Brisket Bark

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Cliff H.

Master Chef
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
6,143
Location
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Every brisket I have wrapped has come out with a soft bark. The taste is good but the bark is soft. This last one I did I used a combo of TX bbq rub and Wolfe rub. They taste pretty dang good together.

Do others experience the same woes ?

Is there something I could be doing to solve this and still wrap ?

Maybe I should try doing an 10-2-1 and see how that goes.

I realize that many folks do not wrap brisket. Maybe that is the direction that I need to go.
 
The bark is going to soften when you put it in foil...steam and its own juices are going to take any "hard" bark and make it soft. It will always happen...sometimes when I make pork butts I will have whoever is over at the time hover over the platter as soon as I take the butts off the WSM to taste the "crispy bark" before I wrap it and hold...there is a noticeable difference after the butt is removed from the foil...same as the brisket...soft! :D
 
I don't wrap during the cook, and I cook at a fairly high temp (275) which tends towards hard bark. But I wrap in plastic wrap for the resting period which softens it slightly, but sometimes it stays too chewy. You can probably get better bark with a slower cook (225ish) a little less rub, and a loose foil wrap during the rest; but you lose predictability in time through stall, as well as four hours or so towards the project. That's prep, chamber, and/or sleep time that could be more profitably employed. You might get a little bit better smoke penetration (and ring!) at the lower temp, but you get a more even and juicier cook at 275. And so on.

Like so many other things in life, choosing methods means managing trade-offs.

Rich
 
A little Turbinado Sugar in the rub will go a long way to helping with a firmer bark, especially if you foil during the cook. You may also want to try and take it back out of the foil once it hits around 185* until it get's to the temp you normally pull it off the cooker at.

I don't foil mine at all during the cook. I do like Rich does and wrap in Saran Wrap once I take it off of the cooker. Then I wrap it in foil and a towel. Then into a dry cooler to rest for 4 hours. Comes out juicy with good bark every time.

Tim
 
I totaly agree with Rich, I cook at 275ish as well never foil unless I have to hold it, bark comes out great.
 
Turbinado sugar for me works well. I don't foil during a cook unless it is stalling too much at the plateau.
 
Cliff H. said:
Every brisket I have wrapped has come out with a soft bark. The taste is good but the bark is soft. This last one I did I used a combo of TX bbq rub and Wolfe rub. They taste pretty dang good together.

Do others experience the same woes ?

Is there something I could be doing to solve this and still wrap ?

Maybe I should try doing an 10-2-1 and see how that goes.

I realize that many folks do not wrap brisket. Maybe that is the direction that I need to go.

Anytime you wrap your meat either during the cook or for resting purposes after the cook you are going to lose the quality of the bark texture due to the steam reconstituting the "bark", it's just a way of life.

You can help the bark a little by draining the juices from the foil "after the rest" and then unwrapping the brisket and let sit unfoiled until thoroughly cooled before slicing. This will give the bark a chance to "reset", but you are not going to have the same texture as you will without foiling at all.
 

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