The Clock and the Temperature Probe

  • Thread starter barbefunkoramaque
  • Start date
LOL I am sorry. I was talking about if you have a large pit you are unfamiliar with and need a good quick way of finding the hot spots (or adjusting plates on some models) then taking the BISCUITS out of the cans and placing them evenly at 6-12 inch increments and running the pit at about 250 or so will show you where your hots spots are. I am not endorsing the canned biscuit.... however, now that I think of it, homemade biscuits would be cheaper, huh? LOL

augie said:
Well, maybe you can get away with calling those atrocities in cans biscuits in Texas, but not in the deep south (yeah, I know Florida doesn't qualify as being in the deep south any way but geographically, but my dad was from Mississippi).

Where would you probe the cans anyway?

:twisted:
Click to expand...
 
Actually, I kinda DO want to know when my rib roast reaches a certain temp so I don't over cook it.:becky: Otherwise, I'll keep using the bend test for my ribs and the poke-a-poke test for my briskie and the waggle the bone test for my butt.
 
yeah but once again - rib roast is not what we are talking about - kinda like tri tip. We are talking about the tougher cuts that need to be cooked slowly (in comparison to charred cutts) and are wortheless when they are pink or medium rare and what not
 
When I first started I had no temp probes. Did have a clock though, those things are everywhere! I kinda knew how long it should take. (give or take a few hours). Started there. Even today I just have a regular old therm (dial version, slow...) I only use it right at the end to make sure my feel and eyes are in agreement with the tempature it is.

I do think they can be useful tools, but they can be used as a crutch as well. It is all about balance. I have watched alot of your videos, and I still have alot to learn, but hey, thats majority of the fun.
 
I had this guy at our local restaurant that sorta wants me to fix his lousy Q but will not change anything. I absolutley love the guy though and think he is a nice guy but he INHERITED the most HORRID sauce i have ever had anywhere. hands down... I mean if someone pours a can of tomato soup over ribs I would like that more. Anyway, the other day I ordered a steak and the steak arrived really rare although I said medium rare. I said nothing a choked it down to be nice then he goes on to tell me his "theory" that all steaks he requires to be cooked one temp under what someone asks for because he says doneness is subjective. I sort of understand that but he guarantees nearly every steak is going to be wrong by that logic. Its idiotic to think that way. I see the logic but its planning to fix a problem by making it wrong to start with.

There is indeed a temperature level at which a steak is done to some degree spearated by levels like rare (120-125) - I think mine was 80 degrees LOL - Medium rare (130-135), medium (140-145), Medium well (150-155) Well Done (160) These are easily hittable targets. I would not worry about the "hole" because he sticks one of those meat temp signs in each steak (which goes in the quick temp hole).

Sure I use the feel method but that's not reliable.

Will he listen - nope.
 
What you been in my neck of the woods??

Guy here is the same way. I have just about stopped ordering steaks all together from resturants. I can't tell you the last time I got a Medium Rare steak. Always has been rare or done.
 
I did considerable time in your state when I was researching German Interned Maritime Sailors that were house in a Hot Springs Spa Hotel and Golf Resort back in 1917-1918.
 
barbefunkoramaque said:
The Temp Probe has caused an over reliance in the false finality of internal temps as a judging medium for the "doneness" if many given smoked meats in the beef and pork categories. The Clock holds a close second in its ability to undermine a otherwise tender and moist product.
Click to expand...

If I follow your intent, I think the above with "finality" in it really sums up the popular phiosophy that has baptized a lot of q'ers into the art today.

On the other hand, I use a temp-probe to let me know when I am over the stall, so I can kind of get an idea of when to start probing (I'll open up at about 185ish and jab around on the flat).

I'm always doing so many other things, that I lose track of the cook; so the temp-probe helps.

Also, because I ONLY do hot and fast now, I have learned the HARD way that when it is done, to get it out of there and don't dink around and leave it in there!!

I can not see how a clock could possibly help to get it out when it needs to be out.

