Nothing hits the spot like a flavorful slice of corned beef.
Most people believe cooking corned beef is the hard part. But knowing where to buy top-quality corned beef is just as hard, if not harder, than cooking corned beef.
However, before I tell you where to buy corned beef, let’s talk about what corned beef is.
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What Is Corned Beef?
Corned beef is usually fabricated from brisket. The difference is that the brisket is cured with salt as well as spices such as juniper berries, peppercorns, coriander, bay leaves, and mustard seeds which turns it into corned beef.
There is no corn in corned beef. It actually refers to the size of the salt grains used to cure the corned beef.
The salt grains are about the size of corn kernels.
Since the corned beef is cured, it doesn’t actually taste like brisket or the beef you are used to consuming
. Cooked corned beef has a delicate, soft consistency, while the meat maintains its pinkish-reddish hue throughout the cooking process.
In regard to the flavor, corned beef has a salty yet sweet, spicy, sour taste that complements corned beef’s natural meaty flavor.
Is Corned Beef Expensive?
It’s only natural to wonder if corned beef is expensive since we are talking about where to buy corned beef.
In some circumstances, corned beef can be costly, but in other cases, corned beef can be cheap.
Even though corned beef will be more expensive than top round steak, most grocery stores sell corned beef on sale, so it is cheap in that regard.
What To Look for When Buying Corned Beef?
When purchasing corned beef, always buy your corned beef from your butcher is possible.
Although there’s nothing wrong with purchasing pre-packaged corned beef, you know you will always get a quality piece of beef.
If you end up buying pre-packaged corned beef, look for a high-quality piece of corned beef. The corned beef should be deep red in color.
If the corned beef has grey splotches, do not purchase it. Gray patches are a sign that the corned beef has been sitting in the fridge too long.
The corned beef should have a fat capo over the meat. The fat cap should be white and not yellow.
In addition to this, consider how much meat per person when buying corned beef since it shrinks quite a bit as it cooks.
Where To Buy Corned Beef
Sourcing quality corned beef is more complicated than tossing the first piece of meat into your cart.
Luckily, I’ve taken the guesswork out of buying corned beef and given you a list of corned beef suppliers.
Sam’s Club
If you’ve got a Sam’s club in your neighborhood, you can drive to their store and purchase corned beef.
They carry a premium, flat-cut Angus beef brisket that’s graded USDA choice or higher.
Each corned beef is produced from hand-trimmed beef briskets and its vacuum packages with a vacuum sealer to preserve its freshness.
Sam’s club corned beef also comes with a spice packet, so you do not need to add additional seasoning when cooking it.
Lobels of New York
Lobel’s has a physical store that you can visit, but you can also purchase your corned beef online. Labels have been around for more than 20 years, so they must be doing something right.
One of Lobel’s main claims is that they capture the essence of New York-style deli corned beef.
They use USDA Prime certified beef brisket to produce corned beef. In addition to this, they only use cattle that have been sold a diet of corn to produce corned beef.
They even have cooking instructions on how to prepare corned beef.
In addition to this, they also carry several different sizes of corned beef, including a whole corned beef brisket ranging from 13-15 pounds, first-cut corned beef ranging from 6-8 pounds, and a half-first cut corned beef ranging from 3-4 pounds.
Whittingham Meats
Whittingham Meats was founded in 1975 and are dedicated to producing quality meats. They carry 12–15-pound corned beef.
On average, the cost of a 12-pound corned beef is $71.95, and a 15-pound brisket will cost about $102.15.
They use USDA inspected brisket to make corned beef. Their curing agents consist of a secret family recipe.
James Whelan Butchers
James Whelan Butchers is a brand that can be trusted since they source their grass-fed beef from their very own farm and sell it in their physical and online stores.
The corned beef is more of a traditional style corned beef.
James Whelan Butchers have even been featured on TV chef Rick Stein’s Food Heroes show and received rave reviews from this TV personality.
Furthermore, James Whelan butchers also provide you with several corned beef recipes, such as corned beef and parsnip mash.
So, you don’t have to sift through a million pages on the internet to find the perfect corned beef recipe.
They carry 2 lb., 3 lb., and 4 lb. corned beef, and the average price for corned beef is about €12.88.
Snake River Farms
Founded by Robert Rebholtz Sr., Snake River Farms was one of the few that bred Wagyu with top-quality cattle in the late 1980s.
As a result, Snake river farms ended up with American Wagyu black grade corned beef.
If you know anything about Wagyu, you know that it has a healthy amount of marbling.
Therefore, snake river farms, Wagyu corned beef contains a rich amount of marbling which takes the corned beef to the next level.
Unfortunately, since it is Wagyu beef, it costs more than corned beef that’s fabricated from regular cattle.
In addition to this, the average size of their corned beef is 2.5 pounds.
Therefore, if you’ve got a tight budget, $75 for a 2.5 lb. corned beef may not be the best idea.
Final Thoughts
Knowing where to buy quality corned beef is important. If you prepare low-quality corned beef, it will be reflected in the final product.
Luckily now that you know where to buy corned beef, you will never have to worry about low-quality corned beef again.
You might also be interested in the following:
- Where To Buy Beef Brisket
- Where To Buy Beef Liver
- Where To Buy Beef Ribs
- Where To Buy Pork Belly
- Where To Buy Beef Tongue
- Where To Buy Beef Shank
- Where To Buy Beef Cheeks
I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.