Update: my 7 year old asked why I spritz the ribs instead of mopping them, and I could not give her a straight answer
Last Saturday I had my daughter out by the offset while I ran a rack of spares at 275, and she watched me hit them with apple juice every 45 minutes or so. She asked me why I spritz instead of mopping like she sees on the videos, and I started in on bark and sugar burning and then just kind of trailed off. Truth is I started spritzing years back because some guy at a comp in Amarillo said mopping washed the rub off, and I never tested it, I just folded it into my routine like gospel. So Sunday I ran two racks side by side, same rub, same temp, one spritzed and one mopped with a thin vinegar sauce, and the spritzed one had a better bite on the bark while the mopped one was honestly juicier in the flat. My kid picked the mopped one as her favorite, which stung a little. Now I am sitting here wondering how many other things I do just because somebody said them once. What is a habit you picked up from another cook that you later found out was flat wrong?