Sharpen your knives before totally necessary and sharpen all your skills everyday. Also remember Food Safety is ALWAYS important. (Quotes by me)
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I am just starting to learn how to use a knife steel, I am practicing everytime I use them now (well not every knife, as I am not sure if a slicer or serated bread knife are to be sharpened the same way, but, my other knives I do it, just to build the skill. and your right. Food Safety is ALWAYS important. Priority numero uno!
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Record keeping get a book to record details like, cook times, dates, meat weights, recipes, if it was dry brined or injected and when so you can repeat if you liked it. The devil is in the details.Comment
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Measure twice, cut once.... oh wait! That's a carpentry tip.
How about this - a good quality instant read thermometer is the single most important tool to improve your cooking skills, combined with the knowledge of what done temperatures are for each type of meat. The instant read thermometer lets you be sure things are done appropriately, and ensure that the meat is not overcooked, dry and otherwise inedible.Comment
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After you've heated up your grate and hit it with a wire brush pour a teaspoon or so of high smoke point oil on a paper towel that has been folded in quarters (you want the towel about the same size as your brush). Let the oil soak in a little bit then flop it oil side down on the grate and use the brush and paper towel to spread the oil all over the grate. The paper towel will stick to the brush bristles. You can then remove it from the grill and your grates are cleaned and oiled and ready to go.Last edited by Attjack; August 2, 2019, 12:57 PM.Comment
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Get all the prep work done. All ingredients out. Premeasure seasonings, i.e. salt, pepper. Get all your tools out, bowls, serving trays, and knives/forks/spoons your going to work with. Items like marinades get done early and store in fridge. I find these actions to be helpful when you begin the cook. To many times I did not do this and forgot to add an ingredient or not have a tool ready when needed. For me, makes the process and cook much easier.Comment
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Best advice: Be patient and forgiving of yourself and your cooks. Failure is just Success telling you to keep trying.
Best tool: As mentioned many times above, a good digital thermometer.
Best hack: Understand your cooker(s).Comment
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Keep your knives sharp and your enemies closer. Or is it keep your friends close and get a good knife sharpener? Oh you know what I mean !!!Comment
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How about joining this website forum? BOOM
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If you’re smoking brisket - Burnt Ends.Comment
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Got nuthin, but next Pitmaster I talk with, I'll pick their brains, an git back with ya!
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My opinion: good brisket is a balance of tenderness, moistness and bark.
1) tenderness can be achieved by wet aging in a cryovac bag. I’ve done as long as 35 days and the meat will almost bend at a 90 degree angle when held horizontally as it is so tender pre-cook.
2) tenderness can also be achieved by cutting perpendicular to the muscle grain (previously stated by another member). Use tooth picks to mark the grain direction... after the cook, the bark will obscure the grain direction but the tooth picks will show you the grain.
3) moistness can be achieved by injecting liquids. Maintain the beef flavor by using beef broth as the liquid. Inject with the needle parallel to the muscle grain direction.
4) for good bark wrap the brisket when the bark looks right, not as a preventative means to bust through the stall.Comment
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Wrapping in non-waxed butcher paper vs. foil helps a lot to preserve the bark — at least, in my experience. RE grain, I cut a tip before I even put on the rub to show me where and how to cut against the grain once the brisket is done (b/c by that time it’s a dark mass and you can barely tell which way the grain is running).
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Echoing holehogg to practice. Especially if you have a big cook planned for lots of hungry guests, do a smaller practice run when you're not under time pressure. That will help you learn where the bumps will be.
Almost forgot: don't cross the streams .Comment
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I wipe a little water on the stainless deck of my kitchen scale, then put a piece of plastic wrap on it while it's wet. That way the dough, meet or whatever I'm portioning won't pull up the plastic wrap and the scale is a breeze to clean.Comment
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I read in a Bread making book that we should consider temperature and time as ingredients. I think this easily applies to good bbq as well.
I like to write down everything I am planning to do, and work it backwards. Plan your cook, then cook your plan.Comment
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As we host my family for Thanksgiving the last several years, my wife and I do exactly that. We'll have a schedule laid out on when to do everything, including prep work. While there's very often stress still, its not due to kitchen problems (except the year we found out the turkey was too big for the roaster..) -
I have learned a good kitchen timer like the Thermo works time stack or their 3 timer hand held. is just as valuable as a good thermometer, when planning out a whole day of cooking different things in stages. -
Timeglass is an app (iOS for sure, probably Android too) that allows you to have many timers running at once. You can label all of them, re-use them over and over. It's fantastic and cheaper than hardware.
ETA: The most I have ever run at once is 7. Hats off to you if you need more.
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