Thermometer and temp questions

Take the IT at the thickest part of meat, and not touching a bone.

1. Maverick thermos seem to be pretty popular. Hasn't let me down yet...
2. Temps are taken at thickest part of the meat (for brisket, the thickest part of the flat). I don't temp ribs, use the bend test.
3. If I am getting different temps on the same piece of meat, I still go by what the thickest part of the meat reads.
4. Ideally brisket will be done when the temp probe goes in like as if it were going into butter. The temp when this happens can be different for every brisket, but if I had to put numbers to it, it's around the high 190's to low 200's. My pork is pretty much the same.

I am no expert though. Someone will chime in that has far more experience than me. But what I said has worked pretty well for my cooking.

LiveSimple said:

Hey guys. I've had a little trouble with meat temps lately. Here are a few of my questions.
1. What meat thermometer would you recommend? Any thing made by ThermoWorks,even their oven thermometers.
2. Where do you take temps on butts, brisket and ribs? I don't temp these three. I do use the "butter" test. When I do this I do it in the thickest part of the piece of meat. Brisket the point will feel done before the flat. You can separate them, but the point has so much fat that it will be fine if left on. As stated above the bend test for the ribs. You can use temp as a guide to check to see if things are done.
3. I've had a couple of times lately where I get different readings in different parts of a meat. Which reading do I chose. For example if I want brisket at 190. Which part if the brisket should be 190? Same for pork. Should which part of the pork should be 203. See above answer.
4. Finally (I know there will be preference here, but what are your ideal temps for sliced brisket, pulled butts, and competition ribs? There can really be no ideal temp because each piece of meat is different. Learning to cook by feel will give you the best results and you will be able to pull anything off the smoker before it reaches the stage where it will be over done. If this was easy everyone would be doing it and this site would not be here.

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Good luck.