Butcher talk - ordering brisket in foreign country

[Spoonsbbq]

Hello all-

Been smoking meats for some time in the states and recently moved to Poland with my family. Long story short, bbq restaurants are non-existent here in terms of what Americans think of and we are in the middle of planning to open our own. At any rate, while tweaking and translating recipes to utilize as many local ingredients as possible I’ve found a huge problem: I can’t find brisket! Poland butchers its meat differently so there’s no direct translation to the brisket cut. Admittedly, ive always just gone to an American butcher and asked for brisket or pork shoulder, ribs etc and was oblivious to specific anatomy and butchering practices. Anyway, my question is if anyone could help me better explain to a butcher the brisket? Considering our plans, I’m really just concerned with the point but I just want to be able to clearly explain what we are needing.
Thanks all in advance!

 

[Polka]

Maybe, calling is breast? Lamb comes that way sometimes. Just a thought. R

 

[smokinq13]

If i were you, I'd print a illustration of it and where it comes from on cow... they probably dont cut brisket like america does for the fact you can get alot more cuts from a brisket instead just of using it as brisket, resulting in supplying more consumers meaning more profit, just some .02 of mine

 

[atomicsmoke]

Keep in mind the beef is different in Eastern Europe. One of the reasons there is not a lot of beef bbq-ing over there.

I don't have uptodate info but a few years ago the only decent steak i could buy was import from South America - very expensive.

So i am not sure if the local raised beef brisket will give you the tender product you expect.

 

[Wet Spaniel]

I'd go with smoking13 suggestion of the diagram. Brisket here in the UK is a different cut to the US so when I started BBQ I took a picture in to my local friendly butcher who cut them to order for me. If you find a good butcher this may be the way forward.

 

[noboundaries]

Could be an uphill challenge. I looked up the meat consumption in Poland; pork 55%, poultry 38%, beef 2%. Annual per capital consumption of beef is only 1.5 kg per person. Great potential, but from what I read cost is a huge factor. Farmers can make more money by exporting beef than selling it in country. Keep us informed of your search.