Last night I cooked three briskets. One was a choice grade from IBP and
cost $1.99/lb. The other two were Excel select grade and I paid $1.18/lb.

All three got the same rub, al three were in the cooker at the same time and
rotated for position. Temperature was about 250 in the smoker and they hit
about 200 when done.

I cut and tasted all three and could not tell them apart.

Anyone else have ideas on a grade being better than others for brisket? I'm
inclined to stick with cheap, given the results.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

> Anyone else have ideas on a grade being better than others for
> brisket? I'm inclined to stick with cheap, given the results.

I'm of the impression that grade is of little consequence for brisket, but
that's just from my limited experience. I have had my meat distributor try
to convince me that there is a difference, but I've never been able to
identify it. And I've Qd all the samples of the grades and the specialty
certifications that they've given me ie, angus, hereford, three-headed,
free-range, beer-rubbed, whatever. :-)
--
Dave
Dave's Pit-Smoked Bar-B-Que
http://davebbq.com/

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> Last night I cooked three briskets. One was a choice grade from
> IBP
> and cost $1.99/lb. The other two were Excel select grade and I paid
> $1.18/lb. All three got the same rub, al three were in the cooker at
> the same
> time and rotated for position. Temperature was about 250 in the
> smoker and they hit about 200 when done.
> I cut and tasted all three and could not tell them apart.
> Anyone else have ideas on a grade being better than others for
> brisket? I'm inclined to stick with cheap, given the results.

Ed - I've always bought the cheap briskets. After all, the brisket is
the toughest muscle on the cow. I think that's just a ploy of the
meat cutters to get a higher price.

What concerns me as much as the price is the amount of fat cap on the
piece of meat. The more the fat, the juicer I've found the meat. Of
course, I cook offset with the fat cap up. The smoker temp looks good
but I seldom take my briskets past 190.

Funny you should pose this question now. This past weekend we were
down to Austin and stopped in at the Rudy's in Round Rock. I got to
talk with the manager about his BBQ operation and he said they buy the
cheap briskets also. So, take all this for what it's worth.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

"frohe" > wrote in message
> The smoker temp looks good but I seldom take my briskets past 190.

So do I when I'm awake. When I sleep a little longer, they can go a little
hotter. They are far from dried out though.


>
> Funny you should pose this question now. This past weekend we were down
> to Austin and stopped in at the Rudy's in Round Rock. I got to talk with
> the manager about his BBQ operation and he said they buy the cheap
> briskets also. So, take all this for what it's worth.

I like the lower price, but there is a cost to it. I get the $1.99 briskets
at a place north of me that I'm near frequently so little time/gas to go
there. The cheaper briskets are in the opposite direction and a 50 mile
round trip. At 33¢ a mile that comes to $16.50 to save $9.50 on a brisket.
In addition, we stopped for dinner and that added another 50 bucks to the
total cost.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

"Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote in message
news
>
> "frohe" > wrote in message
>> The smoker temp looks good but I seldom take my briskets past 190.
>
> So do I when I'm awake. When I sleep a little longer, they can go a
> little hotter. They are far from dried out though.
>
>
>>
>> Funny you should pose this question now. This past weekend we were down
>> to Austin and stopped in at the Rudy's in Round Rock. I got to talk with
>> the manager about his BBQ operation and he said they buy the cheap
>> briskets also. So, take all this for what it's worth.
>
> I like the lower price, but there is a cost to it. I get the $1.99
> briskets at a place north of me that I'm near frequently so little
> time/gas to go there. The cheaper briskets are in the opposite direction
> and a 50 mile round trip. At 33¢ a mile that comes to $16.50 to save
> $9.50 on a brisket. In addition, we stopped for dinner and that added
> another 50 bucks to the total cost.
> --
> Ed
> http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/
>Good point! Age and the price of gas has created a slower driver out of me.

bk wrote:
> "Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote in message
> news >
>> At 33¢ a mile that comes to $16.50 to save
>>$9.50 on a brisket. In addition, we stopped for dinner and that added
>>another 50 bucks to the total cost.
>>--
>>Ed
>>http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/
>
>
>Good point! Age and the price of gas has created a slower driver out of me.
>

I wish that were the case here. If I go much less than 80 I'm taking the
risk of being run over.

--
Matthew

I'm a contractor. If you want an opinion, I'll sell you one.
Which one do you want?

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 02:11:33 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" >
wrote:

>
>"frohe" > wrote in message
>> The smoker temp looks good but I seldom take my briskets past 190.
>
>So do I when I'm awake. When I sleep a little longer, they can go a little
>hotter. They are far from dried out though.
>
>
>>
>> Funny you should pose this question now. This past weekend we were down
>> to Austin and stopped in at the Rudy's in Round Rock. I got to talk with
>> the manager about his BBQ operation and he said they buy the cheap
>> briskets also. So, take all this for what it's worth.
>
>I like the lower price, but there is a cost to it. I get the $1.99 briskets
>at a place north of me that I'm near frequently so little time/gas to go
>there. The cheaper briskets are in the opposite direction and a 50 mile
>round trip. At 33¢ a mile that comes to $16.50 to save $9.50 on a brisket.
>In addition, we stopped for dinner and that added another 50 bucks to the
>total cost.


Sounds like my kind of 'savings' plan, Ed. I usually pick up my butts
& briskets from a client who runs a restaurant. So I get them at half
price. And then there's the price of the dinner for two . . . .

Harry