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Unpopular opinion: a pitmaster at the Memphis in May told me to stop chasing temps and it fixed my whole cook
Two years back I was set up next to a guy named Ray at Memphis in May who had been cooking comps for 19 seasons. I kept fiddling with my intake every 10 minutes trying to hold 225 on the dot, and he watched me for a bit then said "your cook ain't the number, it's the feel of the lid." He had me close my vents down and just watch the smoke color instead of my dial for a whole 4 hours. Best pork shoulder I ever turned in, and I stopped burning through charcoal like crazy. I still catch myself staring at the gauge some days though. Anybody else get told something like that by an old timer that stuck with you?
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jenny_lee12d ago
Ray's advice worked that day because he was cooking on a big offset where the temp swings slow, but on my 22 inch Weber kettle I've watched guys lose a whole brisket trying to cook by smoke color alone when the wind kicked up. A $10 dial saved more of my cooks than any old timer story ever did, and yeah I still check it every 20 minutes.
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