Brisket in Seattle

[richards1052]

If you love brisket or buy kosher meat and live in Seattle I hope you can help me out of a jam. My wife makes the meanest brisket you've ever tasted (no, sorry but you're not invited to our High Holiday feast this yr but I can provide the recipe). But one of the keys is finding the tenderest flank steak meat available.

We used to buy kosher meat at QFC. But last yr, we bought their kosher brisket & it was so tough it was almost shoe leather. I'm kinda wondering whether after the Kroger takeover they switched kosher meat vendors.

So the question is where can you find tender brisket (not prepared, but in raw form) in Seattle?

[bkaplan]

If you want kosher try Albertsons on mercer island. Personally I choose the Don & Joe's in Pike Place or Whole Foods.

-Barry

[richards1052]

If you want kosher try Albertsons on mercer island. Personally I choose the Don & Joe's in Pike Place or Whole Foods.

-Barry

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I didn't make myself clear above & apologize for that. I mentioned kosher meat not because I keep kosher, but rather because my wife has found that kosher flank steak makes much more tender brisket than non-kosher. Don't know why, it just does. At least that's been her experience.

I personally love Don & Joe's & shop there regularly, but we tried their flank steak one year & it just didn't measure up to the old QFC kosher flank steak. I guess I could give Whole Foods a try since I always find their meat terrific.

Edited September 8, 2006 by richards1052 (log)

[DRColby]

I noticed both flank steak and flat brisket in Costco yesterday; we like the flank, haven't tried the brisket but in general we find Costco's meat to be quite good. (I buy my brisket from a Mexican butcher in Buien).

Dave

[tsquare]

Flank steak and brisket are two very different cuts - that could be part of the reason you aren't getting what you want. Typically, brisket is cooked a long time and flank is stir fried or seared and served rare.

[rmockler]

Flank steak and brisket are two very different cuts - that could be part of the reason you aren't getting what you want. Typically, brisket is cooked a long time and flank is stir fried or seared and served rare.

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Indeed, from different parts of the animal as I understand it -- from below the "short loin" in the back (flank) and from essentially the front of the chest or breast in the front (brisket), at least so says my handy "Cutting Up in the Kitchen." Certainly very different cuts to cook as I've experienced it. Can't imagine that slow-cooking flank steak will get you anything approaching the lusciousness of brisket.

Other sourcing options to consider: Skagit River Ranch, which sells at Farmer's markets. Haven't had their brisket, but did have a flank a year or two ago and remember it being delicious. Grass-fed, so likely less fat than you're used to, but delicious meat usually, and from the good guys.

[Jaymes]

...and flank is stir fried or seared and served rare.

Or prepared and served as London Broil. Or scored and marinated and sliced and grilled as bulgogi.

Or wrapped around something, then sliced into pinwheels and stuck upon skewers and marinated and barbecued. My personal favorite.

ETA: - Upon further reflection, what I'd advise you to do is to go to the store and buy both a brisket and a flank steak, take them home, look them over to make note of the differences, and then have your wife prepare each according to her recipe and/or the advice given here.

Should make it very clear which it is you're fondest of.

And I could be wrong (often am), and I'm not Jewish, but I think I've read somewhere that in addition to the butchering, some cuts of beef are not kosher because they come from the hind end of the animal (like flank), rather than the front (like brisket). If that's the case (and I repeat I don't know and am just speculating), maybe there isn't such a thing as kosher flank steak?

Here's more info: Beef

Edited September 8, 2006 by Jaymes (log)

[cburnsi]

If you love brisket or buy kosher meat and live in Seattle I hope you can help me out of a jam.  My wife makes the meanest brisket you've ever tasted (no, sorry but you're not invited to our High Holiday feast this yr but I can provide the recipe).  But one of the keys is finding the tenderest flank steak meat available.

We used to buy kosher meat at QFC.  But last yr, we bought their kosher brisket & it was so tough it was almost shoe leather.  I'm kinda wondering whether after the Kroger takeover they switched kosher meat vendors.

So the question is where can you find tender brisket (not prepared, but in raw form) in Seattle?

←

I've always had good luck with brisket at A&J meats on Queen Anne Ave, plus their peppered bacon is fabulous

cburnsi

[richards1052]

Again, I apologize for confusing people by being imprecise. We make brisket & buy brisket. I mistakenly thought flank & brisket were one & the same cut. Shows how little I know about cuts of meat. But it's brisket I'm talking about & that's what we buy.

Skagit Valley & A&J's are really good suggestions. I shop at Columbia City Market ea. wk. & I can talk to them there about brisket.

