USDA Choice vs Prime Brisket: Is there a Noticeable Difference?

I can say confidently that choice brisket has more than enough fat to keep the meat moist.

The main thing that separates Choice and Prime beef is marbling. Marbling also affects price and choice is always cheaper.

That’s not to say prime is bad – it’s great – if it’s cheap where you live, buy one.

Assuming a whole packer brisket weighs 8-20 lbs, you can expect to pay anywhere from:

• USDA Choice: $31.84 – $79.60
• USDA Prime: $39.84 – $99.60

The above uses Wild Fork Foods brisket prices.

So you’re essentially paying anywhere from $8-$20 more for brisket that won’t taste markedly better.

Note: Wild Fork Foods and similar online meat retailers will sell brisket that is either whole or trimmed.

Any time the meat is trimmed it will cost more per pound.

USDA Choice Brisket Example

While it can be hard to express over the internet the taste, tenderness, succulence, etc. of food, pictures tend to tell the story better.

This is a photo of a Choice Brisket I smoked from Wild Fork Foods:

If that isn’t enough juiciness for you, then upgrading to prime is probably worth it for you.

USDA Prime Brisket Example

I smoked this brisket July 4th, 2022.

Here is the cross section of the prime brisket:

To me, there isn’t much of a difference in terms of:

• Flavor output
• Juiciness
• Tenderness
• etc.

All factors that are used to separate choice and prime meat.

Both the briskets above were smoked the same way:

• Using my brisket rub
• On my weber kettle
• and were held overnight for 16 hours

Note: Some Choice Briskets are Better than Prime in Some Cases

This happens because of how meat is graded. They use the cross-section of the ribeye muscle (at the 12th/13th rib bone) and assign a grade.

So if the ribeye is graded choice, the rest of the cow is then “choice.”

Same goes for prime.

Meaning, some choice-graded meat can be better than prime due to this discrepency.

Whenever you pick a brisket, look at the marbling in the flat muscle:

What About Using a Select Grade Brisket?

Select grade brisket lacks the intramuscular fat that’s required for brisket to stay moist after a 12+ hour long cook.

Most would agree with me that select grade brisket has a tendency to even dry out.

In order to combat this, some folks have even gone to the extent of injecting select grade brisket with beef tallow to help compensate for the lack of fat.

This same reason is why I use it for beef jerky – it lacks fat.