Purchasing a Beef Brisket

Costco.

Price wise, you can get them at Costco, Walmart, sams, etc. If you're looking for high quality meat, alexanders has prime briskest often.

But the bottom line is a good packer will be wonderful if you know what you're doing. If you don't, even a prime brisket isn't going to be worth shite.

Thanks

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Costco is where I buy mine, dont live in BR, but if you have a Costco they should have prime whole packer briskets. Here they cost about 2.99/LB.

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That's how much they cost at the BR Costco.

Costco

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Costco has USDA Prime brisket for under $3/lb

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Not all meat labeled prime is the same. I have had the ones from Costco, and they are very good. I'm not trying to disparage their meat, by any means. But it is a no brainer that the "prime" brisket they sell is in the very lower end of the prime scale, which is still very good. But I wouldn't put it above many others' choice briskets. Not that the Walmart and sams briskets are upper choice, mind you...but the prime packer briskets at Costco tend to have more fat to trim, and a lower yield. That's the only reason I said them all in the same sentence...that and if cooked properly, they will all yield wonderful results. Most any butcher will tell you, though, that they see upper choice come through which is of a much better grade than some lower prime they see. That's because meat is graded based on what it looks like wayyyyyy back between two ribs....the 12th and 13th. That grade there is what they base the entire animal on. Typically, that correlates to the quality throughout the animal, but when it is "lower" prime, there is a much better chance that you can end up with middle choice (or other grades) in other spots on the animal. The higher the grade of prime, the less likely this is. You are more likely to get an upper end prime brisket buying at somewhere other than Costco, although you will pay for it. Hated to make this so long...was just explaining what I meant...I wouldn't shy away from buying the prime at Costco by any means...at worst, it will be a good choice brisket, which is much better than you get at a ton of other places.

But I still say it doesn't matter what you buy if you try to cook it like a steak.