My bark came out like a CRUST - what went wrong with my brisket?

I did a brisket last weekend for a family thing here in Portland and the bark came out super hard, almost like a shell. It was my first time trying a new rub with more sugar in it from a recipe I saw online. The meat itself was tender and juicy inside but the outside was like biting into concrete. I cooked it at 250 for about 12 hours on my offset smoker, wrapped it in butcher paper at the stall around 165. So here's the debate: is the sugar in the rub to blame, or did I wrap it too late and let it dry out? Some folks say wrap earlier to keep moisture in and others say sugar just burns if you don't watch temps. Has anyone else had this where your bark turns into armor? What did you do different next time?

2 comments

2 Comments

tylerlane16d ago

Man I used to swear by wrapping at 165 but I tried wrapping earlier around 150 a few times and it totally changed my bark game. The sugar in your rub is definitely the main culprit though, that stuff burns way faster than you'd think at those temps. Dialing back the sugar or dropping to 225 for the first few hours fixed that crust issue for me.

blake43216d ago

Dropping to 225 for the first few hours is the move, I did that with a sugar-heavy rub and the bark set nice and dark without turning into concrete. Wrapping at 150 also helped keep that moisture locked in so the bark didn't get brittle on me.