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Taking my chances with Walmart Select Brisket

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frayedend

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I had a work cookout 2 weeks ago and just didn't have time to get to my regular market. So I stopped into Wally World and grabbed a Select brisket for $2.94/lb. Found a decent bendy one. Anyhow it was great. Work people praising me over and over. One higher up wants to fund me to open a BBQ restaurant. LOL

So now I have a party this weekend and I offered a brisket, grabbed another wally world select. I'm gambling aren't I? :D
 
I am no brisket expert for sure. But, in trying to become a good brisket cook I read all the brisket threads I can. One of the frequent comments about brisket is that unless you are cooking competition stuff, or you can get a better price on a better cut, the Wally World briskets cook up just fine. There are those who think that the prime cut is simply a waste on brisket. That only leaves you with choice and select.


I think brisket is some percentage the meat itself, but the greater percentage of how it turns out is your cooking process. Ever know a cook that could turn shoe leather in to a meal? I think its the same with brisket. You may have a great process going and that's going to make the ultimate difference.


Let's see what the brisket experts say. I'm just a dude that likes to cook outside with fire and smoke
 
Yeah I'm certainly no expert. I watched the Franklin PBS videos, and I've made less than 10 briskets so far. Some better than others but all so incredibly successful with the people I fed that I'm considered a star BBQer around here. Granted, it's Massachusetts so the competition is thin. But the Walmart version had 4 people that had recently been to Texas say it was better than anything they had in Texas.
 
frayedend said:
Yeah I'm certainly no expert. I watched the Franklin PBS videos, and I've made less than 10 briskets so far. Some better than others but all so incredibly successful with the people I fed that I'm considered a star BBQer around here. Granted, it's Massachusetts so the competition is thin. But the Walmart version had 4 people that had recently been to Texas say it was better than anything they had in Texas.
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I wasn't any good at all with brisket until after I bought Franklins book on smoking meat. A meat smoking manifesto he calls it. Cooking the same level of meat as before, but using Franklins process and attention to detail, and the results were astonishing. I think the process we use for brisket is the key and the meat itself is just one piece of the puzzle.
Add to that the tips and helps in the forum threads here and my brisket game is vastly improved. I think you'll continue to do great with Wally World if you've already found a way to make 'em taste great.
 
I’ve cooked “more than one” brisket. I’ve seen select that were pretty awesome. I pretty much use the same selection process. White fat, 10-13# no more than 14.9#. Nice round point- even flat that’s fairly thick (or can be made even.). I now have added looking for fat striating where visible. It’s pretty consistent but not an exact science. You can still get one that looks great but it’s not, opposite is true as well. If it gets close to what I have described above, regardless of USDA grade -and Im wanting brisket - USDA select—it’ll work.

That being said, a friend who was a comp cook years ago told me USDA Choice is the sweet spot on brisket. That’s mostly what I buy.
I am not surprised you had a good experience with select. There are good ones out there.
 
The marbling on the choice and prime grades is more noticeable than on a select grade.... but as long as you cook to tenderness by probing), not a time or a temperature you should be okay.
 
I always had good luck with Wally World briskets. Before Costco opened, that was the only place I could find them.
 
I can’t search that well on Tapatalk but we had a Select Brisket Throwdown last year. Lots of good cooks in that thread.
 
I've cooked hundreds of briskets. Sometimes I cook 8 or so for someone's party. They bring select, ungraded, choice, pre-trimmed but never any prime. They range from 8-15 pounds. Nobody can tell the difference. Makes an interesting cook for sure. If you can cook a select you can cook any of them. Heck for years I didn't even see a prime much less buy one.

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I just made a rule after killing about 12 selects. IF I am going to spend the time, Money and effort to make a good brisket it will be choice or above. Just a backyard guy here cooking for no more than 20 folks being Family and Friends.
 
I'm just a backyard guy, so definitely not a brisket expert, but I have noticed a difference between grades. The selects that I've done have generally turned out dry, whereas choice and prime are usually pleasantly juicy. This is cooking to probe tenderness, pit temp around 250F, with no wrap.
 
Monkey Uncle said:
I'm just a backyard guy, so definitely not a brisket expert, but I have noticed a difference between grades. The selects that I've done have generally turned out dry, whereas choice and prime are usually pleasantly juicy. This is cooking to probe tenderness, pit temp around 250F, with no wrap.
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I wrapped with foil for the select. I figure I want to keep as much moisture in as possible. If I have choice I use paper.
 
frayedend said:
I had seen choice brisket in this Walmart just a few weeks prior. That was the reason I stopped to look. All they had was Select the last few weeks.
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It may just be my bias, but my experience is that Wally Mart selects are some how “less than select.”


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kevinstaggs said:
It may just be my bias, but my experience is that Wally Mart selects are some how “less than select.”


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They'd be in big trouble if that were true. Can't legally grade meat that isn't USDA inspected.
 
frayedend said:
They'd be in big trouble if that were true. Can't legally grade meat that isn't USDA inspected.
Click to expand...

True, but there is a lot of variance within USDA grades.

I recently bought Costco choice NY strips that were darn close to prime in marbling and sinfully delicious.*Conversely, I bought a cryovac of choice grade tri tips from Rest. Depot last year that had very little marbling (even for a tri tip) and if not cooked right were tough to chew with a liver aftertaste.
 
Thanks for the reminder, Jim. You're now going to have a bit more competition snaring up those rt 117 Wally World briskets. I completely forgot they stock them.

:mrgreen:
 
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