Questions regarding beef brisket

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

kryinggame

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Nov 16, 2007
543
30
Charlotte, NC
I'm ready to smoke my first beef brisket and have a few questions. Earlier today I went to my local Walmart and saw 2 pieces of meat. The first is labeled "flat cut corned beef brisket" (it was square shaped and was about 2.34 lbs). The second piece was labeled, "Beef Brisket" and this one is about the length of a slab of baby back. Yesterday, I was at Costco and saw a small piece of beef which looked more like a skirt steak, it was only about 1/4 thick and is $19.00. and labeled "Beef Brisket"

I'm confused as to why there are so many variations on beef brisket. I'm wondering if different places considers different cuts to be beef brisket. I was under the assumption that a brisket is more the size of a roast.

Can someone kindly set me straight as to what I should be looking for.

Thanks!
 
Corned beef is a piece of brisket that has been wet cured and turned into a corned beef.

The second one was probably a "full packer" which is a whole brisket which consists of two parts, the "flat" and the "point".

The one you saw at Costco was probably just a piece of a "flat".

If you search "brisket" on here you will find many explanations to the different parts of brisket and ways to smoke it.
 
S2K is correct and many of us soak the corned beef brisket then smoke it and have pastrami which makes great sandwiches
 
Kryinggame, if I may , I suggest doing a Pork Butt or Chicken some before going to Brisket, one must be very patient when doing Brisket(I speak of the whole or 'Packer' Brisket).  I hate to lose money on bad experiments ( I'm not saying you could not do one) , but it takes a "PATIENT" person  to do a Brisky and Butts are so forgiving and Chicken >cheap
biggrin.gif
. Flats are even a little touchier, (not having the Fat to help "Slowly" break down the Collegen ) they will dry out and become Shoe Leather
pot.gif
.

Once you have the dynamics of Butts , and you have the Patients , then do a Brisket. Just my .02 worth...

Have fun and...
 
Kryinggame, if I may , I suggest doing a Pork Butt or Chicken some before going to Brisket, one must be very patient when doing Brisket(I speak of the whole or 'Packer' Brisket).  I hate to lose money on bad experiments ( I'm not saying you could not do one) , but it takes a "PATIENT" person  to do a Brisky and Butts are so forgiving and Chicken >cheap
biggrin.gif
. Flats are even a little touchier, (not having the Fat to help "Slowly" break down the Collegen ) they will dry out and become Shoe Leather
pot.gif
.

Once you have the dynamics of Butts , and you have the Patients , then do a Brisket. Just my .02 worth...

Have fun and...

Hey Brother thanks for the reply. I've done numerous butts, ribs and chickens. This may be a taboo but I'm tired of doing these three; thus, I'm ready to venture into something new. I've been reading a lot about the pitfalls with beef and I went to several stores and saw the variety. Heck, at times you have to step up the plate. But anyway, thanks for the advice but it's time to give beef a shot.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky