Thanks for the detailed explanation! Would like to at least try it to see if I can notice a difference.The short answer is, if you can get a case of "high choice" briskets, I would go for it. Better would be if you could sort through a couple of cases and build your own case. My Sam's Club lets me do this with Prime briskets because I'm looking for other characteristics. Here is the rest of the answer....
Well, when marketing beef in different programs there are sub-grades so to speak that use marbling to separate USDA Choice into three sub-grades, and USDA Prime into two sub-grades. Since not every producer goes the extra mile and participate in separating the sub-grades, it's up to the consumer to compare in the meat case. Below are some USDA Prime ribeye steaks I bought already packaged, straight from the meat case for a small contest, and while selecting I had about 6 or 8 packages to choose from. The marbling in the cap muscle on these steaks was way heavier than all the others, so it was easy for me to call these "moderately abundant". Now it can be argued that grading takes place in the loin, and not an individual brisket.... but if a steer is graded high choice it would make sense that the brisket could fall into the same sub-grade.
I can get them from Sam’s for the same price but they don’t always carry it. Guess I could always ask them to order a case for me.
It depends on the meat manager. At my Sam's, they are willing to order Prime meats, but I'm not obligated to buy the entire case. So it never hurts to ask what their policy is. One tip if they will order in Prime brisket (or get it in from time to time..... ask them to make note of the "pack date" printed on the case and call you when the meat arrives. This way, you can basically ignore the "use by" date the store prints on the label, and you can wet age the brisket for a few weeks if you have a colder beer fridge.
Yeah, I this a good deal! I’ve gotten it before, and split with my friend that had the connection at the warehouse to save cost. It is great, just don’t know if I want to spend $500+ on meat right now. I can’t remember if it is black or gold. I thought they told me gold in the phone.
Yeah they are the NAMP 123A. Got 8 3bone racks in the case. Looking forward to smoking these. They came 2 racks per vac pac. Actually got all the meat a little cheaper than expected, which was good!You have a great supplier with the SRF and Duroc products. Just a thought, but maybe you can get some cooking buddies interested and you can split up cases. And although our first thoughts are to smoke a brisket, there are a lot of oven brisket recipes that are fantastic.
Are the plate ribs the full ones, which would be NAMP 123A? These come in 3-bone and 4-bone racks with bones about 10" long. If they are cut on the lateral axis (across the bones) then they are short ribs, thinner slices are often called Korean style ribs. Plate ribs are like brisket on a stick, but take a long time to cook. And you only need one per person!
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