Brisket Survey Part 1

Smokin buys:

1. Full Packers
2. Choice
3. 8 - 12 lbs
4. Yes

Flats! But, I am told Sams Club will provide full brisket if you ask real nice. There is a �Super Wal-Mart" in a town 35 miles from here where the whole hunk is available.

For the briskets you buy:
If they're Flats, how much do they weigh? 4-7 pounds


Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

Yes AND No! Yet to see a deckle in the flesh. Only in Brisket 101!

No


Cool! Looking forward to see where you go with this. 12BBQ

I am retired military (spent 5 years at Tinker and loved it there) so am able to shop at the commissary. I get untrimmed packer cuts, choice, cryovacs for anywhere from $1.39 to $1.59 a pound. I am also able to get the same deal for pork butts-2 per pack.I think I pay $.99 per pound for them.To those of you who have access to a commissary, just talk to the meat dept. manager and he'll (or she'll) order whatever you want.

Thanks Harold, appreciate the info about the commissary, but what I'm really looking for are responses to the Brisket Survey. Please see my response to my survey for an idea. I'm trying to obtain some specific information.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

• Full Packers = at Sam's and the butcher
  
  
• Flats = at Safeway
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?[/list]

3. For the briskets you buy:

• If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh? = Sam's 6-8# Butcher 10#
  
  
• If they're Flats, how much do they weigh? Safeway 3#
  
  

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

• Yes = Yes
  
  

[/qb]

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

• Flats - yes
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

• Choice - yes
  
  

3. For the briskets you buy:

• If they're Flats, how much do they weigh? ave. 7 lb
  
  

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

• Yes -- yes
  
  

[/qb]

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

#1 full packers

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

Choice

3. For the briskets you buy:

9+ pounds

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

yes

qb]

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

• Full Packers: @ One local Sam's, but not all local Sam's
  
  
• Flats: @ most of the local supermarkets
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

• Choice: the packer cuts are cryovac'd choice
  
  
• A/B/C/D what does a grade matter? Who knows about the flats? Usually not marked which leads me to believe that most are select or less
  
  

3. For the briskets you buy:

• If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh? 9 - 12 pounds, but I have seen (and NOT bought) 17+ pounders
  
  

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

• Yes
  
  
  

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

Full Packers: always

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

Choice most of the time I have had a few selsects that have turned out well.

3. For the briskets you buy:

If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh? 12 pounds as an average

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

Yes

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

• Full Packers
  
  
• Flats
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

• Choice
  
  

3. For the briskets you buy:

• If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh? 12-14lbs
  
  

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

• Yes
  
  

A little more info.
I'm wanting to see how many people are buying flats because they can't get full briskets. So I'm trying to get a general sense of what people are buying.

Thanks and keep it up.

1. Full packers and flats.
2. Choice.
3. Flats 3-5 lbs.
4. Yes.

Does anybody ever use the test to determine whether or not the brisket will be tender where you bend the brisket to see if the ends will touch? I heard of this several years ago, but I don't know where it came from or if there is any truth to it.

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

Flats only. I've heard that some of the Kosher butchers should have the whole brisket (at least at certain holidays) but I've not tried to buy one there yet.

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

Choice.

3. For the briskets you buy: If they're Flats, how much do they weigh?

One store has the flats in cryovac, untrimmed at about 5 to 6 lb. There is actually a small amount of the deckle on them, but not enough to really call them a whole brisket.

Other stores super-trim then cut the flat into several pieces, so they are only 2 or 3 lb. I've tried these and they are horribly dry.

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

Only because of your photos in B-101. And because the above briskets have a tiny deckle, I've got a rough idea what they are.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

• Full Packers
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

• Choice
  
  

3. For the briskets you buy:

• If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh?
  
  

10 lbs or less

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

Yes

Going into the brisket business are we?

In the middle of the night, a question came to my smoke-cured mind. When the grocer puts a 2-4 pound, trimmed down brisket flat out for the public to buy, what does the grocer think is going to happen to that item? Obviously, traditional BBQ is not on his mind. (learned that from you folks!) Given that the brisket remains po' man's food (notably tough, right?) how does the Publix grocer want you to cook it? Pot roast perhaps?
Answer that, and this dillema of the missing Packer's Cuts might be clarified. Because, as I have said before, not only are the full briskets absent, but the grocer will ridicule you for wanting it. "You don't want that big ol' thang!"
i2BBQ

full packer
I really didn't notice
10 lbs.
no

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

[X] Full Packers


• Flats
  
  
• What's a Packer or Flat?
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

• Choice
  [X] Select
  
  
• A/B/C/D what does a grade matter?
  
