The whole '30 minute bark rule' is overrated nonsense

I was at a competition in Kansas City last June and overheard this guy telling his team that if you don't get good bark in the first 30 minutes you've failed. I've been running a pit for 12 years and that's just not true. My best brisket took a full 45 minutes to set its bark at 225 degrees and it won second place at a county fair. Has anyone else had good results with a slower bark formation?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret_bennett31mo ago

Figured out the same thing with my smoker a few years back. There's this weird pressure everywhere now to rush things that just need time, like instant grits or 15 minute bread. Let the meat do its thing and don't let some loudmouth at a competition mess with your process.

joelsanchez1mo ago

Funny you mention that competition in Kansas City... I was at a similar one in St. Louis a few years back and saw a guy who judged a brisket by how fast it turned black. He called it the "char test" or something. Meanwhile my neighbor across the street, who's been smoking since the 80s, showed me how he wraps his pork shoulder in butcher paper after the first hour and it gets an amazing dark bark by hour three. It's like people forget that bark is just flavor built up slowly, not a race against the clock.