[Cesar's Ghost]

Well, if you're shopping in Columbia City, go to Bob's. He's got whole untrimmed briskets at a great price, and they're delicious. I corn mine.

[MGLloyd]

Market House Meats, at Minor and Howell next to I-5 in downtown Seattle, makes possibly the best corned beef and pastrami in the area. I don't know if they would ever sell the raw brisket, but it may be worth a call.

[Adiabatic]

I've mail ordered brisket from these guys:

http://www.nimanranch.com/

Also Don and Joes in the Market.

[rlibkind]

Market House Meats, at Minor and Howell next to I-5 in downtown Seattle, makes possibly the best corned beef and pastrami in the area.  I don't know if they would ever sell the raw brisket, but it may be worth a call.

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The best corned beef is made from brisket. The best pastrami is made from navel, which, in addition to being very hard to find, is great for pastrami, okay for hamburger (where most of it goes), useless for just about anything else.

[jminion]

MJ Meats and Seafood sale American Kobe brisket by the case, normally 2 brisket per case, aprox 30 pounds. It runs about $2.70 a pound. MJ's is in Lynnwood. You can also get Kurobuta pork from them also.

Jim

[BaconFat]

I get a lot of meats from Cash & Carry; their prices are great. They have packers-cuts of brisket, pork butts/shoulders, beef clods, whole NY strips, Rib Eyes, etc. I'm pretty sure they'll order for you as well.

If your brisket was tough, it didn't cook long enough. You also need to cut it against the grain to help with the tenderness.

Have fun.

[bkaplan]

Woops... should have subscribed.

If you want to buy brisket from Don & Joes, but prefer that "kosher" flavor you can try just kashering it (brining) yourself. Essentially put lots of kosher salt on it and leave it in the fridge for a few days. Wash the salt off before using it. From what I am told this is the reason why kosher salt is not iodized and chunky, you can wash it off easily.

Also kosher beef can be pretty much everything, the general rule on kosher is you want to have as little blood as possible. This has pretty much been translated into anything which is near the sciatica nerve gets shipped to a non-kosher meat place as removing the sciatica without puncturing it is not easy (from what I am told). In Israel you can get kosher filet mignon, but around here it is pretty hard. Brisket, flank, london broil, skirt, are all easy to get kosher. The salting of the meat is to remove excess blood. For the extra credit there is also a more kosher version of beef called "glatt" for this they inspect the cow more for disease. I think they even fill the lungs with water to look for blemishes.

Edited September 16, 2006 by bkaplan (log)

[LAZ]

Also kosher beef can be pretty much everything, the general rule on kosher is you want to have as little blood as possible. This has pretty much been translated into anything which is near the sciatica nerve gets shipped to a non-kosher meat place as removing the sciatica without puncturing it is not easy (from what I am told). In Israel you can get kosher filet mignon, but around here it is pretty hard. Brisket, flank, london broil, skirt, are all easy to get kosher.

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I'm not from the Seattle, but I'd be very surprised if you can buy real kosher flank steak. Most kosher butchers in the United States do not sell meat from the hindquarters such as flank steak/London broil, which, conventionally is a cut from below the loin, any more than they sell filet mignon.

Some people may confuse "flank steak" with flanken, which are short ribs. And a kosher butcher sometimes calls completely different cuts of meat "London broil." (In fact, if you look here, you can see a kosher butcher offering both "flank steak" and "London broil," but if you click on the close-ups, you can see that a) they aren't the same cut of meat and b) neither is the same cut a nonkosher butcher would call "flank steak." I think that these are actually chuck steaks.)

[Pam R]

Sometimes a skirt steak is sold as a flank steak. But it's a skirt steak.

Neither of which are brisket.

[Jensen]

I'm still looking through other posts but how do people prepare their brisket? I've just received my first order from Tawanda Farms in NorCal. For some reason, I ordered a brisket (I think I'd seen a mention of a recipe somewhere...the location of which I've promptly forgotten, of course) and now I'm wondering how I should prepare it!

[tamiam]

Sorry that I had not noticed this thread before the high holidays, but the classic Seattle brisket vendor is Market House Meats. There is no other.

Been getting them there since I was a kid. They will hand you a recipe for corned beef with your purchase., and it is a good one Ever since the Jewish proprietor married an Asian woman, and she now runs the day to day operations, the recipe changed to include marinating in a can of Coke. Strange, but it does tenderize.

Jensen--I am stuck in a hotel and going by memory, but you mix yellow mustard (no fancy stuff) and brown sugar, peppercorns if you like, schmear the meat, marinate, cook low and slow in a foil covered pan with the can of Coke as braising liquid.