Buying guide · Shoulder vs chest

Chuck roast vs brisket

Chuck roast can replace brisket in a braise or a pot roast, but the two are not interchangeable everywhere: chuck is a mix of shoulder muscles with more marbling that pulls apart, while brisket is two long chest muscles that slice neatly and take the long smoke of Texas barbecue. Both are hard-working cuts full of collagen, and both need hours of low heat to turn tender.

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Also known as: Chuck roast (nạc vai) và brisket (ức bò)Last reviewed Nov. 2, 20266 sources

Where does each one come from?

Both come from the forequarter. The chuck roast is cut from the chuck, the neck and shoulder over the first five ribs. It is made of many muscles that move the head and carry the animal's weight, separated by seams of fat and connective tissue. Sold as a 7-bone, blade, arm or chuck roll roast, it is the cut most often used for pot roast.

Brisket is the boneless lower chest, ahead of the plate and behind the foreshank. It is two pectoral muscles: the lean, even flat and the thicker, fattier point on top of it, joined by a layer of fat. These muscles hold up a standing animal of 500–600 kg / 1,102–1,323 lb, which is why they are so rich in collagen.

How do they compare side by side?

The main differences are the number of muscles, the size of the piece and how each one behaves when it is sliced.

How is each one cooked?

The principle is the same. Collagen starts to shrink at about 60 °C / 140 °F, squeezing out juice, and only turns into gelatin with time at higher temperatures. Both cuts are therefore taken well past “well done”, to roughly 90–96 °C / 194–205 °F, and the real test is tenderness, not the number. The mechanism is explained in Braising.

A chuck roast is browned, then braised covered with a little liquid that comes about a third of the way up the meat, in an oven at 150–160 °C / 300–320 °F for 3–4 hours for a 1.5–2 kg / 3.3–4.4 lb piece. That is the American pot roast. Brisket can be braised the same way, as in Jewish home cooking with onions, but its home is the pit: the whole packer, seasoned with salt and pepper, smoked for 10–16 hours until the internal temperature reaches about 93–96 °C / 200–205 °F. See Texas brisket and Smoking.

Brisket is also the classic cut for curing: brined and simmered it is corned beef or salt beef; brined, peppered and smoked it is pastrami.

Which one slices, and which one pulls apart?

Brisket is built to be sliced. The flat has a clear grain, and cut across the fibers it holds together in neat slices; the point is usually separated and sliced on its own, or cubed for burnt ends.

Chuck is built to fall apart. Its many muscles and seams of collagen and fat break into chunks and strands, which suits shredded beef, stews and sauces. Stopping earlier, at about 85–90 °C / 185–194 °F, gives chuck slices that hold their shape, but they are less even than a slice of brisket flat.

When can chuck roast stand in for brisket?

In any moist braise where the meat will be pulled or served in chunks: pot roast, stews, shredded beef for sandwiches or tacos. Chuck is often called “poor man's brisket” for this reason; it has similar collagen and more marbling than the flat.

It is a weaker substitute where the brisket's shape matters: a long Texas-style smoke with a thick bark, uniform slices for a plate, or corned beef and pastrami, which are traditionally made from brisket. Going the other way, brisket can replace chuck in a pot roast, though the lean flat dries out more easily than a well-marbled chuck.

What to ask for at the counter

For a pot roast, ask for chuck roast, 7-bone roast or blade roast; in Spanish it is aguja in Argentina and Spain and diezmillo in Mexico, and in Vietnam nạc vai. For brisket, ask whether you want the whole packer (IMPS 120), the flat alone (120A) or the point alone (120B). In Spanish it is pecho; in Vietnam the fatty part sliced for phở is gầu.

Buy more than the cooked weight you want to serve: both lose a large share of their raw weight in a long cook, through rendered fat and evaporated water.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

6

1. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications: Fresh Beef Series 100. Washington, DC, 2014. www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IMPS_100_Fresh_Beef%5B1%5D.pdf
2. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
3. AUS-MEAT Limited. Handbook of Australian Meat, 7th ed. (International Red Meat Manual). Brisbane, 2005. www.ausmeat.com.au
4. Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (UK). Beef Meat Purchasing Guide. Kenilworth, 2016. ahdb.org.uk
5. Huerta-Leidenz, Nelson. International Nomenclature Guide of Beef Cuts for the U.S.A. and Other Countries Targeted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Denver: U.S. Meat Export Federation, 2013. www.usa-beef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/1064.GUIDE_beef-cuts_ingl%C3%A9s_09oct13.pdf
6. Franklin, Aaron; Mackay, Jordan. Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2015.