I just got a tiny offset smoker. Almost impossible to manage temperatures. Stayed up most of the night, made a million mistakes. Cooked too hot, a bit too smoky sometimes. Took it off too early thinking it was going to keep cooking during the hot hold until lunch. Had to reheat it to get it going again. Turned out AMAZING. The only real mistake was trying to sear the fat cap to get it to tighten back up a bit. The fat dripped onto the fire and made it smoky in a bad way. I took it off right away, no major damage except some of the fat stuck to the grill lol! Plus I almost dropped it trying to pull off this maneuver!
Everyone was raving about it and I’ve learned a lot for next time!
That’s how I knew when to stop going to my former favorite bbq place. I think they’re still in business but they never recovered from pandemic. The first red flag was when the brisket was no longer good. But then they stopped making their own sausage and the beans tasted fresh out of the can. I still went several times, hoping it was temporary, but no.