only problem is I'm not a big seafood fan.. I'll take beef any day over anything out of the water, but I do love to fish, strange, I know...

BYS1981

I can't find local prime brisket, at all, choice is the best I can find and that's because my good friend' father in law is a butcher. I can Niman Ranch from my friend, and of course SRF online.

Angela

Mine also dropped the price to 2.99 so we smoked one last weekend. The price goes up and down all the time at my Costco for prime grade brisket, which is all we have. I want to say it was the in the 3.50 range before the drop. I didn't even look at the date on ours since we were cooking it right away. 

I bought them, frozen them and smoked them and don't do anything different. 

Pork shoulder was 1.99 a pound the week before, which was also a price drop from the usual 2.30ish