Am I the only one?

[bep35]

BBQ people are some of the most anxious folks on earth. A private contractor once said, “I can run a $10 million construction project without breaking a sweat, but if I put a brisket on the smoker, I’ll lose three nights of sleep.”

It’s always the same story: we baby meat for 12 hours, checking temps every 15 minutes, muttering about stall times, spritzing it like it’s a delicate houseplant. And when it’s finally done, everyone else is lined up with plates, drooling — but the pitmaster just shakes their head and says, “Eh… it’s a little dry.” While everyone is in BBQ heaven, we're over in the corner plotting how to “do it better next time.”

Don't sweat the small stuff and Have Fun!

[Ace]

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

Vince Lombardi

[mrichie1229]

And the most delicious barbecue ever eaten.

[Smoker_Boy]

Most of us are our own worst critics. Now that I don’t drink I realize I’m more anxious than I was when I had a few drinks with the cook. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing perfection.

Since the heart surgery, I miss drinking a cold beer and smoking cigarettes while I'm grilling...

[Oak Smoke]

If they told me I was done for I’d be tempted to go get a pack of Marlboros and a bottle of Whalers vanilla rum. It was a hard lesson learning that things and people you love can kill you.

[Johnny Booth]

For me it’s the hours of waiting to see if it comes out the way I want. This happens more with pork shoulder or brisket. On a stick-burner, that’s about 9-10 hours of adding sticks every 15 minutes. It’s like a marathon of anxiety. When I first started, it used to make me nauseous. 😬

It has faded significantly over the years, but it’s still there

[synodog]

Thanks everyone! I figured I wasn’t, but it baffled me this time so I had to ask.
Moral of the story, smoke more brisket!

any objections? 😂

[mrichie1229]

Exactly!

[Santamarina]

The part that can get me on edge is the commitment of time and money.

A brisket is likely one of the most expensive cuts to hit our pits. And the time taken from start to finish is a lot…especially if you’re feeding a stickburner.

If I blow a couple $20 steaks and an hour of cook time it’s not as draining as an $80+ hunk of meat that’s cooking for double digit hours and likely stealing sleep and family time.

There’s more pressure for it to turn out perfect when the resources could be well spent in other areas.

[synodog]

saying this to the wife Sunday. There's essentially no recourse if it sucks, I can't whip something together in 20 minutes. The pressure is there for sure.

[Johnny Booth]

Yep. I don’t cook for occasions anymore. Carol and me work together on a roast and fixings. There might be a gasser warming a side dish, but no wood or charcoal. Less stress, and my knife skills have improved. 🙂

When I smoke brisket or shoulder, that’s all I am doing that day.

[SheilaAnn]

Oh yes…. Anxiety is real. And oh yes, I am my own worst critic (as y’all have seen). But I am grateful for AR and the Pitmasters!

[Johnny Booth]

Experts in nearly every profession from all over the world talking about their common passion, and other stuff. So many unique perspectives and experiences shared. I take regular breaks from media, but I always come back to AR.

[jfmorris]

I’ve been smoking butts and ribs for over 30 years, and brisket since 2017. Turkey and chicken even longer. Those first few briskets were a huge stress to me. Who wants to mess up a hunk of beef that big and costly? But with you guys holding my hand, and Meathead’s recipe on the free side, I got through it.

I no longer stress over what I am cooking so much as whether it will be done on time. To that end I am doing cooks hotter or starting earlier and holding until meal time. The schedule is what I stress and plan around.

[fzxdoc]

I love the fun of smoking a brisket, from the selection all the way through to sitting down to eat it. The trimming part is a fave, because I get to make a lot of tasty tallow and burger meat from the trimmings. Not too much, if any, really gets wasted. It's the cost of a brisket nowadays that is offputting to me. It has to be a really great-looking one for me to want to spend the $$ on it. For similar and more predictable results I prefer smoking chuck roasts for pulled beef. I probably smoke 1 brisket to a dozen or more chuck roasts.

That said, I have yet to smoke much of anything except short cooks of chickens, sausages and meatloaf since returning to our hurricane-hit home in May. Now that the 45 downed trees are taken care of, the hurricane-sandblasted back of the house has been repainted, the roof repaired, and the damaged gutters replaced, we're waiting for the landscaping folks to plant rhododendron hedges to hide the two huge rootballs in the back yard area that the logging company could not remove. With that work done, I can focus more on spending time doing some long smokes.

I'm going to smoke 3 more meatloaves this weekend for a potluck that we are invited to. Then it's off on a short trip to celebrate one of the little grandgirls' birthdays. When we get back, I hope to smoke up some pork butts, chuck roasts, and maybe a brisket in the coming months! PBC chicken with sausages is always a staple, though, and serves to keep my hand in the game once every week or two.

Kathryn

[Purc]

Thanks for your home update. Wow, 45 trees! I know you are ready for this to be finished, and life returns to "normal". It's been at least 6 years since I've been to the Asheville area. When I lived in Chattanooga, I used to go there a lot for both business and pleasure. It was beautiful and hopefully mother nature will return its beauty for all to enjoy.

[klflowers]

I used to do lots of turkeys for people and I always worried. I did them whole so I worried about the breasts drying out. I never got any complaints, but I still worried. I only do briskets on the wsm and I have been using it for so long that I am probably overconfident when I use it. I don’t sweat anything else. If I’m cooking for a crowd I try to finish early enough so that if I screw it up I can find some decent take out

[synodog]

“If I’m cooking for a crowd I try to finish early enough so that if I screw it up I can find some decent take out”
That’s the part that I always have in the back of my mind as a backup plan.

[Skip]

I really enjoy cooking of all kinds, especially cooking outdoors. With the enjoyment comes the challenge to always try to make things better next time I make it. I almost like to cook more than eat the meals I make. Too much anxiety would take the fun out it. Thanks to all of you it's fun to accept the challenge.

[mrteddyprincess]

Cooking is love. I think somebody famous said that. When your expression of love is on the line, it's important. The fact that we get anxious about that is a testament to the love that is involved. That's a good thing.

B

[synodog]

I made a brisket for the office today. Started last night and into the morning.
There’s something about repetition. I was much less anxious this time around. I guess I should do these once or twice a month 😂
They already asked about the office Christmas party. I didn’t say no…

[Alan Brice]

That is my favorite smoke! I end up shrink wrapping most of it anymore. Still my fav.