Watched a guy ruin a brisket by taking it off too early

I was at a competition in Kansas City last fall and this guy pulled his brisket at 190 degrees internal. He said he was running out of time for the turn-in window. I get that deadlines matter but man, that meat was tough as shoe leather when he sliced it. Why do so many people ignore the feel test and just go by a number on their probe?

2 comments

2 Comments

ross.sean19d ago

Competition cooking does weird things to people's instincts. That 190 number probably came from some recipe video he watched once, and he just stuck to it because he was panicking. The feel test matters more than any number from the probe, especially around the flat where it gets tight. Running late means different things in competition versus cooking for yourself, but dry meat is dry meat at the end of the day. Sounds like he learned the hard way that a probe should slide in like butter, not just hit a random temperature on a screen.

walker.andrew15d ago

Learned that lesson myself once. Never again.