Man, the fish thing hits home hard! I did the same with brussels sprouts for like two years. Thought they were bitter, mushy garbage from all those sad steamed versions my grandma made. Tossed them in the air fryer with some bacon bits and a little balsamic, and now they come out all crispy on the edges like little flavor bombs. I bet you're onto something with the patting dry trick too, I do that with wings and it makes a huge difference. What else have you tried since that felt like a total cheat code?

yeah that 195 thing gets thrown around but it aint a magic number. I've had briskets probe perfect at 190 and others still fighting at 205, depends on the fat and the cook. Anyone who slices before the probe slides in like warm butter is gambling, not cooking.

Watched a guy try to clean his pellet stove glass with Windex and a razor blade, ended up scratching the ceramic so bad it looked frosted. He called me to fix it and I just had to tell him there was no fix, that glass was done for. Cheap lesson for him, funny story for me.