re: Grade of brisket?

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The grade isn’t the hugest deal for a slow cooked brisket. May not even matter at all, plenty anecdotal evidence on the net suggests it doesn’t.

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There's actual evidence on the issue gathered each year at Texas A&M Camp Brisket. They cook briskets as identically as possible and have blind tasting by serious BBQ folks who attend. In 2022:

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Each grade/type of brisket was sliced so that each participant received a lean portion to rate on a ballot. When completed, the ballots were tabulated by the students to determine whether the participants could tell the difference in the grades or types of brisket. The winners? Chairman’s Reserve, Prime, and The Snake River Farms’ American Wagyu were at the top. Each year, this taste comparison usually results in Prime and Wagyu near the top and Select being near the bottom in ratings. There are perceivable differences in eating quality among different grades and types of briskets, and those interested in producing the best cooked briskets possible need to be aware of this.

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TAMU Camp Brisket 2022 report

Daniel Vaughan attended in 2014 and had this to say about his year.

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Select and low Choice were pretty easy to spot. The grain of the meat was tighter and the slices were drier. One would expect the Wagyu, which runs for double the price of even Prime grade per pound, to outshine all of the competition. When it came to the blind tasting it was hard to distinguish. CAB, Prime, and Wagyu were all very similar. I actually selected the Prime as being the pricey Wagyu. While there was slight variation between the three (they were three different animals, after all), they were all good eating briskets. The point is that it’s tough to advocate paying the high price for Wagyu for a cut like brisket that’s already so well marbled. The gap in flavor and moisture between Prime and CAB was also minuscule, something to consider when you’re looking at that price difference of about 25 cents per pound.

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Texas Monthly: What I Learned at Brisket Camp

They also do blind comparisons for different types of smoke wood. Not much difference in 2022, though oak or hickory usually wins.

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...briskets prepared using the four different smokes — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Each participant received a small slice of brisket from each smoke and were asked to rate it on 9-point scales. Students tabulated the results, and there were no differences among the four woods for sensory panel ratings. In 2019, participants found no differences in preference for the four different smokes used. Most other years, either oak or hickory wins this competition, but we are amazed that there are really few differences in how the participants rate these briskets cooked with different woods/smokes.

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This lady is an expert on meat and probably drives up ticket prices.