SRF "gold" wagyu brisket question

For my one and only competition, I cooked one SRF black brisket and one prime brisket from Costco as a backup. I injected, rubbed, and cooked identically. I had never done them side by side and there was a night and day difference in flavor between the two. I cant see myself not using wagyu the next competition, theres just too big a flavor difference not to IMO.

sudsandswine said:

For my one and only competition, I cooked one SRF black brisket and one prime brisket from Costco as a backup. I injected, rubbed, and cooked identically. I had never done them side by side and there was a night and day difference in flavor between the two. I cant see myself not using wagyu the next competition, theres just too big a flavor difference not to IMO.

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One comp last year, we were trimming up our SRF black, and decided the flat was just way too thin. We didn't want to risk it, but it was also our last SRF brisket, and the next order hadn't arrived yet. We stopped at Costco to get a prime, picked one with a nice, thick flat. It was beautiful. Cooked them both up, and then the SRF was so much better it wasn't even a contest. We turned that in, and decided we'd never do that again, as we had just wasted the $45.

Damn, you all are talking me into the SRF craze... We've been able to finish top half or very close with Angus choice consistently (which we're happy about having only competed in 4 KCBS events), but always said we wanted to just get better/more consistent at cooking that before we went to SRF. I feel like I need to do a side by side one day.

Pedro7 said:

Damn, you all are talking me into the SRF craze... We've been able to finish top half or very close with Angus choice consistently (which we're happy about having only competed in 5 KCBS events), but always said we wanted to just get better/more consistent at cooking that before we went to SRF. I feel like I need to do a side by side one day.

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I would get super confident with a choice/prime first. If you screw up a $45 brisket, you still have bad brisket, but you also have $100+ in your pocket.

That being said, it's been great for our team. We just started cooking them last year (according to FB, the first order came in today, last year), and our results improved immediately.

midwest_kc said:

I would get super confident with a choice/prime first. If you screw up a $45 brisket, you still have bad brisket, but you also have $100+ in your pocket.

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Our thoughts exactly...SRF is a little rich for our blood at the moment anyway. I can buy 4-5 choices for the price of a Gold.

I'm not consistent on brisket yet, but given all the time and money invested in a competition, I would still rather spend the extra on Waygu and at least have a chance. I know if it goes right, I can turn in something good enough for a nice result.

ClaytonSmoke said:

I'm not consistent on brisket yet, but given all the time and money invested in a competition, I would still rather spend the extra on Waygu and at least have a chance. I know if it goes right, I can turn in something good enough for a nice result.

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Very well put. If you cook a perfect choice or prime around here you will probably come in 15-20th behind the 14 people that turned in a perfect SRF.

Are SRF golds or blacks pre-aged when delivered?

JS-TX said:

Are SRF golds or blacks pre-aged when delivered?

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it's either a 28 or 23 day age, I can't remember.

bpeyton89 said:

it's either a 28 or 23 day age, I can't remember.

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28 days. We used to wet age them before SRF moved to their new warehouse, because they had supply problems and sometimes shipped them before they hit 28 days. Now they are always aged that much, so it takes the guesswork out of it. You can wet age them more, but I don't think they need it.

I've said it many times...SRF is worth it IF you can cook a good brisket. If you are still learning, use a good quality choice until you can get a top 10 call with it. If you aren't cooking it correctly, wagyu is not a magic bullet that is going to make you win. Save the money and use it to take a class from a quality team. If you can consistently cook a choice brisket and get into the top 20% of the field, SRF might help you move up.

Burnt at Both Endz said:

My brisket scores got more consistent and better when I started leaving BE's out of the box.

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Smokin' Hoggz took 1st place in Plymouth, MA this year using only burnt ends. Bill didn't set out to do that, just made a judgement call during boxing about what was the best product he could put in the box.

I've done well with flat only when I didn't like the way the burnt ends came out. Only put in what's good.

See his post about it here: https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260966

CBQ said:

28 days. We used to wet age them before SRF moved to their new warehouse, because they had supply problems and sometimes shipped them before they hit 28 days. Now they are always aged that much, so it takes the guesswork out of it. You can wet age them more, but I don't think they need it.

I've said it many times...SRF is worth it IF you can cook a good brisket. If you are still learning, use a good quality choice until you can get a top 10 call with it. If you aren't cooking it correctly, wagyu is not a magic bullet that is going to make you win. Save the money and use it to take a class from a quality team. If you can consistently cook a choice brisket and get into the top 20% of the field, SRF might help you move up.

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I agree with what you are saying to an extent...but in a lot of comps more than 20% of the field is cooking SRF and cooking them well.

pharp said:

Very well put. If you cook a perfect choice or prime around here you will probably come in 15-20th behind the 14 people that turned in a perfect SRF.

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Ok, weekend update. Third time cooking brisket in a KCBS comp and 4th place with Waygu gold. Got a nice check that more than covered the difference between the last few Waygu's I cooked vs prime and nothing to show for it. SRF Gold from now on, no doubt, even if I bomb it on my next cook.

Wager said:

I switched to golds for the first 3 comps this year and didn’t see any difference from the blacks. I’m looking around at different providers now in the hopes of finding what I assumed golds were supposed to be. For me they haven’t been worth the extra money. Maybe I’m not a big enough name to get the good stuff?

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Hey there I'm no sure what you assumed the golds were supposed to be but I can promise you that they are graded and sorted accordingly on our part. If there is ever a time you feel a brisket is not what it should be we are more than happy to discuss it. We stand behind our product as well as our service. With regard to you being a big enough name to get the good stuff. It doesn't matter if you order one brisket or 10,000 briskets. If you are number one in the country or have never cooked a contest in you life. Our briskets are shipped out of a warehouse in Kansas City, picked first in first out, and shipped out all over the country. Those folks picking the products don't see who they are shipping them to, they pick the items on the order, and they ship them out. We don't play favorites, we don't "handpick" for certain teams. We do however provide the most consistent, winninest brisket out there and area proud to do so.

If you ever need further assistance with an order or have anything you'd like to chat about don't hesitate to let us know, that's why we're here!

rorkin said:

Either or both.. neither is mandatory.
Technically an entry completely of burnt ends should not be downgraded.
It should be scored ONLY on appearance taste and tenderness

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What's confusing to me is that there is a kcbs standard for a pull test is there not?

How does a pull test work of its chopped or cubed?

Cooked nothing but SRF black 14-16lb briskets this year. The KC BBQ store has them for an unbeatable price. Results, when I don't screw it up our team gets brisket calls. out of 8 contests we've gotten 4 top 10 calls. Took me a while to figure out that when I think it's done, it needs 30 more minutes. The product is as consistent as can be.

Biggest problem with waygu in my opinion is that the texture is looser. Flavor is awesome, but sometimes the texture just isn't right. Whatever brisket you cook, you've got to cook it right, then cut it right and make it look good in the box. You can do this with any brisket on any given Saturday!