What was your biggest BBQ "light bulb" moment?

[Huskee]

Meathead's latest article on flipping meat vs not flipping meat got me to thinking about this question as it pertains to me.

Whether it was no longer soaking wood chips/chunks, or not pressing a steak with your finger to determine doneness but using a digital thermometer instead, or not letting your pork chops come to room temp first...what was the biggest light bulb moment for you that changed the way you go about cooking? Can be food-related or cooker-related.

[Huskee]

My biggest thing to overcome was not soaking my wood chips, which then led to using chunks instead of chips. Thinking it through after I read Mh's articles made the lightbulb go on! Why wet something down then try to burn it? Aren't you just making steam and cooling down your fire that you're trying to keep steady? Stickburners make smoke (and therefore flavor) by burning wood, so why is burning your wood when used with charcoal bad? Hmmm...

[synodog]

+1 on not soaking wood chips then ‘graduating’ to chunks.

[GolfGeezer]

It was pretty basic - cooking low-n-slow. I was a "griller", only using direct heat on either charcoal or gasser grills. When our "go to" BBQ place shutdown around 2015, I decided to try my hand at "smoking" so I could get ribs that were like the place we loved. Thus, the adventure began....

[Mosca]

Realizing that is only big hunks of meat, and all we are doing is cooking them.

That doesn’t seem like a big thing, but it is. There isn’t any magic to it, it isn’t hard, or complicated. Just cook the meat. If you have any questions, ask them.

[Huskee]

That's a good one. Brisket always seemed so intimidating to me way back, but I thought "heck it's just a big roast, roasts are easy."

[Mosca]

Yep, briskets. That doesn’t mean I sat down and made perfect briskets, but the less I thought about it, the better they got. Season a brisket, put it on the heat, and wait.

[mrteddyprincess]

I spent too much time worrying that I would overcook a brisket when in fact, I was undercooking the brisket and that's why it was still tough...The "feels like butter" with a probe was my biggest ah ha moment in BBQ...

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Learning to cook to temp not time has been the biggest game changer at home.

When I turned out steaks and burgers as a cook, the press/touch method was close enough we had less than one sent back per day for being over or under done. I couldn't do that now days with any sort of consistency because I'm not cranking out hundreds of grilled dishes a day.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah I did steaks for a living for a while, and I could tell from tongs in general how close they were to being done - still can to a degree. I can get easily in the ballpark, and it's different with each cut - ribeye vs NY vs sirloin vs filet. I'm sure I'm not as accurate as a thermometer - wish I'd had a Thermapen back when I was cooking in the restaurants! lol. But like you, I seldom had one sent back. Prolly more about peoples' apathy than my skill, though! lol

[Potkettleblack]

How to set up the gas grill for two zone and low and slow on the free side was what drew me to the site in the first place.

[Spinaker]

Temp never time and having an instant read thermo.

Or

Understanding that brisket, pork shoulders and stuff like that need to be cooked to 200 F or so. (I sht you not......the first brizzy I ever cooked......took that baby to 135 F. LOL)

[Panhead John]

Bet it was tender as hell! 😂

[Spinaker]

It was awful. Ended up grinding it and feeding it to the hounds. Panhead John

[Huskee]

I took my first ever rack of ribs to 165, since that was what my old *dial* meat thermometer (that I got for about $2 at my local grocery store in the utensil aisle) said on it for pork. Lol. Them were some tough ribs, and I thought I overcooked them so the next rack I took to 155!

[Old Glory]

After reading Meathead's book. Started thinking of the grill as an oven and using two zones. That changed everything for me.

[Spinaker]

That is a great one. That was huge for me too.

[Old Glory]

Spinaker It was an epiphany and completely changed the way I cook.

[Livermoron]

Same here. It was a revelation...

[Jfrosty27]

That’s easy. It was joining The Pit! Second was buying Meatheads book. I keep it right next to my LazyBoy for easy reference. Remember my hobby and flying with the right tools? 🤣. So much learning. Between the two I feel my bbq skills have improved by light years.