Bulverde
 
Last edited:
> the zenith of doneness

Now, THERE's the best damned nick I've ever heard of:

TheZenithofDoneness
 
The clock.... the clock is helpful for pacing. Any more than 4 beers an hour can have adverse effects on our ability to tend to the smoker and can result in a state rendering the cook in a dreamstate.

The temp probe in the meat can help prevent an extreme overcook should the cook forget to check the clock that is so vital to his ability to pace his consumption and he renders himself incapacitated. In In that event an alarm indicating that the meat has reached a certain temperature where one should at least be concious an alarm can wake the sleeping cook so that he can resume his attentive prodding and/or bone pulling processes.

And that is how clocks and thermometers can be important although possible not necessary implements in the barbeque process.

I understand what you are saying barbefunkoramaque but at the same time there are some general temperature zones where I think I am glad I was paying attention when I first started. For example even though I have learend to fine tune when to pull, early on getting the butt to about 200 put me in the zone of what to look for in general. Had I not had that as a guide in the early days I would have probably pulled way too early several times and ended up with a lesser product. If anything when I first started it definately kept me from peeking too often. Now after being at it for a while I just kind of understand when it's time and that it is in fact done when it's done.

In the end it's beer that is the problem in my experience and the consumption of too much of it.
 
from how many sources can the new bbq cook get the following info:
cook your pork/brisket at 225 until internal temperature reads 195-205.
this instruction is beaten on so many drums its defeaning.

the best brisket, by far and away(and as some sort of coroboration, we had a couple over to eat, and they did a 2 week tour in the south on a BBQ joint quest, and did remark, this was among the best)i had ever had or made(have yet to even come close to replicating, sadly), i pulled at 168. at the time i KNEW it wasn't done, but it was soft to the probe, and i needed the space on the cooker for my next meats cuz i was practicing the first time for comps. so i thought, just push through, and we'll see...
just lucky with that particular brisket and that particular cook, but...

now my issue has progressed a little further as my experience base grows.
i can't help but look at the temps when i probe BTW.
briskets since the one above; they ain't butter soft at 168, and when they are butter soft, usually closer to 185/90, they've been kinda dry.

i'm cooking hot and fast(@325-350)so i am watching the clock for the first hour or two, and i am using an IT at that point to wrap just coming out of the stall, but beyond that, it is just coincidental that the stick i poke it with also tells me what temp its at. its done when its done, but i'm getting them overdone.

i'm working on this skill: smell.
i think you can smell when the meat is coming out of the stall, and then again right when it begins or ends(not sure which yet cuz i haven't done enough, but depending on which one it is that i am smelling can determine done or if you don't watch it CLOSELY overdone)its collagen breakdown and is either the precise time EXACTLY to take it off or the precise time EXACTLY to start giving it some pokes and serious attention.

this is a work in progress for me at its infancy, but i think it's possible.

anyway, i learned, by accident, IT's can't be relied upon. the clock is one of the pillars of life and cannot be avoided or ignored, other than, in reference to BBQ:
"no, it ain't done yet" , "wow, right when i wanted it", or "holy cow, done already"????
 
You are absolutely right. I use these things exclusively to cook brisket and everyone has already seen my weep em and read ribs video.

Sound - like a bag of microwave popcorn (and also the design of either my self made 1000 pound meat mama and the 6600 lbs Brazos which as a diverter plate) I know when things begin to weep. briskets too.... retain a lot of their moisture and FAT throughout about 95 % of the cook.... then, after the stall they begin to weep... a little at first, then like Popcorn in a microwave - a lot... most of it of course fat... hauling away that collagen. When it slows down I usually lately tamp down the furnace making them draw in just before I pull them. I can even listen in the brazos tell from sound which ones start weeping first.... the front and back start weeping first.

