c/bbq-pitmasters

A judge at my first comp told me my brisket was 'wet sawdust'

I was pissed at first but he was right. I was wrapping too early around 150 and sealing in all that moisture which made the texture mushy. He told me to wait until the bark set fully around 170-175 before wrapping and my last three briskets actually had that clean bite through. Anyone else get brutally honest feedback that stung at first but fixed your cook?

Swapped my usual apple wood for pecan on a brisket last weekend

I always use apple for everything but tried pecan on a 15lb packer and the flavor was way deeper, almost nutty and sweet at the same time. The bark came out darker and crunchier too. Anyone else find a wood that totally changed their cook?

I called BS on wood pellet smokers for years until I tried one at a competition

I always figured electric and pellet smokers were for people who couldn't be bothered to learn fire management. Stuck to my offset smoker for 8 years, never looked twice at the pellet guys. Then at a competition in Memphis last October, a guy named Frank offered me a bite of his brisket from a Traeger. It had this perfect smoke ring and the bark was actually crunchy, not soft like I expected. He let me watch his cook, and I saw how consistent his temps held for 18 hours straight. I ended up buying a used pellet smoker for $200 off Facebook Marketplace just to test my bias. Now I use it for weeknight cooks, but the offset still comes out for big weekends. Anyone else have a similar change of heart about something in the BBQ world?

Most people are overlooking their smoke color during a cook

I was watching a buddy run his offset last Saturday in Nashville and he kept loading white smoke onto a brisket for 3 hours. He swore it tasted fine but I could smell the creosote from 10 feet away. A clean thin blue smoke is what you want, not that thick white stuff that makes the meat bitter. Anyone else had to explain this to someone mid cook?

That competition judge told me my bark was too thick and I felt stupid

I spent 6 months perfecting a heavy rub layer on my pork butts because I thought more bark equaled more flavor, then a KCBS judge at a small contest in Wichita told me it was overpowering the meat. I cut my rub amount by half and started using a lighter hand with the smoke, and my scores went up by 15 points the very next weekend. Has anyone else had to dial back what they thought was a signature technique because someone told them it was too much?

The day I figured out why my brisket was always dry

I cooked brisket for 2 years thinking I needed to hit exactly 203 internal temp and pull it off. Last month I saw a video where a pitmaster in Lockhart Texas said he probes for feel not temp. Tried it on a 12 pounder last weekend and stopped when the probe slid in like butter at 198 instead. Best brisket I ever made and now I don't touch the thermometer until it feels right. Anyone else learn this way later than they should have?

Killed my smoker fire mid-cook at a family reunion and had to think fast

So I'm at my brother's place in Austin for his 40th birthday, doing a 12-pound brisket on my offset. About 4 hours in, I step away to grab more wood and come back to find the firebox door had swung open and the fire had basically died to embers. The meat temp had dropped from 225 to 170 and I was panicking. I grabbed my chimney starter, lit a fresh batch of lump charcoal, and dumped it in quick to bring the heat back up. The brisket stalled out for an extra hour and came out a bit drier than I wanted, but nobody complained. My question is: when your fire goes out mid-smoke, do you rush to reignite or just wrap and finish in the oven? I'm still not sure I made the right call.

That $400 smoker mod that turned my brisket into a doorstop

Bought one of those fancy PID controllers for my offset last month dropped about $400 on it. Thought it would fix my temperature swings but the thing glitched at hour 6 and the fire went out while I was sleeping. Woke up to a 130 degree brisket that was basically ruined. Anyone else had a pricey gadget backfire on them like that?

Dry brine vs wet brine on a whole chicken, night and day difference

Cooked two birds a few weeks back for a family gathering. One got a 24 hour dry brine with kosher salt and baking powder, other got a classic wet brine with salt and sugar. Dry brine bird had way crispier skin, like actual crackling. Wet brine bird was juicy but the skin was rubbery even after I tried to dry it out in the fridge. Anybody else ditch wet brine after trying dry?

That week I tried to smoke a brisket in a thunderstorm and ended up with a muddy yard and a half-cooked slab

Last Tuesday I had a whole day planned around a 15 pound prime brisket. Got the smoker going at 6 AM, temp dialed in at 225. Then the sky opened up around noon. I spent the next 3 hours running out with a tarp every 20 minutes trying to keep the firebox dry. Wind blew the tarp off twice. By 6 PM the brisket was only at 175 internal and I gave up and finished it in the oven. Bark was trash. Anyone else ever try to bbq in crap weather and just regret everything?

