My Last Costco Prime Brisket and a Deal

My last Costco full packer was good, but not great. I paid for a 17 pounder, and trimmed almost 5 pounds of mostly hard fat, with zero excessive trimming.

We had dinner with friends and it was just not what I was accustomed to turning out, having used briskets from Costco previously.

I have noticed the rating of prime on some of their briskets as prime to be equal to choice from Restaurant Depot a few times. This last one was closer to choice.

Made some burritos that were pretty good, and the rest will be used for chili.

I think I will use Costco full packers, in the future for chili and burnt ends, and might use the point for Sammie’s and maybe ground beef.

I will stay with SRF, black grade, going forward for dinners with friends and family. I have 3 or 4 in the freezer ready for the next cook.

Good luck on getting more briskets in. I hope they will be higher quality.

We went through that here in Louisville, and I think when they came back, they seem to have been of much lower quality.

That looks miles ahead of my last Costco brisket.

Usually I inject with a mixture of beef broth, garlic juice and onion juice which does a couple of things for flavor and moisture retention.

It was of no help, and it took forever to pass the toothpick test.

I did mine at 225⁰F smoked with pecan. A little over 12 pounds, took almost 18 hours, it had two different stalls. One at 150⁰F, then again at 180⁰F. I pulled at 198⁰F internal.

As @lousubcap has told me before, sometimes the friggin' cow wins. Just have audibles to go to in those situations: Chili.

Nothing beats brisket chili, IMO. I am going to have a lot of chili it seems.🤪

NorthPilot06 said:

@YukonRon nothing wrong with having a bit too much chili around!  Surprised to hear that it passed the toothpick test at <200, I’ve never had a Costco brisket release that early!

I have had them release in the low 190⁰s F near as often as the 200⁰ F+. Kind of all over the place. Allowing it to rest in a BPTC for a couple hours does not hurt either.

Usually the injections help tenderize it sooner, as well as, saves the flavor, without it becoming remotely similar to pot roast, as  feared by some.

As I had alluded to previously, it seemed the "prime" packers from before they ran out, were of much higher quality, with some impressive appearances which seemed to provide excellent results.

After the Costco refridgerated bins went empty for a couple months, and the new supply came in, I have found "choice" packers at Restaurant Depot to be equal or better in initial appearance and quality.

This has been mainly in the last year or so here in Louisville.

They are now an emergency use or ground beef/chili/burnt end option only.

SRF Black grade is my "go to" now. They seem to be, for me anyway, more idiot proof.....consistently.

8 hours is about in the ballpark of where I think it should land...the longer cooks, like my last to get toothpick tender is detrimental to the final product, or at least it has been for me the few times mine have gone seemingly too long.

It looked great, congratulations on a very fun cook.

Im interested in hearing about your braising method for the flat.

Yeah.

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

I have a mini pellet smoker that won't fit a large packer without trimming the flat off a few inches. Last time i cooked the trimmed piece in a slow cooker.

Sorry that was a lame joke about a thread that has been around for about  7 years now:
https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1138233/brisket-how-i-do-it