Hard time parting with $$$ for brisket.
 

I know "everything" is increasing in price. But I'm having a hard time forking over the money it now cost for beef, specifically brisket. I talked with a guy Saturday that said more than likely it is going to get worse. That because of this drought a lot farmers sold off all their cattle creating a shortage. I'm not up to snuff on all that so I guess he's right.

But it sure is nice that our local groceries have recently some ran some dang good sales on pork butts. To the tune of .99/lb. I just wish brisket were a bit lower because I need more "practice" on it than pork butts.

I can't help but wonder if there isn't some other supply/demand thing going on as well. Like that brisket for BBQ has become all the rage, even out here in California, where it never sold well before. Suddenly, I have been hearing and reading folks out here all talking about you can tell a good BBQ place by it's brisket, I love brisket, brisket is BBQ etc... I notice that chuck and sirloin remain pretty stable in price and availability

In Maryland it has always been expensive ($5/pound is a good price here and I've seen select for $9/pound at regular grocery stores) and we have ZERO BBQ tradition and few places that even sell BBQ. BBQ is all about taking cheap cuts of meat and making them taste good. It doesn't have to be brisket. I'm very happy to cook chuckies and they're less than half the price. They're also easier and very tasty. I love brisket, but I'm not a brisket snob. :drama:

Gore, they have to import those briskets from Texas to Maryland. It is well known that steer in the Maryland area have no briskets. Hence the extra cost.

Thank the elected officials in DC for a lot of this problem, they are the ones that passed the requirement that 30% or so of all corn production must go to produce ethanol. Never mind about food for people or livestock. Di**heads!

I think it is a location thing though, I just paid $3.39 for CAB packers.

I just P/u a Butt and a Brisket this morning. Butts 1.98 lb Brisket 1.97 lb It's good to live in TX however they Kill me on the pig prices. I looked at some ribs 3.00 lb for shiners :crazy:

WOW! :shock:

It's good too live in TX for brisket. I just bought 2 more at HEB for .98 per lb. Best sale of the year! Even when not on sale it's 2.29 or so everyday somewhere.

That's how butts are here. It's nothing for them to run sales on butts ranging from .78/lb to .99/lb. Briskets? Not a chance.

HEB had brisket locally for $0.99/lb. with a $ 20 additional purchase. I bought two (the limit).

Joel

I just bought a CAB packer from my local SAMs that don't usually Cary them. When I seen the price I snatched it up quickly. $2.89/lb. I was very happy to see it.

I can't get the .99 lb brisket sales anymore. Cheapest sale prices I've seen is in the 1.69 range which is still very good. My problem is that I've noticed the fat caps getting bigger and the meat a lot thinner. It's hard to find em with thinner fat caps. When I do find one, I don't mind spending the money on it cause at least I'm paying for more meat than fat.

HEB did have some nice flats for around $2.99/lb with no other purchase limits. The cheaper ones did have a big fat cap.

I haven't cooked a full packer brisket in over 4 years due to their price. I can buy all natural 8-10 pound bone in pork butts all day long at Wegmans for less than $12 each and yet 10-14 pound briskets at Wal-Mart run around $45-$60. I simply can't afford that and the worst part is that Wally World carries the bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes. I couldn't imagine what others are paying for packers that are actually a better grade. :cry:

Not mine they never put ANYTHING ON SALE because they have a Monopoly out here in the sticks.