Mission Hill Burnt Ends from Costco reviewed

A random ramble through the aisles of Costco always turns up something interesting and new. My latest find – this eye catching BBQ product. The packaging is all red and black and flames – and big pieces of smoked brisket.

Burnt ends are a particular speciality of certain BBQ restaurants, often being a limited dish on the menu at certain times of the week; coming as they do from a small part of the brisket end.

Cooking: The brisket is already cooked (duh) so all you’re really doing is reheating. I microwaved on night one, then on subsequent days I found myself reheating in the pan. I actually found the latter a little better, adding a little water as I heated the meat (shredding with a fork too) resulted in a better texture. This might sound like heresy to Q-experts.

Taste and texture: These brisket bites erupt with billowing plumes of smoke flavor – once heated through your whole house will be filled with their thick and dense aroma. This might be a good or bad thing. Definitely check with the rest of the household. These are big, bold and go full throttle in this regards.

The underlying brisket is lost somewhat by all that smoke, but I found the general taste enjoyable. That said I should note the salt levels are very high. All that smoke and sodium starts to wear on the palate after a bit. Less is more here.

I found the texture variable. There’s for sure a thick crisp bark on the exterior, but the initial microwaving resulted in relatively chewy and sinewy texture. The next days pan fry and saute in a little water was much better, and produced more tender meat.

The accompanying BBQ sauce surprised me, in that it wasn’t an unreasonable sugar bomb, like most are. A gentle sweetness was matched by some back of throat heat and a tangy fruity finish.

Verdict: I’m slightly torn on these. If you have a great BBQ shop in your area, or are a mean pit master yourself – you won’t be impressed. It’s worth remembering your buying pre-smoked, pre-packaged meat. Then you’re reheating it at home. This isn’t world class BBQ fresh from the smoker. In the context of what it is though – quick, easy and fun – it works, and it’s a BBQ meat you don’t often see on shelves (pulled pork being the ubiquitous BBQ in stores).

For the price of just over $16 I managed to make three decent sized meals that were enjoyable and different – though I probably wouldn’t serve them up to a BBQ-fanatic. The packaging reckons you can make four, I wouldn’t argue with that.

What else is out there: if you’re looking to bring the BBQ to your home, I recently discovered Southside Market & BBQ out of Texas. Here’s some of their rope sausage I tasted – they also offer a range of smoked meats delivered to your door too. In the grocery store my current favorite is the Niman Ranch pulled pork product.

More thoughts: scroll to the bottom of the page to see what other shoppers thought of the product. The general consensus is I was too kind on this one.

Here’s the product in pictures:

Mission Hill Burnt Ends in the box
Mission Hill Burnt Ends in the box
Mission Hill Burnt Ends cooked
Mission Hill Burnt Ends cooked
Mission Hill Burnt Ends close up
Mission Hill Burnt Ends close up
Mission Hill Burnt Ends with beans, hush puppies and coleslaw
Mission Hill Burnt Ends with beans, hush puppies and coleslaw
Mission Hill Burnt Ends with beans, hush puppies and coleslaw
Mission Hill Burnt Ends with beans, hush puppies and coleslaw
Mission Hill Burnt Ends close up
Mission Hill Burnt Ends close up

Mission Hill Burnt Ends cooking and nutrition

Mission Hill Burnt Ends packaging
Mission Hill Burnt Ends packaging
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64 thoughts on “Mission Hill Burnt Ends from Costco reviewed”

  1. Hi. I’m wondering what the “crust” ion the burnt ends consists of. The nutrition information includes the use of the sauce, correct? Do you know the nutrition information of the burnt ends without the sauce? Thanks!

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  2. Terrible….Absolutely Terrible…. I’ve lived in Texas. Burnt Ends should be very moist, soft, easy to cut, and melt in your mouth. These are hard, chewy, and ya need a chainsaw to cut through them. Never buy again….!!!!!

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    • Agreed Cliff. I’ve had a lot of burnt ends from restaurants and they’re vastly superior. I don’t think any BBQ aficionado will like these. I did find that reheated in the pan with some water softened them up, in that regards as a stuffing in a burrito, taco, etc – to add some smoky flavor – they were ok. As a standalone burnt end though, nope, quite poor.

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      • My problem with them was more with the amount of fat. My box weighed 1.5 lbs. When I finished I had just under half as uneatable fat.

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        • We picked these up today and then I read these reviews. I have to say ours had a fair amount of fat in quite a few bites, the texture wasn’t really like “real” burnt ends, and it was fairly expensive. All in all we won’t buy this again. It was mostly edible though. Wife liked it but she did spit out a few pure-fat bites.

