Brisket Cost Calculator

USDA reports a 69% cooking yield for beef brisket flat half braised, with a 65-76% range across n=20 samples. Meathead Goldwyn at Amazing Ribs cites approximately 1 pound starting raw weight per person and a 1/4-inch fat-cap trim target. These four data points, combined with a raw price per pound, are the inputs to the site's cost-per-serving calculation for whole packer and flat cuts.

| Item | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| USDA cooking yield, brisket flat half braised | 69% | ars.usda.gov |
| USDA cooking yield range, brisket flat half braised, n=20 | 65-76% | ars.usda.gov |
| Raw weight per person, brisket | approximately 1 pound | amazingribs.com |
| Fat-cap trim target | about 1/4 inch | amazingribs.com |

- USDA's cooking-yield figure is for the flat half braised preparation, not smoked whole packer. Smoking reduces yield further through bark formation and moisture loss beyond what the braised lab test captures; the difference is not separately published in static HTML by USDA. - The 65-76% range is from USDA's own n=20 sample spread, not a derived confidence interval. - The 1 pound per person figure is a starting raw weight, not a finished-plate weight; after cooking yield (~69%) and additional bark/trim losses, finished per-person weight is lower than 1 pound. - The 1/4-inch fat-cap trim is the upper bound at trim time; bark formation in the cooker renders additional surface fat during the cook. - This page does not cover retail brisket pricing itself; raw-price per pound is sourced separately by the site's price index, where methodology and matched-variant totals are published. - The interactive calculator on this page is site chrome; the table above is the sourced data. The calculator multiplies the raw price by USDA yield to produce cooked cost per pound, and divides by the per-person raw weight to produce raw cost per serving.

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