Had the worst brisket day of my life last Saturday...

I've been smoking meat for about 4 years now, and last Saturday everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I woke up at 5am to get a 15 pound prime brisket on the offset smoker by 6. First mistake was I didn't check my wood supply the night before and ran out of seasoned oak by 10am. Had to send my buddy to the hardware store for some bags of lump charcoal which threw off the whole clean smoke profile. Then my firebox thermometer started bouncing all over because the wind picked up, and I chased temps for 3 hours straight. By the time the brisket hit 203 internal, the stall had lasted an extra 90 minutes and dinner was 2 hours late. The bark came out great but the flat was dry as sandpaper. Has anyone else had a cook day spiral out of control like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleythomas4d ago

Are you sure the flat was dry just because of those issues? I've had briskets that stalled forever and still came out juicy when I wrapped them in butcher paper at the right time. Maybe the problem was pulling it at 203 without checking if it was probe tender first cause that temp isn't a guarantee on every single brisket.

charles_kim4d ago

Ask @finleythomas how you check for probe tender without pulling it too early.