  

3. For the briskets you buy:

[7-11lb sometimes a 14lb will slip in] If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh?


• If they're Flats, how much do they weigh?
  
  
• If you don't get them, why are you reading this?
  
  

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

[X] Yes


• No
  
  
• What's a deckle/flat?
  
  

INSTRUCTION

Please click on the "reply quoted" for THIS post (not the ones that follow) that way you'll see my original post and you can respond to the specific question.

I'm looking for answers to these questions, not discussion about other brisket subjects. When I post the results, then we can discuss.

There are some reasons I'm asking, just want to get some survey info first.[/qb]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[QB]Please respond to the following questions:

1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?
Full Packers


2. What grade of meat are your briskets?Choice


3. For the briskets you buy:If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh?
11 to 13 lbs.

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?Yes

Donna's answers

1. Full Packers
2. Whatever grade Albertson's has
3. 10 lbs. give or take a couple of pounds
4. Yes

quote:

, not discussion about other brisket subjects. When I post the results, then we can discuss.

Yo, Smokin, it's almost 8 PM EST. Can we talk yet?

I learned today from my new-found pit-master friend that it may be that the chief interest or importance of the deckle is the fat it contains. Is true? He cuts the deckle away after smoking. Has super juicy brisket.
He also says that he's "been doing okay lately with flats." 30 years of smoking, and latelythe flats are okay. More fat?

And, as one who can't find a deckle anywhere, I've got to say my few brisket flats have been awesome. (WHOLE flats!...new term) Cryovaced 5-6 lb numbers. 1/2 inch of fat on the top. Does ok.

But, still no deckle...
This pit master guy has a gas powered carousel machine. Cooks huge amounts of chicken, poke and beef on gas with a log tossed in. The results are perfect cooking, but the flavor is not as intense as on my Brinkman smoker smoker smoker. (I love you you CS types, but I'm having a hard time with "wood by the ounce." Waiting for proof.)

And, finely, my experienced friend says that smoking is like fishing. Some days are better than others. That's not as suave as Topchef's motto, but in a similar vein.

Okay, that's my report from the field.

i2BBQ

We can talk.

The deckle is a totally different texture than the flat. Go visit your friend and "see" a deckle. I'd guess, but it's probably 40-50% fat (lots of marbling). The deckle and the fat on top of it are THE reason a brisket comes out the way it does. For those who don't agree, just smoke a brisket deckle side down and see the difference as the fat drains off instead of in.

I've seen more discussion about flats since this forum open than in 20 years prior.

Where have all the briskets gone...long time, passing...where have all the briskets gone, long time ago.

All the flats I've seen around here have NO fat, so the butchers must be doing something different/new in your area. My guess is no one knew how to cook them, so they cut them down to try to make them "look" like a conventional cut of meat.

As for his flavor not being as intense. Nope, he's probably using an Old Hickory or Southern Pride. Hey make sure you check out the post about barbecue vs smoke from someone in Portland.

So, you going to be in Houston? You're still invited and after tasting it, you'll come away with a CS.

Keep asking, and appreciate the non-CS perspective as always.

quote:

So, you going to be in Houston? You're still invited and after tasting it, you'll come away with a CS.

Don't know yet, but it would be great to try the CS product prepared by some of you maestros.
Your response to Ray is typically well-mannered.
i2BBQ

so far it is, so far

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]
1. What kind of brisket do you normally have available in your area?

• Full Packers
  
  

2. What grade of meat are your briskets?

• Choice
  
  
• Select
  
  

3. For the briskets you buy:

• If they're Full Briskets, how much do they weigh?
  

6-10 pounds...

4. Do you know what a brisket looks like and the difference between a Deckle and a Flat?

• Yes
  

[/qb]

quote:

Originally posted by i2BBQ:
[qb]When the grocer puts a 2-4 pound, trimmed down brisket flat out for the public to buy, what does the grocer think is going to happen to that item? [/qb]

...Braising, perhaps?