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Saw a guy in Austin still running a stick burner with no temp gauge last week

Three years back at a cook-off in Lockhart, almost every pit had a digital controller. Last month at a friend's yard, his new pellet grill had an app that beeped his phone. But last Thursday at a food truck park, this older fellow was just watching the smoke color on an old offset, no probe in sight. He told me 'if you listen, the fire talks to you.' Anyone still cook like that, or is it all gadgets now?
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3 Comments
walker.logan
That line about the fire talking to you is dead on. I learned on an old brick pit my granddad built, and you do listen. The sound of the draft, the way the smoke feels on your skin when you put your hand over the stack, it all tells you something. Gadgets are fine for holding a temp while you sleep, but they put a screen between you and the meat. If you never learn the feel of it, you're just following instructions, not really cooking.
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nathanb71
nathanb711mo ago
Yeah, but you can learn the feel and still use a probe to catch a nap... it's not one or the other.
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tyler_white42
tyler_white422d agoProlific Poster
Walker.logan gets it. Read an old article once where a guy said a probe is like training wheels, fine to start but you gotta take them off to really ride.
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