It can be both. You can get beef brisket or pork brisket or even lamb brisket. But traditionally it is considered beef.

What cut is brisket?

Brisket is a cut that comes from the lower breast or pectoral muscle. As it comes from the breast it has loads of connective tissue due to the constant movement in that area.

Brisket used to be a very cheap cut of meat and used to be minced but grew in popularity within the barbecue scene. Due to this increasingly growing popularity of barbecue brisket, the public and restaurant demand has increased, as well as the price.

All briskets have a two sides. A lean and a fatty side. The fatty side usually comes from the belly end.  

Is brisket always beef or pork?

Traditionally, brisket is beef. When people talk about brisket, they are generally, 95% of the time, talking about beef brisket. But brisket is just a cut of meat, so it can really come from any animal. Again, due to the increasing popularity of brisket, the cuts of pork that were traditionally called the shoulder are now being labelled as the brisket.

Beef Brisket

A quality beef brisket will often be labelled as prime or you can even get the high grade wagyu beef from Japan. When looking for high quality beef brisket you want to see good marbling. As there is a lot of connective tissue in brisket, having fat within the meat adds to the flavour.

It makes a wonderful cut of meat to smoke slow and low.

Pork Brisket

Pork brisket comes from the pork shoulder and lower picnic area of the pig.

Pork brisket is lovely and tender. It is difficult to find unless you go to a high-quality butcher. 

Just like the beef brisket, it makes a perfect cut of meat to smoke slow and low.