That time a pitmaster at a little joint in Kansas City told me to skip the wrap on my ribs

I was at a BBQ spot in KC last summer and the pitmaster said wrapping ribs in foil was just making them mushy and that I should go naked the whole cook. So I tried it on a rack of spare ribs at 225 for 6 hours with no wrap and they came out with a perfect bark but they were a little drier than I like. Has anyone else tried the no-wrap method and gotten it to work better, or do you think wrapping is still the way to go?

I was wrong about spending $80 on a wireless meat thermometer

I always thought I could tell when my brisket was done just by feel and look, so I never bought a good thermometer. Last month I finally got a basic wireless one for about eighty bucks. The first time I used it, I pulled my pork shoulder at exactly 203 degrees instead of guessing, and it was the most tender I've ever made. I didn't realize how much I was overcooking things before by just poking them. It's made a bigger difference than any rub or sauce I've tried. Anyone have a favorite brand for these, or is the cheap one good enough?

I was trimming brisket fat wrong for years until a guy in Lockhart set me straight

Always left about a quarter inch of fat on the flat, thought it kept things moist. Saw a pitmaster at a joint in Lockhart, Texas, trim it down to maybe an eighth inch, almost see the meat. He said, 'That fat cap's a heat shield, not a baster.' Tried it next cook, bark got way better. Anyone else used to leave too much fat on top?

Back in 2019 I bought a fancy digital smoker thermometer that was all hype

It was one of those with four probes and a phone app that promised perfect cooks every time. Cost me almost $200. The app crashed constantly, and two of the probes gave readings that were 20 degrees off after just a few uses. I ended up ruining a whole pork shoulder because I trusted it over my old analog gauge. Now it's just a paperweight in my shed. What's a reliable thermometer you all actually use that won't break the bank?

Tried two different brisket rubs side by side on my offset smoker

I smoked two identical briskets from the same butcher, one with just salt and pepper and the other with a complex 12-ingredient rub. The simple one had a better bark and cleaner beef flavor. What's your go-to rub for a central Texas style brisket?

Warning: The brisket at that new joint in Springfield is a crime against barbecue

I drove out to try the new place on 5th Street last weekend and they served me a brisket slice so dry it crumbled when I picked it up. The guy behind the counter just shrugged and said 'that's how we do it here' like it was a point of pride. Has anyone else had a cut of meat so bad it felt like an insult?

Ran into Myron Mixon at a gas station outside Macon

He looked at my smoker in the truck bed and said, 'Son, if you ain't burning wood, you're just heating meat.' Has anyone else had a random run-in that changed their whole approach?

Unpopular opinion: The brisket at that new joint in Austin is way too sweet

I was at Franklin Barbecue last week and tried their new brisket rub. The first bite hit me with a sugar taste that was just too strong, like they added a full cup of brown sugar to the mix. It totally covered up the good smoke flavor from their post oak. I get trying new things, but this felt like a dessert mistake. Has anyone else tried it and thought the same thing?

Spent $400 on a wireless thermometer for my offset smoker... total game changer for overnight cooks.

I thought wrapping brisket in foil was cheating until I saw a pitmaster in Austin do it

Always thought wrapping brisket was a waste of time until I tried the foil boat method

I did two briskets last weekend, one fully wrapped in butcher paper like usual and the other with just a foil boat (you know, where you wrap the bottom and sides but leave the top exposed). The foil boat one had way better bark and still stayed plenty moist, which honestly shocked me after years of doing the full wrap. Has anyone else switched to the foil boat method for their long cooks?

Rant: Saw a pitmaster at a Memphis comp wrap his brisket way too early in the cook.

He pulled it at 160 degrees internal, and the bark was still soft, which is a mistake I learned the hard way after my own brisket turned out mushy at a contest last fall.

My old offset smoker finally gave out during a big cook

I was doing a 14 pound brisket for a family thing last Saturday, about 5 hours in. The firebox door just cracked right down the middle, hinge and all. It was an Oklahoma Joe's I've had for like 8 years. I had to wrap the whole thing in heavy duty foil just to keep the heat in, which messed up my airflow. The cook took 4 hours longer than I planned. Anyone have a good fix for a busted firebox, or is it time to just replace the whole thing?

TIL my 'low and slow' brisket was missing a key step

Overheard a pitmaster at the Memphis in May contest say 'the rest is just as important as the cook' and he was right. Anyone have tips for holding a brisket properly for a crowd?

Just read that a top pitmaster's brisket trim can lose over 8 pounds of fat

I was watching a new interview with Aaron Franklin on a BBQ channel, and he mentioned his pre-cook trim on a full packer often removes 8 to 10 pounds. That's a huge amount of waste, but it explains the perfect bark. Has anyone found a good use for all that trimmed fat, or is it just trash?