Hit 500 briskets this weekend without realizing it

I was packing up after a Saturday cook at a buddy's place in Austin. Counted my cook logs out of habit. Number 500 was sitting right there. I must have missed the milestone because I don't track that stuff closely. Most of them came from my backyard offset and maybe 60 from competition circuits over the last 8 years. 500 briskets is a lot of lump charcoal and trimming. The weird part is I still messed up the point on number 497 last month. Got impatient with the stall and cranked the firebox. What was your biggest milestone that snuck up on you?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenniferw8218d ago

Buddy of mine cooked for years before he realized he'd crossed 1,000 whole hogs on his Lang. Said counting them just made him hungry.

king.wyatt18d ago

That's how it always goes... you think you'd remember hitting a big number but it just sneaks past you. @jenniferw82 your buddy probably ate his way through that 1,000 hogs before he even thought to count em. I bet brisket 500 tasted just as good as number 1 though, even if the stall got the best of me at 497.

evaallen14d ago

Counting logs is the only way to catch it, I've got a notebook in my smoker shed for that reason. @king.wyatt is right that you remember the wins but the stubborn lessons like number 497 stick with you too. Between the lump charcoal bills and trimming those packs, what's the one mistake that taught you the most in the early days?