Smell - I use a lot of pepper and no foil. Thus the pepper I use becomes more toned down as the brisket nears that done stage (due to the heat and meat juices carrying away the heat of the pepper) yet leaving behind that earthy mild pepper smell. This has to go somewhere... and you do not get this as much on a low and slow cook and DEF NOT if foiled.
I live near a BBQ joint I am slowly trying to influence. I told the guy he needed to ramp up his temp at least to 250 in his oyler. At forst of course he thought I was full of ****. One day I stopped in and looked him in the eye and said "I can tell you did two things" One you saw my video and added that ending salt and pepper rub just before you put them on.. second, I know you ramped up the temps.
He goes how did you know - i said cuz the whole town smells different. I can smell the smell of the meat (WITH your smoke) that you cannot ever get that smell at 220 or 230. Next is... you are about to pull the briskets off as they are weeping right now... the pepper smell is in the air.... which means its coming out of the rub. He was amazed. still has not converted and still will not wrap his briskets - so as a result - he has about 20-30 percent dried out brisket that he thinks his steam oven will revive.

sight - sometimes there is no need to poke when color will do. I know a guy whose probe of a long broom handle with a meat hook on the end. He uses the blunt end to thumb the briskets. When the points get "so - so" then he knows they are ready to pull and hold--- thus tenderize to his liking.

feel - I open the pit and am ready to pull some briskets or shift them to the hot zone to finish them off. Once all these inputs above are in my brain, just placing my hands on the briskets key me in like some kind of brisket empath. Of course i do 25 or more at a time. They either get tossed front or back or pulled and rested. I am getting now to where I do not even probe as much.


boogiesnap said:
from how many sources can the new bbq cook get the following info:
cook your pork/brisket at 225 until internal temperature reads 195-205.
this instruction is beaten on so many drums its defeaning.

the best brisket, by far and away(and as some sort of coroboration, we had a couple over to eat, and they did a 2 week tour in the south on a BBQ joint quest, and did remark, this was among the best)i had ever had or made(have yet to even come close to replicating, sadly), i pulled at 168. at the time i KNEW it wasn't done, but it was soft to the probe, and i needed the space on the cooker for my next meats cuz i was practicing the first time for comps. so i thought, just push through, and we'll see...
just lucky with that particular brisket and that particular cook, but...

now my issue has progressed a little further as my experience base grows.
i can't help but look at the temps when i probe BTW.
briskets since the one above; they ain't butter soft at 168, and when they are butter soft, usually closer to 185/90, they've been kinda dry.

i'm cooking hot and fast(@325-350)so i am watching the clock for the first hour or two, and i am using an IT at that point to wrap just coming out of the stall, but beyond that, it is just coincidental that the stick i poke it with also tells me what temp its at. its done when its done, but i'm getting them overdone.

i'm working on this skill: smell.
i think you can smell when the meat is coming out of the stall, and then again right when it begins or ends(not sure which yet cuz i haven't done enough, but depending on which one it is that i am smelling can determine done or if you don't watch it CLOSELY overdone)its collagen breakdown and is either the precise time EXACTLY to take it off or the precise time EXACTLY to start giving it some pokes and serious attention.

this is a work in progress for me at its infancy, but i think it's possible.

anyway, i learned, by accident, IT's can't be relied upon. the clock is one of the pillars of life and cannot be avoided or ignored, other than, in reference to BBQ:
"no, it ain't done yet" , "wow, right when i wanted it", or "holy cow, done already"????
Click to expand...
 
I haven't really been here in a couple of months, but it's threads like these that make me miss the place.
 
It DO get a bit colorful from time to time don't it! :boxing::twisted::becky:
 
barbefunkoramaque said:
The Clock and the Temp Probe.....

Has ruined more BBQ than anything in the last decade.

Now if you use them with expertise then good for you but you are not in the majority.

Then there's all the ones that THINK they make good Q (either from never eating any good q at a pagent or a local place or simply because they have a warped sense of what good q is) and THUS also use probes and clocks in complete denial they are ****ing their q.

The two things have ruined in my opinion maybe 1/3 of the world's Brisket supply alone.