          Maybe not… not up to Costco’s quality standard and it’s definitely not a bargain.

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        • Exactly the same here. You can’t see the fat through the burnt sides and sauce, then you get a mouthful (literally) of fat. Came with about 6 in the box and the dogs got the equivalent of 3. Hard to enjoy the three we ate because after the first bite you’re anticipating the fat rather than the flavor.

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      • you are right, their stuff is garbage. coted to look like they burn it, but full full of un rendered fat., they never saw the heat of a BBQ flame. I’ve made burn ends myself and these are NOT them

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    • I got them last week. So juicy and moist. Hands down better than any of the four BBQ joints in town. I live in Washington not far from Seattle. I will be getting more.

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  3. You are being too kind. This product is a rip off. Poor quality meat, lots of chunks of fat, and unbelievably salty.

    Pass on this one.

    John

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  4. This product is SO FATTY!!! You get 7 pieces of meat in a container and 2 of them are solid fat…nothing can be salvaged. They taste great, but definitely are not worth the money.

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  5. I’m very disappointed in this product due to the fact that there were long hairs wrapped around the first bite I took!!!!

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    • Had a Sample at Cosco’s. Finally
      Somebody figured out how to process and package Store bought Burnt Ends – NOT – I Ate that night or should I say the Fat content caused my Teeth to bounce like a Soft Rubber Ball. More Fat than Meat. TOTAL WASTE OF $ and Disappointed that Cosco sold this product

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  6. Well I must say I am disappointed with this product. What was edible was good: however, when I pay $15 for this amount of meat, I expect EVERY bite to be edible. Instead, I found probably 20% of it was mushy fat! This was the first – and definitely the last – time I’ll buy this product. 🙁

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  7. Agree with these other reviews. How they got soild gristle to look like actual meat is a neat trick. It’s like every strand of meat fiber had it’s own personal gristle sheath. Stay far away. But, it they would market the BBQ sauce, i’d buy that. It was actually pretty good. Not enough to save these fat bombs though.

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  8. I just paid $11.99/pound for this. Discovered the sauce packet weighs 8 oz. So I’m paying $6.00 for the sauce. This rip off is going right back to Costco. Shame on them for this deceptive product. A real rip off.

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    • I agree. I wish I saw your review before I bought it. Costco should not have labeled this having a price/pound that includes the sauce.

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  9. Disgusting. Just like everyone else has said. Tough. Chewy. Mostly fat. I’ve never taken a good product back to Costco, but I’m making an exception here. I wouldn’t feed to a stray dog.

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  10. Very disappointed. Have been to many BBQ restaurants all over the country. Have had very delicious burnt ends. The meat was very very dense. Difficult to cut.
    Paid $19.66. Major rip off.
    Will never buy again AND will tell my friends about my experience.

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  11. Agree with others. Too much salt. lousy meat. WAY over-priced. They didn’t bother to tell us that the sauce pouch was under the meat pouch. Wonder how many microwave explosions have occurred if someone didn’t remove the pouch first. Costco should be ashamed.

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  12. I disagree with you guys. I ate this product two different times and prepared them differently each time. First time I put them in a pan with the sauce and heated them up. I was very disappointed with the results. That’s a NO.
    The second time I heated the burnt ends up in a pan, slowly on low heat, with a little oil (as instructed on the package). I cut the larger pieces in half. Ate them with heated up sauce on the side. Loved the second batch. Would purchase again.
    Agreed, not as good as fresh in my favorite BBQ restaurant, but very good.

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  13. I’m with the majority here. Too much fat, and, to the extent there was meat, it was very poor quality. Actually, terrible quality. It was like chewing shoe leather. I am baffled as to how these people can market this product with a straight face. A simply horrible food product.

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  14. I thought you were super accurate in your description and fair. I enjoyed my purchase and thought it matched your comments. I micro waved ours and did not try stove top directions. It was good. No extra fat or grizzle as some mentioned. My family enjoyed it and will be buying it again.

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  15. My wife and I tried these last week and thought they were terrible. We had high hopes they would taste at least a little like the burnt ends one gets in those numerous Kansas City BBQ places. Unfortunately, most of the ends were tough pieces of brisket with more than its share of gristle and fat and the flavor was not much to write home about either; we didn’t put any of the included BBQ sauce on them. We ended up throwing it out, just couldn’t eat it.

