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My Uncle Swears He'll Never Use A Thermometer, And After 30 Years Of Brisket I'm Starting To Wonder
So my uncle Ray has been running a pit in Lockhart since before I could walk, and last weekend at his 60th birthday he told me something that's been stuck in my head. He said, "A thermometer is just a crutch for people who don't know how to read a fire." I've been using a $90 digital probe for about 6 years now, and honestly it's saved me more briskets than I can count. But then he pulled a 14 pound packer off his offset with nothing but a glance at the bark and a poke with his finger, and I swear it jiggled like jello. I sat there eating it, and it was better than anything I've turned out with all my gadgets. Now I'm torn, because part of me thinks he's right and we're all overcomplicating this, but another part of me remembers the $80 brisket I ruined on my 30th birthday because I trusted feel over readings. So what's the verdict here? Are thermometers a real tool or are they training wheels we never take off?
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the_dylan2d ago
Dude it's brisket, not brain surgery. Your uncle spent 30 years learning one pit and one fire, so of course he can read it blind. But you cook on your setup, not his, and a probe just tells you the temp so you're not guessing. Nothing wrong with using both, one hand on the meat and one eye on the readout. Ruining an $80 brisket hurts no matter how you slice it, so why toss out a tool that keeps that from happening. This whole debate only matters if you're trying to win an argument, not if you're trying to eat good food.
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