Hot take: Wood type matters more than temp control for brisket

I was at a competition in Kansas City last month and a pitmaster told me he uses only post oak for brisket. Said temperature swings don't matter as long as the wood is right. That goes against everything I learned from Franklin's book about steady 225. But then his brisket beat mine by 20 points. Is the wood really the secret or was he just lucky that day? Anyone else tested this theory?

3 comments

3 Comments

alicec8629d ago

My buddy out in Lockhart swore by pecan wood for years, then one day his smoker caught fire mid-cook and he still took home a ribbon with that brisket.

adams.harper29d ago

Man, that reminds me of a time my neighbor tried to smoke a brisket with nothing but cherry wood he got from a guy on Craigslist. Left the smoker on overnight and the fire went totally out around 3am, but he just relit it with a blowtorch the next morning and threw it back on. That brisket was the best thing I ever ate, no joke, had this weird sweetness to it from the cherry and the stall didn't even matter. Wood definitely does something weird to the meat that temp can't fix, I think that pitmaster might be onto something real.

janac5129d ago

My grandpa had a saying about that - "sometimes the best stuff comes from the mistakes you make when you're not trying too hard." I've seen it with all kinds of cooking, not just BBQ. You plan everything perfect and it goes sideways, but the happy accident ends up being the thing people remember.