That 'low and slow' advice from my uncle almost ruined my brisket

My uncle Jimmy from Austin told me to cook my brisket at 225 for 18 hours no matter what. First time I tried it, the meat came out dry as a bone and took forever. Turns out he was using an old offset smoker that ran 50 degrees cooler than my pellet grill. I checked the internal temp at hour 12 and it was already at 203. Wish I had trusted my own thermometer instead of his outdated rule. Anybody else get handed down BBQ wisdom that backfired?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy83219d ago

Man, that uncle Jimmy advice sounds like it came from a good place but man did it steer you wrong. I had a similar thing with my dad's "cook it til it feels right" method for ribs, which just turned into a guessing game every time. The whole "trust your gear" lesson is real though, pellet grills run way different than old offsets, and sticking to a hard time rule is a recipe for disappointment. It's tough when family wisdom turns out to be outdated, but at least you figured it out before ruining more briskets.

hunt.quinn19d ago

Buddy of mine had his grandpa's brisket recipe that was literally just "cook it till the fat renders and the meat pulls back from the bone." He tried that on his Traeger for like 12 hours straight and the bark turned into a dry, cracked mess. Meat was tough as shoe leather. Ended up having to order pizza for his whole family dinner. Now he just follows the Meat Church video guides step by step and says its the only way he gets consistent results.