I used to say the Internet has ruined it but while bad info (or too much conflicting good info) has ruined a lot of BBQ,, this forum has proven to give a valuable alignment to the myths and bad practices of bad Q. Kind of like Mental Retardation is on the down slide while Autism is on the up. In other words we do it right and all the others **** it up... the worse internet contributors being so called "chefs" writing for recipe.com sites.

Now discuss.
Click to expand...

This is the part, that I find troubling, personally i have this issue, any suggestions aside form a trip to your place to remedy the never eaten good Q?
Not that i'm opposed to a trip......

Weather mine is good or not, is undetermined, but I find it difficult to order Q anyplace, I am continually disappointed, and brisket, don't get me started on where in PA to find a good brisket, it is difficult for me to make a brisket when I have never tasted a good one.

I might have to disagree though on the clock and temp probe being the real issues.
To me the real issues are people being stubborn, or not understand what is meant when they are told to probe, or feel. It takes a lot of cooking to develop and understand done, (for me anyway) people are stubborn or not willing to spend the money on cooking large amounts of meat.

I have personally made the mistake of telling people when its going to be done, only to be serving burgers and dogs because its not ready and they are unwilling to wait, lesson learned, done early resting long before the time people are expecting to eat.

Its done when its done, so have coolers or cambros ready.....and be done early, rather than late.

Thanks for he discussion.

Eric
 
Goddahavit said:
This is the part, that I find troubling, personally i have this issue, any suggestions aside form a trip to your place to remedy the never eaten good Q?
Not that i'm opposed to a trip......

Weather mine is good or not, is undetermined, but I find it difficult to order Q anyplace, I am continually disappointed, and brisket, don't get me started on where in PA to find a good brisket, it is difficult for me to make a brisket when I have never tasted a good one.

I might have to disagree though on the clock and temp probe being the real issues.
To me the real issues are people being stubborn, or not understand what is meant when they are told to probe, or feel. It takes a lot of cooking to develop and understand done, (for me anyway) people are stubborn or not willing to spend the money on cooking large amounts of meat.

I have personally made the mistake of telling people when its going to be done, only to be serving burgers and dogs because its not ready and they are unwilling to wait, lesson learned, done early resting long before the time people are expecting to eat.

Its done when its done, so have coolers or cambros ready.....and be done early, rather than late.

Thanks for he discussion.

Eric
Click to expand...


And thank you for the contemplative response:-D
 
This is an excellent thread.

When I started to cook bbq about 11 years ago, I had a few mentors.

I started by using a WSM.

One of them was quite anal about using only 225 degree temperature.

To the point that if it didn't get to that temp he was slightly lost and panicked.

I thought it was excessive but I did it and it helped me learn how to control my fire.

I believe that having a certain acceptable range for different meats is the logical thing to do.

I think most people try to keep their temps relatively low for ribs.

For briskets and pork butts I have had good results with different temps all over the map with high temps working quite well.

For someone just starting out, guidelines will at least give them some sense of control.

The key to know is that the best cooks are always experimenting and what worked last time won't necessarily work this time.

With experience I have found that times and temperatures can vary greatly especially with briskets.

Every piece of meat is a different animal and some may have tougher muscles or more fat or less fat much like humans lol.

Every piece of brisket needs to be approached on its own as if you are doing it for the first time and yes, it is done when it is done.

I think what some may worry about opening up the smoker too often to poke and check it if is done by feeling. Probably afraid that you will lose temperature control or maybe get a dry product by opening it too often.

Again, have a certain guideline may give you a range that you think it is done.

Nailing it at just the right time to take it out of the smoker along with the proper resting time with precision is not going to be found by reading a thermometer, it is going to be done with your own experience.

That my friends is a much more valuable tool than a 10K dollar smoker, an expensive thermometer or a rolex watch to get your times right.
 
yo baby pop... well said

therms have their place.... tri tip, prime rib, and some parts of the chicken
 
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