Fun fun brisket trimming. Partial Yield results.....

[PrincetonPitBoss]

You often hear advice to make friends with the butcher. That has paid off big time for me. They only sell flats here, not the "deckle" as they call the point. When I asked for whole packers, we got to talking and he explained that nobody around here buys the deckle so they don't get them in, but he'd order some. So he ordered 4 packers, they came in about 18 lbs each. He offered to a) cut them any way I want (asked him to cut off the flat that extended from the point and give me the clod of point/flat only, b) happy to trim and give me the fat wrapped separately for free, and c) charge me a buck less per pound than the flat (7.99 vs 8.99) because it's the deckle that nobody wants, and I only paid for the trimmed meat weight.

[Jerod Broussard]

That is sweet. One place in town with "butchers" copped an attitude because I was picking up a box of briskets. The other spot with a butcher doesn't break down briskets at all and the briskets there are twice what they are at wolly world.

[MattBilling]

Looks very simlar to my testing the other week. I ended up with a 45% yield.
Friday weight before trimming 5.560kg = £27.80

Weight after trimming 4.569kg = 18% wastage


Weight after cooking 3.016kg = £9.20/kg

So if each portion sells for £7 and is 150gm meat.

Should get 20 portions out of one brisket.

£7 x 20 = £140.00

£27.80 / 20 = £1.39 per portion of meat.

Add on all our other costs which is about £3.50 per portion and we get £4.89 so our gross profit is £2.11 or 31% profit.

I hate maths!

[Jerod Broussard]

The last time I cooked 10 briskets I came up with 45% yield. I could tell this round it might not make it since even a small 7 pounder had some really dense fat, and plenty of it. In fact, that 7.04 pound brisket weighed 4.875 pounds after trimming the fat.

[Thunder77]

Speaking of brisket, what is everyone paying per pound for it? And why is such a tough, fatty piece of meat that takes forever to cook properly so dang expensive?? I haven't had brisket in forever since it runs around $7 per pound here. And you're throwing away a lot of it!!

[Jerod Broussard]

Thunder77 for the most part our cheapest in town is $2.46/lb. While cooking those 9 last week the price dropped to $1.97/lb and I was able to get a couple at that price.

I have not seen a Choice brisket in this town in quite some time. Nothing but Select. Boxes are typically labeled "Select grade or higher."

The two other spots in town are close to $3/lb with one occasionally having a Choice that I will grab if cooking for an individual and needs good slices from the flat.

I don't sell cooked product, people buy it and I cook for them. If I am cooking to chop it up, which I do for fundraisers, I get the cheapest I can find since any Select will do for chopped.

[Huskee]

Speaking of brisket, what is everyone paying per pound for it? And why is such a tough, fatty piece of meat that takes forever to cook properly so dang expensive?? I haven't had brisket in forever since it runs around $7 per pound here. And you're throwing away a lot of it!!

I'm with you. With the knowledge of how to properly cook a brisket spreading in recent years, there's more demand for them. Retailers surely study what things they can charge for and pounce on the opportunity....at least this is what I believe to be the case. Trimmed flats at the big box grocery store near me are $7-8/lb, which makes a small 4lb flat in the $30s. I'd much rather do a chuck personally. Some folks can score packers for $2/lb, in which case I would do way more briskets!

[Thunder77]

What is a packer exactly? I hear that term a lot.

[Huskee]

Thunder77 It's the common term for the whole brisket, with both the flat and the point muscles connected as one piece, as it comes off the steer.

[Jerod Broussard]

We cook way more chuck at home than brisket. Not many people know about properly BBQ'd chuck.

Plus, "Chopped Brisket" brings more punch than "Chopped Chuck" when advertising.

[Gooner-que]

I just call the chuck, "Pulled Beef" people understand it is like pulled pork that way.

[Thunder77]

@Jerod, do you have a recipe for bbq chuck? I know that it makes awesome pot roast, so it must be good bbq'd properly.

[Huskee]

Thunder77 Treat a chuck roast as you would a pork butt for pulled pork. Dry brine it overnight or so, then use a bolder peppery rub like BBBR. Here's a post I made last summer/fall using a different cut of meat, but exact same principle as with chuck. I used my 22" kettle with Slow 'N Sear, but if you don't' have one you could set up as you would a long low & slow cook and proceed. Take the chuck to ~205-209, I like to wrap once the meat hits ~180, but many don't. Give it a faux cambro hold for a couple hours. Then pull. Then wonder why you've never done this before! (It's soooo good).

[Thunder77]

Huskee, me not have a Slow 'n Sear? Heaven forbid!

[jharner]

Within 4 miles from home I have - Sam's, Kroger, Super Walmart and Albertson's. Albertson's always has choice packers but 3.99 a pound. Sam's and Kroger mostly keep select. Super Walmart keeps both for the most part and I can get choice for 2.49 a pound.

[BigBear]

I'm smoking a prime whole packer today that I bought from Costco for $3.19/lb.

[Jerod Broussard]

I've only seen 1 Prime brisket in this town. It was only a flat at that.

[HorseDoctor]

I've got 2 Sam's within 12 miles either north or south but 35+ to a Costco... May have to break down & join Costco anyway. Seems like they carry prime much more routinely than Sam's.