Costco brisket flat  | 6 Things To Consider

Costco is an awesome store with great bulk discounted deals. You can buy a lot of meat for relatively cheap, at a great quality. For brisket, you have a wide variety of selection ranging from whole packer briskets to brisket flats. 

Let’s Dig In!

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Does Costco sell brisket flats?

Costco sells a variety of brisket flats in their stores, with different ranges in weight and marbling content. 

These pieces of meat are usually located in the meat section, where the rest of the whole packer style briskets are. In the meat bins, you will find either one of two briskets – a whole packer or flat cut of brisket.

Each of these cuts of brisket are different in weight, size, length, thickness, and marbling content. All of these different characteristics can present a different outcome when you finally cook them. In other words, not all briskets are the same, regardless of the type of brisket cut you get.

With flat cuts of brisket at Costco, you will usually find that they are well marbled and thick. Having thick Costco brisket flats are important because the more even the thickness, the more consistent of a cook you will get throughout the meat. If the brisket flat is only thick on one side but trails thin at the end, you will risk severely overcooking that thin portion compared to the thinner portion. 

On average, a brisket flat at Costco will run about 7-10 pounds in weight. That’s quite a lot of meat for essentially just half of a whole brisket packer.

Brisket flats are also a lot leaner in content than that of a whole packer brisket due to the flat being primarily just lean meat. With a packer brisket, you get both the flat and point, where the point is the more fatty side of any brisket you cook. 

When looking for a leaner type of brisket that is smaller in weight, go ahead and grab a couple brisket flats.

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Is Costco brisket good quality?

Costco brisket is excellent quality, ranging from choice to prime grade. Each of these types of brisket have both lean and marbled characteristics and will produce amazing results. 

To determine if a brisket at Costco is good quality or not, you will want to check the grade, the type of cut of brisket (brisket flat, point, or whole packer style), the thickness, and the weight.

The grade of a brisket will directly determine the amount of marbling present within the meat. This is evident by the USDA claiming to grade a prime brisket off the basis that there is a lot more marbling and fat content throughout the meat than that of choice grade. Essentially, a prime grade brisket will often times be fattier and perhaps even easier to cook than that of a choice grade brisket. 

That being said, I still like to grab a couple choice grade briskets every now and then for a leaner type of brisket that tastes great.

Costco also offers these two types of grades in brisket for their selection of brisket cuts including whole packer style and brisket flats. The grading scheme doesn’t change between a flat or a whole packer style brisket, just be aware that if you select only a brisket flat, you will only be getting the leaner part of the whole brisket.

Regarding thickness, select the brisket flat with the most even amount of thickness throughout. You don’t want to grab one that has an uneven profile, otherwise you won’t get a quality cooked brisket.

The weight also plays into the quality of the brisket and brisket flat because it will determine the overall cook time you will need to budget for. On average, you can estimate around 1 hour per pound of cook time, especially for smaller cuts like a brisket flat.

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Smoking Costco Brisket flat

Smoke a Costco brisket flat by simply seasoning it with kosher salt and black pepper, and promptly throwing it on your smoker grates. This is known as Texas Style, and will give you the purest results possible. No adulterants or any other bogus types of seasoning. Good barbecue only needs simple ingredients!

Since brisket flats are smaller in nature, you should only have to smoke it for no more than 7 – 8 hours if you are smoking at a decent temperature of 250 degrees. Anything less in temp, and you will certainly be smoking the flat for a longer amount of time, despite the smaller size.

They probe exactly the same as other whole packer style briskets do. When the internal temperature reaches around 200 degrees, start probing around and see if the device goes in like butter – or with no resistance. That is how you know it’s done!

Once the brisket flat is probe tender, pull it off the smoker and do not slice yet. Let it rest for a minimum of 3 – 4 hours in either a warming oven or ice cooler. This lets all the meat and moisture inside calm down and prevents you from losing tenderness.

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Costco Prime Brisket Flat 

You can buy a prime brisket flat that is located alongside the whole packer style prime briskets in the meat section. These are usually top picks for shoppers, so it’s best to get to the store upon opening to ensure you can get what you want. 

In addition to Costco selling prime brisket whole packers, they also sell prime grade brisket flats. These are simply special cut whole packers where the meat butchers separated the flat from the point. They are of excellent quality, and produce amazing barbecue when smoked properly. 

These are one of my favorite types of cuts to get, and are very simple to handle.

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Costco brisket flat price

Choice Grade Brisket flats at Costco price in at roughly .49/lb. This is slightly more than what you will see for a whole packer style brisket of the same quality, but can be a good deal if you just want a smaller and leaner type of brisket.

Here’s what the brisket flats will look like if you pick one up from Costco:

And more specifically, the price:

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What is the price of brisket at Costco

The price of brisket at Costco can vary depending on the grade and type of brisket cut. For brisket flats, expect to pay around $4.49/lb for choice grade. For Whole packer style briskets, expect to pay roughly $3.49/lb for prime grade.

There are different types of briskets at Costco – flat and whole packer style briskets. Each of these can vary greatly in price per pound and total price. 

Be sure to realize that for special cuts of brisket like a standalone flat, will generally be more expensive on a per pound basis, regardless of the grade you happen to select. In essence you are paying more for the labor of having the meat cut into a flat instead of a whole packer style brisket.