[ineedasername]

I own several Texas BBQ restaurants

You, sir, are a hero. mostly for the brisket though, not any of the other stuff. Which brings me to your point #1: You are correct, but leave off an important fact: No matter the grade or source, if properly cooked there is not such thing as a bad brisket. There are merely lower grades of amazing.

My primary complaint about brisket is that somewhere around '07/'08 people started realizing that a properly cooked brisket was the most underrated piece of meat on the market. This drove the prices form $2-$3/lb to north of $8/lb.

[schwartzworld]

Same thing happened to short rib, or flanken as my Grandma called it

[creaghpatr]

Short rib prices are out of control these days

[SaintGhurka]

And chicken wings. Once buffalo wings became popular, chicken wings went from scrap prices to premium.

[hinkley]

Gotta work on my bbq chicken thigh skills again this summer.

[ineedasername]

Chicken thighs seem like one of the only great deals left. Also corned-beef brisket around St. Patrick's day ($1.29/lb recently), large hams right after a few different holidays, and occasionally pork picnic roast, although they are harder to cook well.

[jghn]

The thing that always drove me crazy about this was that there wasn't a corresponding drop in prices for other cuts. I get the supply/demand curve driving these previously undesirable cuts up, but I would have thought it was a zero sum game.

[mensetmanusman]

Over half of Americans gained weight during the pandemic, diet is definitely not a zero sum game.

[smiley1437]

Not so much for bbq but oxtail used to be scrap meat, but the price is ridiculous now

[Wistar]

And, as a component in home-ground beef, irreplaceable due to the very high fat content.

My ground burger blend is equal amounts chuck (SRF wagyu if available), brisket (flank if I can't get brisket) and oxtail (very challenging to cut all the meat off the bone but absolutely worth the work). I use a Kitchen Aid grinder attachment and grind coarse.

Best burgers ever.

[ineedasername]

I've looked at the grinder attachment are was sure if 1) it worked very well-- mainly in terms hassle/speed 2) If it was too much of a hassle to clean between uses

[Wistar]

It does work well and it is not hard to clean. It is important to put the grinder, housing, disc and blade, in the freezer before use. Both the grinder and the meat need to be cold to prevent the fat from melting out of the meat due to the heat generated by the grinding.

I've not tried to grind more than two or three pounds at a time.

[hinkley]

Brisket is a traditional dish for a few different ethnic groups as well, isn’t it? For a long time I only heard of it in two contexts: Jewish cuisine and higher end bbq.

[Wistar]

The Texas BBQ lore I recall reading says that it was thrifty German immigrants who first came up with the low and slow method of cooking brisket in an effort to not waste an otherwise nearly inedible cut.

[matwood]

Same thing also happened to flank/skirt steak wrt to it becoming popular. I don't even buy it anymore.