Talked to an old pitmaster at a gas station and he changed how I see temperature control

I was filling up my truck outside Nashville last weekend and this older guy noticed my bumper sticker from a competition in Kansas City. He asked me what temp I run my offset at and I told him 250 degrees like I always do. He just laughed and said he ran his at 225 for 40 years until he tried 275 one day and never looked back. We talked for like 20 minutes about how we get so stuck on specific numbers that we forget the meat tells you what it needs. He said bark and smoke ring are about patience not a perfect number on a dial. Has anyone else had a seasoned pitmaster make you rethink a habit you swore by?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_roberts227d ago

Shocked you stuck to 250 for that long without trying something different.

vera_roberts6d ago

@miles_roberts22 is dead on. Same thing happened to me years back. An old timer at a hardware store told me to ditch my 250 obsession and try 300 for big briskets. Changed everything. The meat stalls way less and the fat renders cleaner. Now I run anywhere from 275 to 325 depending on the cut and weather. Sticking to one number is just lazy cooking basically.