I did a brisket for the first time in December 2025. I did a smoked chicken and a brisket at the same time.
I had a hard time finding a brisket. Sprouts, Lucky’s, didn’t have them.
I had placed an online order for Safeway, but they called and said they don’t carry them.
I then went to Whole Foods. They had it. But the butcher said they only carry it seasonally, mostly for the Jewish holidays.
Where else can I get it? I don’t want a full. I want a quarter or less.
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Schuab’s Deli in Palo Alto. They can do a quarter. But they also seem expensive, at $24 / lb. That’s double the price of Whole Foods.
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Custom Cut Butcher in San Jose. This was recommended to me. But they only sell whole briskets, which is 14 lbs.
Where else can I go, preferably near Fremont, Milpitas, Union City, or Hayward?
I can do Schuab’s if that’s really recommended. I’ve liked other things I’ve bought from them over the years.
Other questions:
- When smoking a chicken, I’ve realized I like doing a zero seasoning approach. That’s been the new way to do it for me, and it brings out the smoke flavor.
Can the same thing be applied to a brisket?
- Is it ok to cut the brisket into smaller pieces?
I had wanted to do the chicken and brisket both on the top rack of my Weber Smokey Mountain.
However, the lid wouldn’t fully close.
So I had to take the chicken off; take the brisket off; move the brisket to the lower rack; put the chicken on the top rack.
When the chicken was done, I transferred the brisket to the top rack.
I realized how hard it is to move meat that heavy, between the racks. I want to avoid this next time.
I’m thinking if I could have cut it into two pieces, I could have fit both the chicken and the brisket on the top rack. I need to measure the dimensions I want, for next time.
So would either cutting it into two pieces, or having the butcher cut the dimensions that would allow me to fit both the chicken and the brisket on the top rack, be ok?