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  16. I did not enjoy this product. I went to the web to see if I was off base, but it appears most of us had the same experience – some pieces mostly fat, other pieces hard and barely edible. My price was $11.99 a pound at Southlake, TX Costco. Now that I read the comment from the guy who calculated the cost of the sauce, I feel even more foolish. My dog loved it, though, but needless to say he won’t be getting this product again. C’mon Costco. I’m counting on you to vet your offerings better.

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  17. The products Costco sells are generally top shelf. These BURNT ENDS are the exception to that rule of thumb and are probably the worst product we ever purchased from them.
    The meat, if you could call it that, was over priced, over cooked, chewy and difficult to to cut even with a knife.
    It’s going back for a refund.

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  18. bought this product yesterday at costco and prepared it for dinner tonight. will not buy Mission Hill bistro smoked beef brisket burnt ends again. Gristle, gristle, gristle, very unenjoyable and disappointing.

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  19. We actually really enjoyed these burnt ends. I didn’t find that much fat in them. I thought them flavorful and delicious. I am not a gourmet of brisket, but I did like these.

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  20. I agree! The chunks of fat covered in the crusty brine was misleading. By the time the fatty parts are disposed of there was only 1/2 remaining for a meal, much less two or three. I paid $18.22 at costco. I will never by them again.

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  21. Bought these at Costco today for dinner tonight. Even the teenage eating machine wouldn’t eat them. Tough and chewy. Too salty. Very disappointed. At $18.46 expected to get a decent meal for my family.

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  22. If you like big chunks of fat, this is for you! If you like actual meat, not so much. Eight out of ten pieces were just fat… basically inedible. The other two pieces were pretty good.

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  23. Just horrible, awful! Bought at Costco. Looked fantastic in packaging. Husband and I just prepared, in microwave, per package directions. All gristle! Disgusting! Paid $22.49 for the small package, enough for one hearty eater or two to share. Package stated for four people. No way! Don’t waste your money! Isn’t that awful! To pay that much for a package of gristle from Smoked Beef Brisket BURNT ENDS by Mission Hill Bistro purchased at Costco. Going out for pizza now.

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  24. My husband made this tonight he was so looking forward to this he loves brisket. What a disappointment fatty grizzly he said tasted like rubber couldn’t eat any so that was $20.00 down the drain I’m returning the package to Costco for a refund. Discussing

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  25. Wish I would have read these comments before we purchased the burnt ends. All fat and grizzly only one piece was eatable. $20 down the drain at our house too.

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  26. I just purchased mine and I haven’t even cooked them yet but as soon as i opened the package I feel like I was robbed. Now it is at $12.79 a lb. at our Costco in San Diego. The package said 1.62 lbs. but the meat was only 1.02 lbs while the BBQ sauce was 8.6 ounces. I don’t mind paying $12.79 a lb for the meat but i do mind paying $12.79 a lb for BBQ sauce. what a rip off. I will never buy again.

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  27. The texture of the meat surrounded by fat was like it had been marinated in meat tenderizer as it was like tender rubber. Like most reviewers I found the product to be about half meat and half fat and gristle and way overpriced. Will return package to Costco for $19.70 refund and feedback.

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  28. We purchase these often at Costco, but this last time more than a third of the burnt ends were just fat = quite disappointing especially with the price of beef nowadays. Any chance of some rebate> Thank you.

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  29. This is EXACTLY my problem with this meat. It is ALL FAT and super overpriced. Costco needs to replace this item with a leaner meat that is a better value. The portions in each box are pathetic. Two boxes equalling close to $40 can barely feed a family of four. We are better off purchasing steaks. Ridiculous. I would like my money back.

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  30. I have never in over 60 years left a comment – good or bad- about food. These burnt ends are disgusting! Too tough to cut with a sharp knife, so certainly too tough to chew. Flavor is marginal at best. They were very expensive. I wasted my money.

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  31. These burnt ends were a TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY!$ I had a taste at Costco and loved it. I purchased it right away (Over $20) and my wife and I had it the next day. We ended up throwing most of it out. It was crisp on the outside but inside was mushy and chewy. There was so much fat inside I thought I had purchased a chunk of whale. Very disappointing.

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  32. The reason why I found this page was because the burnt ends were a overpriced ripoff and tast disgusting.
    1.5 lbs costs $20 and 9oz is sauce. 4oz oz is plastic packaging. Out of the 7,8 pieces one is pure crumbs. Curious how this company managed to sell their products at Costco. Costco is clearly going downhill FAST!
    It’s embarrassing that I have to return it but I am going to tell the staff how terrible it is and suggested them to deshelf this item. Hopefully no one else get cheated.

