One pitmaster in Lockhart showed me why he never flips briskets

Ngl, I watched this guy at a tiny joint outside Lockhart run a whole packer without touching it once, and when I asked about it he just said 'the fire does the flipping.' He pointed at the bark forming and said if I rotate too early I'm just resetting the crust, plain and simple. Does anyone else stick to no-flip on long cooks or is that just his style?

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robinson.leo1mo ago

Wait, did he mean he never flips at all, or just not early on? Cause I get the whole bark thing, but I've had way too many briskets with a burnt bottom and a raw top to buy that completely. The fire does the flipping sounds cool until you get a hot spot in your cooker and the bottom side is basically charcoal while the top is still pale. I rotate my packers every couple hours, but I'm gentle about it, and I've never noticed the crust resetting, it just keeps building. Maybe his pit is way more even than mine, but I gotta say, I've gotten my best results with a few turns over a long cook, not zero.