[BKYDBBQ]

I am the reverse...bought the book and then joined the Pit...both good decisions...

[Panhead John]

I’m with a lot of you in the soaking wood chunks thing. I ALWAYS soaked my wood chunks for a good 30 minutes to an hour my whole life. After reading Meathead’s book I quit soaking, never looked back. Another Ah ha moment was finally using a meat thermometer and grate probes for my slow cooks…. I never owned one till joining AR…

On a related note, and this is really stupid… Years ago I had a COS and was doing a brisket. I was out of charcoal and needed something to help my wood get started. I decided on using a fireplace fire log under my wood. Now I’m not talking about a starter log, I used the big paper wrapped log that you put in your fireplace for the fire itself, they burn for 2-3 hours! After about 30 minutes or so of burning, I was gonna put the brisket on. Then it hit me! WTF am I doing? All those chemicals and things in that log surely ain’t gonna help the taste! 🙄 I wound up removing as much of the log as I could immediately. I don’t remember how the brisket turned out but I’m sure it wasn’t very good.

[Huskee]

A good teacher doesn't just tell you what to do but trains you to think. That's what drew me to Meathead and AR. He trains us what to do and also why, so we learn to think. Once you begin to critically approach all those things you thought you knew the second part of your life begins.

[Mosca]

I think that part of the "AHA!" moment associated with wood chunks is the "Wait a second, if that’s wrong, then what else…?" that goes with it. There are all these little accumulations that you can rationalize, and then that one just blows it all up. It did for me, too.

[Oak Smoke]

For me it’s been the significance of knowing temperature, not guessing at it. I now know that on average my grill level temp is 50 F greater than the dial on the dome of my kamado shows. A pork chop is so much juicier at 140 than at 160. My chicken is so much better now thanks to getting it done, but not over cooking it. I know that I need to start probing a brisket at 190 to know when it gets that like butter feel, but not over cooked.. The balance of grill temp and meat temp is over half the battle. It’s no secret that I cook some things hot and fast. Cooking that way requires you know the temps at grill level and in the meat. Before AR I checked the temp on the dome dial and cooked by checking the color of juices, feel, and smell.

[Richard Chrz]

Understanding for me that I am trying to create homeostasis in the humidity control in the smoker to protect the outside of the cut, while I am bringing up the water temp inside the meat, to have the water temp actually cook the meat, and that is how I look at setting up a cook. I’ve never smoked wood chips. But I have only learned with chunks and splits for smoke.

[Draznnl]

I remember freaking out when my first brisket went into the stall. There I was with my ECB that I’d gotten with Marlboro miles and I figured all I needed to do was throw the meat on and it would cook. D’oh!

[jlazar]

The way you like it is the right way. Quit chasing technique and just enjoy and do it.

[realdocBBQ]

So true Huskee! My buddy has a huge 500-gallon offset and he does his briskets wrapped in muslin and covered in butter. He LOVES them! Not much, if any, smoke flavor, no crust, really no rub to speak of. It's like a giant crockpot brisket, but that's how he loves 'em! And I gotta admit, they taste good - just not like the "low and slow BBQ flavor" most of us are looking for!

[Huskee]

realdocBBQ Ooof, that's a tough one to get behind, but ultimately yeah if he likes 'em that way, cool. Cooked meat is delicious, regardless of how. Sure seems a waste though with a stickburner that big to not enjoy what it's truly capable of. And muslin? Is that even doing anything?

[realdocBBQ]

It holds the butter on the meat, keeps it moist. And I gotta say, they're some juicy-arse briskets. Tastes more like pot roast, but it's good.

<edit> And they cook quick, too.

[Purc]

I grilled everything on gas but chicken, chicken I burned! I also had several cheap charcoal grills with lighter fluid. Then I learned about smoking and 2 zone cooking and no more burned chicken. I had a COS and really didn't know how to use it. Enter YouTube and then a used Masterbuilt electric smoker with soaked wood chips. And finally, I bought my second Weber Kettle and a SnS and enter Amazing Ribs. Game changer for me. Recently added the Bronco.