Prime Brisket: Wildfork or Costco?

[jjdbike]

Hello folks,

I've got to purchase a brisket or two (depending on number of RSVPs I receive) for a neighborhood barbecue I'm hosting. I've got free shipping from Wildfork and had decent luck w/ their Briskets. One one downside is, you can not choose the size. They say they average 14.5 but also include a disclaimer that the size can vary. There have been some complaints of receiving briskets that are too small for the function. That could be solved by ordering two and keep the other frozen if the one is large enough. Wildfork primes are $4.98 a lb. They are wet aged 17days before frozen. Costco "commodity prime briskets" are $4.14 a pound. The benefit here is I can see them, pick them out, choose the size I want.

Which have you had better luck with, Wildfork or Costco? I've never purchased meat, let alone brisket from Costco.

Any experience?

Thanks in advance,
JD

 

[BBQLab]

West Chester Pennsylvania has lots of options along the main line. There’s a meat purveyor in the Paoli/Malvern area that carry’s premium beef. You may find SRF, Creekstone, and very highly marbleized choice angus beef briskets. Whole prime packer briskets are a great choice at $4.99# from Costco or Sam’s club. Plan on 12-15# briskets so that you can easily trim and fit these on your smoker. Being in PA also has the opportunity to purchase locally farmed PA beef from Angus and Hereford steer (antibiotic free too). Whichever you chose to prepare and serve your guests, a great low and slow brisket seasoned and cooked to perfection will be much appreciated. Consider plate ribs, aka Dino beef ribs, as a good alternative if you wanted to go with cooking just one brisket and one other item. Enjoy your festivities.

 

[SmokeOCD]

I do Sams and Costco brisket all the time and am very happy with either.
I have very few occasions where I need more than 1 brisket, I'd take a shot at a side by side. Don't tell anyone - but you'll know.

edit: Well, tell us - not your guests.

 

[jjdbike]

West Chester Pennsylvania has lots of options along the main line. There’s a meat purveyor in the Paoli/Malvern area that carry’s premium beef. You may find SRF, Creekstone, and very highly marbleized choice angus beef briskets. Whole prime packer briskets are a great choice at $4.99# from Costco or Sam’s club. Plan on 12-15# briskets so that you can easily trim and fit these on your smoker. Being in PA also has the opportunity to purchase locally farmed PA beef from Angus and Hereford steer (antibiotic free too). Whichever you chose to prepare and serve your guests, a great low and slow brisket seasoned and cooked to perfection will be much appreciated. Consider plate ribs, aka Dino beef ribs, as a good alternative if you wanted to go with cooking just one brisket and one other item. Enjoy your festivities.

Thanks BBQ,
Yes you’re correct. I’ve since relocated to SoCal and my local stores only have choice brisket on the rare occasion they have it at all.
Respectfully,
JD

 

[snadamo]

Haven't gotten a brisket from WF yet, but I purchase there quite a bit. I am next state over so chances are we get our meats from same place. I think I had 1 thing that was OK (not bad), but the rest was up to snuff. I feel that costco meat cuts are always LARGE, and WF is average. So, depending on how big a brisket you're looking for may play in to it.

 

[BBQLab]

Thanks BBQ,
Yes you’re correct. I’ve since relocated to SoCal and my local stores only have choice brisket on the rare occasion they have it at all.
Respectfully,
JD

No problem. I’m always here to help a brethren out.

 

[lawndog19]

I was on that fence also I did take a look at the ones in the store first to see what they had and then ordered from WF you know backup in case WF let me down the one I got was around 15 lbs and turned out real good

 

[jjdbike]

I do Sams and Costco brisket all the time and am very happy with either.
I have very few occasions where I need more than 1 brisket, I'd take a shot at a side by side. Don't tell anyone - but you'll know.

edit: Well, tell us - not your guests.

Thanks!
I’ll check them out.
JD

 

[frayedend]

I agree with all the points in the OP. I've done both and I've gotten some pretty small briskets from Wildfork. I don't mind as I keep them in the freezer and use the correct size for each occasion.

For me the issue with Costco is simply they are 60 miles away from me. I found that I wasn't using the membership enough to warrant the fee.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

100% go with Costco. I say this simply because you get to pick out the briskets which will work for you. When I was running my BBQ food truck I was buying brisket by the case at Restaurant Depot. This saved me roughly 30-40 cents per pound, but in the end I think I ended up breaking even : the reason is they put some horribly butchered briskets in those cases and often enough I'd have to trim off more meat to get a well shaped brisket.

I'm lucky that I live in Texas and have a constant supply of Prime and / or Waygu from a grocery store called HEB. It makes life easy in terms of finding a fantastic piece of meat to cook, and I always get to pick the correct piece of meat for my purpose.

Good luck with your cookout and I hope it goes off without a hitch.

 

[SeenRed]

Just my opinion, but no matter the source, there are too many variables with mail-order meats for me. I'd always go with the ones I can see for myself and put my hands on.

Red

 

[BBQLab]

100% go with Costco. I say this simply because you get to pick out the briskets which will work for you. When I was running my BBQ food truck I was buying brisket by the case at Restaurant Depot. This saved me roughly 30-40 cents per pound, but in the end I think I ended up breaking even : the reason is they put some horribly butchered briskets in those cases and often enough I'd have to trim off more meat to get a well shaped brisket.

I'm lucky that I live in Texas and have a constant supply of Prime and / or Waygu from a grocery store called HEB. It makes life easy in terms of finding a fantastic piece of meat to cook, and I always get to pick the correct piece of meat for my purpose.

Good luck with your cookout and I hope it goes off without a hitch.

My offices are in Austin and Dallas. HEB+ is the best for prime and dry aged meats. Great pricing in TX vs the North East

 

[Bill-Chicago]

You said neighborhood BBQ. Unless your neighbors are all veteran CBJ's, I doubt anyone would have the palette to discern any noticeable difference.


I'd go local and pick your own.


As far as meat in general from Costco, I find it pretty good and fairly consistent. I buy their steaks all the time, ribeyes and strips, and once in a while we'll get the garlic crusted pork tenderloins. 2" thick pork chops are good their too, if I can't find the full loins anywhere to cut my own.


Good luck!

 

[Itsdone]

Im in PA, Samsclub had some prime briskets for $4.78/lb last time i picked one up a few months ago. Ive accepted thats about the best im gonna find price wise in my area. Our Costco doesn't even carry whole packers, only trimmed flats for $6.99/lb last time i was there. (over a year ago)