6 & 7 lb Briskets at Costco?

[Bif Hunkly]

Went to Costco today and I always like to mosey back to the meat section and check out the briskets. An older gentleman and I got to the briskets at the same time and both exclaimed in unison, "Those are tiny!"

I'm not sure where they found the tiny cows that gave their tiny lives for these briskets but they were clocking in at 6 & 7 lbs a piece. They were labeled as packers - I wish I would have taken a pic. There was one massive 17lb sitting there too. I'm admittedly new to the brisket game, but isn't a 6-7 lbs packer an anomaly?

 

[Greg Jones]

6-7 pounds for just a flat would be on the small side here, so something doesn’t add up. I bought a 10.5# flat two weeks ago, and I believe the smallest full packer I ever bought was around 12.5#.

 

[Bif Hunkly]

6-7 pounds for just a flat would be on the small side here, so something doesn’t add up. I bought a 10.5# flat two weeks ago, and I believe the smallest full packer I ever bought was around 12.5#.

That's what I thought - and apparently the older gentleman that was standing next to me because he walked away having the same conversation I was having with my wife.

 

[Waterboy]

Our Costco had some really small packers as well. They were smallish to begin with but the flat looked like it was cut short. The up side is you have a better ratio of point meat to flat meat. If you prefer the point (I do) it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Gonefishin]

I got a small packer from Costco a few weeks ago. Made the mistake of cutting off the point to cook at a later date. The flat came out fine, but not so the point. I wrote it off as being too thin to cook properly. It was an inch or less thick and came out very tough.

Being my first try at brisket, it could just be rookie cooking mistakes that screwed it up, but I'll blame the meat.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Speculating here a bit as I've not seen any industry info to confirm, but even though the markets seem to be getting back to "normal" we're probably going to have some Covid driven weirdness for some time to come (even if the pandemic subsides). The side of the meat marketing world has been heavily impacted by restaurants not purchasing anywhere close to past history. Raising a herd of beef cattle takes some time, and of course, financial commitment. The slaughter houses having been hit by waves of infection put a dent in the production, and then distribution, process. The dairy industry also had some shake ups, and cows are beef too. So, the possible sources of the smaller briskets, if they really were whole packers and not misidentified, could be from more juvenile steers that the producers didn't want to keep pumping money (feed) into with market uncertainties looming still, or perhaps smaller dairy stock. Historically these "less desirable", if that's the way the producers/packagers see them, sized briskets may have been a regular part of the production flow and ended up a hamburger in times past, but given the oddities of the current market there may be an overstock of ground beef so they are hoping to move them in this fashion. Lots of different market drivers when the chess boards get shaken.

 

[Edthebook]

Are you sure it isn‘t a trimmed flat? I have seen those and the full packer, The trimmed ran about $6/ lb and the packer $ 2. 59 to $3.29.

the last packer I bought weighted 11.935 lbs. I cut off 5 lbs 6 7/8 ozs of fat. I buy it because I want both the point and flat.

 

[Hilbe]

Costco ones always seem to come out dry for me. I even inject them. They're just so thin and take forever to hit temp/done.

 

[Greg Jones]

For those with a Gordon Food Service store in their area, they have always been a great option for full packer briskets for me. The ones I have bought there were graded Prime, and about the same price as the Choice briskets at Costco.

 

[BretM]

For those with a Gordon Food Service store in their area, they have always been a great option for full packer briskets for me. The ones I have bought there were graded Prime, and about the same price as the Choice briskets at Costco.

Costco here only offers prime...pretty much always at $3.49/lb except during the shortage this Spring.

 

[Bif Hunkly]

Costco here only offers prime...pretty much always at $3.49/lb except during the shortage this Spring.

I didn't pick up on that. I've only seen Prime at Costco. Admittedly, I just started paying attention in the last few weeks since I bought the Bull. Went to a different Costco in Austin and the briskets were what I expected. I picked up a 14lb one and that was one of the smaller ones.

 

[Mike]

For those with a Gordon Food Service store in their area, they have always been a great option for full packer briskets for me. The ones I have bought there were graded Prime, and about the same price as the Choice briskets at Costco.

That's some good advice. I'll have to give GFS a try.