My grandpa ran his pit with a coffee can and a fork, and I caught myself judging a guy for using a thermometer

Terry Knight · 2026-09-21T17:55:05.288247+00:00

I was at a small cookoff in Lockhart last weekend and heard a guy in his 20s tell his buddy that if you need a thermometer you are not really a pitmaster, and I have not been able to shake it since. My grandpa cooked on a 55 gallon drum in his yard for close to 30 years, and the only tools he ever had were a green coffee can to move coals and an old fork to poke the meat. He could read the fire by the color of the smoke, and he never once owned a probe. But here is what that guy missed: grandpa burned plenty of shoulders learning that trick, and he wasted a lot of meat that his family could not afford to waste. My dad still tells the story of the Easter when the whole cook turned to ash because the wind shifted and grandpa had no idea what the grate temp actually was. These days I run two probes and a cheap instant read, and my food is better and more consistent than anything grandpa made, and I do not feel bad saying that. Respecting the old way does not mean pretending it was better. So I guess my question for the group is, do you think the old timers would have used a thermometer if they could have afforded one, or is there something real about cooking by feel that we lose?

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My grandpa ran his pit with a coffee can and a fork, and I caught myself judging a guy for using a thermometer | BBQ Pitmasters - Rigidtalk