Any way to preserve the bark?


 
J

Jim Rutter

New member
Going to be doing two ~6 lb butts this weekend. My last two I made were stunningly good.. I left them alone for the 18 hr cook at 225). Foiled them after they hit 195 and into the cooler for 3-4 hours. The problem is the foil softened the bark.

I know the meat has to rest.. but is there any way to "rest" it without turning the bark soft?

thanks!
 
I place a butt in a half size disposable foil steam tray pan and let the surface cool 15 to 20 min at room temp. Then i cover the pan with foil. This does not soften the bark
 
I have a wire rack with probably 3 inch legs that fits well in a medium size cooler. I put foil underneath for easier clean up. Set the meat on the rack without foiling it and it stays plenty warm for a while.
 
I'm not going to mean for this to sound contrary and I hope it doesn't, but, if cooking for a crowd is it absolutely imperative to have the crunchy bark?

The reason I ask is that I smoke for a long time at a lower temp (I put meat on cold, at a cook temp of 215-225 and let it go until the butt hits 165, at which point I wrap in untreated brown butcher paper (maybe this is another reason I haven't bark problems?) flip upside down in a pan and turn the temp up to 250-275 and cook to 200 internal. I then let it sit in a cambro, still wrapped in grease-soaked paper, for at least an hour, typically longer. My reason for noting the above is that I still have great bark, it's just not quite crunchy. The best part about that is that it's soft and easier to break down into smaller pieces so that more of the bark is interspersed within the pulled pork. It seems to work fantastic, and I do this for competitions as well with good results. Just thought it worth asking about the bark.

Regardless, hope you get it all where ya like it...
 
Chris Sherman said:
Good advice Randy...thanks for sharing.
Where do you buy your butcher paper?
Click to expand...

I get it by the (I think) 2000' roll at one of the paper products companies. I'll try to recall the name, but either way, it wasn't very expensive and even at my usage it hasn't decreased much in size...lol
 
Randy W said:
I get it by the (I think) 2000' roll at one of the paper products companies. I'll try to recall the name, but either way, it wasn't very expensive and even at my usage it hasn't decreased much in size...lol
Click to expand...

I got this, I believe:

http://www.foodservicefiresale.com/Brown_Kraft_Paper_36_in_x_1000_ft_p/bwkkft36301000.htm

I certainly didn't think I'd gotten it from FSF, but I know it was 36"x1000' so maybe I did. Either way, you can see the price isn't that high and it will last forever. I wouldn't get less than 30" width, but I reallllly like my 36". I don't care what they say, size matters ;-p


For reference, some other companies are:

Uline.com
POSPaper.com

And any of the online restaurant supply resources. Does that help?
 
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