Price hikes make prime-grade beef a rarity on Texas barbecue menus
One hallmark of the craft barbecue movement is the appearance of prime-grade brisket on menus.
If you visited a Texas barbecue joint before the mid-2000s, the grade of beef was rarely mentioned. Brisket was brisket. In most cases, this meant either choice or select grades. “Prime beef ” was a label reserved for upscale steakhouses. Then, around 2010, craftstyle joints began using the more expensive prime brisket. Increasing interest and demand for Texas barbecue, combined with the rise of premium beef brands like Creekstone, created the opportunity for pitmasters to feature beef that was previously associated only with upscale steakhouses.
A barbecue arms race ensued, with new pitmasters competing with long-established joints to emphasize their prime beef bona fides. Barbecue connoisseurs literally ate it up, with the “fatty” cut of highly marbled brisket becoming both a taste sensation as well as the most sought-after slice for the all-important Instagram photo.
Then came COVID-19 and the resulting supply chain issues and inflationary pressures. Previously, the wholesale cost of prime beef had allowed for barbecue joints to make a small profit while maintaining the associated prime beef status symbol.
Today, the wholesale cost of prime beef is bumping up against the highest price even the most dedicated barbecue connoisseurs will pay for a pound of brisket. Indeed, over the past year, many barbecue joints featuring prime brisket were mostly selling it at cost or even at a loss.
Needless to say, a business selling its most popular item at a loss is not sustainable. Something had to give. And that something is called “upper two-thirds choice grade” beef.
First, a quick recap of beef grades. The quality of beef is mainly graded by its marbling, i.e., fat content. Fat equals flavor. The more fat (marbling), the higher the grade.
There are three basic beef grades: select (with the least amount of marbling), choice (modest marbling) and prime (abundant marbling).
However, within the choice grade, there are three subdivisions known as “thirds.” This is because the vast majority of cattle fall within this grade, and a finer grading was needed in this category.
Per U.S. Department of Agriculture nomenclature, marbling grades for these subdivisions are: lower third is a “small” amount of marbling, middle third is “modest” and upper third is “moderate.”
The choice beef you buy in the supermarket cooler is usually lower third. But there is another option made available to restaurants and barbecue joints that is in the upper twothirds of the choice grade.
One of the “inside baseball” secrets of the barbecue business is that a typical diner cannot tell the difference between upper two-thirds choice and prime grade brisket. Indeed, upper two-thirds brisket is also usually highly marbled and flavorful.
In the past, this hasn’t mattered much because the price difference between the two grades was negligible. Recently, though, the price of upper two-thirds choice has dropped significantly lower than prime.
It’s enough of a price difference that even the best craft barbecue joints are making the switch.
“It saves me about $12,000 a month,” says Russell Roegels of Roegels Barbecue Co. On a recent visit, I found his upper two-thirds choice brisket to be comparable to prime-grade options at other joints.
Undoubtedly, those other joints may stick with prime grade, hoping for the price to come down enough to allow for some profitability. If not, upper two-thirds choice grade brisket is an option in these uncertain times in the beef industry.