Just crossed 500 briskets smoked, never knew my own numbers were this bad

I hit 500 briskets on my pit last Sunday and it honestly shocked me how many I messed up early on. I went back through my logbook from the last 4 years and counted 47 failed cooks where the meat came out dry or tough. That is almost 10 percent of my total and I never added it up until now. I thought I was doing fine but seeing that number made me realize I was rushing my trimming and not letting the fat render right. Now I spend an extra 20 minutes per brisket just on the prep and my success rate jumped to 95 percent. Has anyone else checked their actual numbers and found a hidden problem like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher_flores4619d ago

Call me crazy but I dont think 10 percent failure rate is that bad for working through the learning curve on briskets. Youre counting every single mistake from day one which is kind of unfair to yourself since nobody starts out perfect. Most guys I know have probably trashed way more than 47 briskets over 4 years but they just dont keep track like you do so they never see the number. You fixed the problem and now youre at 95 percent which is elite level honestly. If you had stayed at 10 percent failing forever that would be different but you learned and adjusted. I wouldnt beat yourself up over it.

elizabeth43819d ago

Man my buddy Dave ruined like 15 whole packer briskets before he ever got one that wasnt a hockey puck. He kept a log too and it was depressing to look at. @christopher_flores46 is right though once you figure out the stall and wrapping timing it changes everything. I still think about that one time Dave forgot to trim the fat cap and we had to eat around literal chunks of grease.