Just hit 500 racks of ribs on my offset, never expected the 400 mark to feel so big

I started counting back in 2021 when I got my first barrel smoker in Austin, just to see how much I was actually cooking. Last weekend I did my 500th rack for a buddy's graduation party and it got me thinking about that 400th one I did back in March. That 400th rack was the first time I nailed the smoke ring and bark combo without touching the fire once, took me three tries that week to get there. I keep a little notebook in the shed with temps and cook times for every single rack, and flipping back through it made me realize how much trial and error built up. Has anyone else hit a weird round number like this and stopped to count how many briskets or butts they have wrecked before getting consistent?

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daniel_martin5d ago

Man, that notebook thing hits close to home. My buddy Carl started the exact same kind of log back in 2019 and he swears by it, but he hit his 300th pork butt last fall and nearly cried when he realized he'd wasted half a year fighting a bad thermometer. He only figured it out because the notes showed the temp readings were always bouncing around 25 degrees off from what his probe said. Now he just laughs about the 150 dry chickens he made before he finally bought a decent one, says the notebook saved his marriage. Point is, those round numbers aren't just about the meat, they're about the wreckage you survived to get there.