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  33. We had these for the first time a couple months ago. Flavor was good but alot of fat and very hard meat and gristle. This time there was more gristle and fat. Very disappointed with Costco selling this. I wish I would have read these reviews before we spent $21 on this.

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  34. This was our first time for Burndt Ends. They were full of fat & tough to even cut. This is a total rip-off & Costco has had enough bad reviews on them to not carrying them. I feel really disgusted & part of it is with Costco due to other reviews.

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  35. Absolutely horrible product. I had come to trust Costco to do excellent market research and generally present good buying options. There wasn’t one bite of the package that was edible…full of fat and impossible to chew. Just expensive and awful.

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  36. The bright red color did not look right. I sliced a few 1 /4 inch and cooked them in frying pan …the color never changed. The ingredients are horrible for what should be mostly “just meat”. Through out the 80% after we tasted some.

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  37. These were horrible. They were almost raw (red), the “burnt” part was soggy. Meat had a weird texture and lots of fat. Definitely cheap meat, not the brisket we are used to. Wasted $19 on this one.

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  38. Had these for dinner last night and we were terribly disappointed. The barbecue sauce was a bit overwhelming but good as was the taste of the meat, but it was full of gristle! Weight was listed as 1.52 lbs, but there were only 9 pieces of meat and a huge pack of barbecue sauce, undoubtedly included in the weight. It was advertised as 4 servings but no way on earth is that right and we don’t eat a lot. At $19.44, I’m going to make 2 meals of it come hell or high water. We each had 3 pieces last night. Tonight he’ll get 2 and I’ll get one! Never again. I love Costco products and have never written a bad review, but this one deserves it. Buy it and you’ll go to bed hungry and disappointed.

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  39. taking it back total fraud, they just coated the meat to make it look like it was cooked. total fraud no where near a pound and a half of cooked meat. if you put that on a BBQ and cooked it to a real bunt end it wouldn’t weight half a pound.

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  40. WORST EVER!!! I am surprised at how many said these were tender and tasty. They were the MOST GRISTLE HARD CHEWY PIECES OF NASTY SO CALLED MEAT EVER!!! Listen I realize that burnt ends contain fat, some love the soft melt in your mouth fat taste and feel, I get it. This entire package was the chewiest worst burnt ends I ever WASTED MY HARD EARNED MONEY ON. The entire package after 3 of us tried our best to find some edible pieces went into the garbage. We chewed on, cut up and dissected the entire package to find something to eat. I am now writing a letter to the company, that is how I found this website, trying to get a street address. This was a treat for us as budgets get tighter and tighter. I should have taken the nasty chewed through pieces back to Costco and asked for a refund, but it looked so disgusting I was too embarrassed. Better off slapping some BBQ sauce on a hamburger. Never again!

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  41. $19/lb for ok. While these are not inedible they are not great. I love burnt ends and so bought a package and froze it for a treat and then today bought another to have on New Year’s eve. Opened to to find that my $19 purchase (Costco price $12.89/lb X 1.5 lb) bought me exactly 1 lb of meat and 1/2 lb of sauce in a separate package. So the price was $19/lb for smoked meat. I almost bought Costco ribs and now wish I had. Not worth $19/lb.

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  42. I read the comments –
    This product was awful, way to fatty, some very chewy others tough.
    We love BBQ and the Burnt Ends didn’t make it.
    This was to expensive for the edable amount of this product and a total rip off.
    I will contact Costco and let them know to consider not restocking the shelves.
    Soooo disappointed!!!!

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  43. $12.79 a pound for sauce seems expensive. Package was net weight 1.52 pounds. I assumed that would all be meat. Package was 1 pound of meat and 8 ounces of sauce. Meat texture and flavor was ok, but not even close to real BBQ. No smoke flavor. $19 for 1 pound (1-2 servings) of average processed beef is not what I expected. I have about 7 ounces of sauce leftover, maybe I’ll buy some ribeyes and use the extra sauce on those.

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  44. Just bought it because Costco didn’t have pot roast. net weight 1.82 lb. $12.79/lb. total price $23.28. About 4 servings is what it says.

    The reality: The meat isn’t 1.82 lbs. They include the separately packaged sauce as part of the weight. (I compared the weight to a 2lb weight in the workout room) It only serves 2 people.

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  45. Hello

    We just tried this product today. There were many pieces of meat that were half fat. The taste of the actual meat was bland with very minimal if any depth of flavor. The meat texture was like leather.

    Moving on, he sauce is over the top cloyingly sweet. We warmed up the meat product in a frying pan using the method on the package. We both wanted to taste the flavor of the meat before adding the sauce element and it was just awful.

    Can’t recommend this product. We threw away what was left.

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