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My brisket flat dried out like jerky at a cook-off in Austin because I trusted a faulty probe reading for three hours.
Has anyone else had a Maverick thermometer give them a perfect 203-degree reading on a brisket that was actually sitting at 230 in the firebox?
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perry.evan17d ago
Yeah, that's a great point about the flat cooking faster. A lot of folks forget that the probe temp is just one part of the puzzle. You really need to check for tenderness with a separate probe or a skewer before you pull it, because that lean muscle can hit temp but still be tough and dry.
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wilson.sam16d ago
My first brisket I pulled at 203 because the book said so, and it was like chewing leather. I used to swear by that magic number. What @the_fiona said about the flat rushing ahead really hit home for me last summer. Now I ignore the clock and just probe for that butter feeling all over, especially in the flat. It completely changed how I cook them, way less stress too. That separate feel test is the real finish line, not the temp on the screen.
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the_fiona17d ago
That's a common mix-up, but a probe in the brisket measures meat temp, not the firebox air temp. Your 203 reading was likely correct for the meat itself, which can still dry out if it's just the lean flat cooking too fast. The fire being 230 degrees hotter than your target would definitely rush it and cause that dryness.
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