Pro tip: My neighbor told me I was choking my brisket with too much smoke

I used to load up my offset with wood chunks every half hour, thinking more smoke meant more flavor. Last month my neighbor Steve, who's won 3 local comps in Austin, watched me cook and said I was basically suffocating the meat. He told me to only add wood when the fire needs it, not on a timer, and my last brisket actually had clean smoke ring instead of that bitter tar taste. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way or was I just being a bonehead?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_kim9715d ago

Beats me why we all think drowning meat in smoke is the way to go until some guy named Steve shows up and sets us straight. I mean, my first few briskets tasted like I was licking the bottom of a fire pit, and I just assumed that was how it was supposed to be. Guess we gotta learn somehow, even if it means eating ash for a while.

hannahcraig15d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I've been there too, it's a rough way to learn for sure.

emery1014d ago

Oh man, that comment about Steve cracked me up. My buddy Dan went through the exact same thing last summer. He was so proud of his first brisket, brought it to a cookout and we were all just choking down this bitter, ashy mess trying to be polite. Turns out he was using like a whole bag of wood chips every hour because he thought more smoke meant more flavor. It took him three tries and a talk with some old timer at the hardware store to figure out he was basically cremating the meat.