Butt without Bark?

[David Willis]

Have a question about the "bark". Is there a way to cook a butt or shoulder and not get so much of the bark? It may be some sort of rotisserie thing, but we had some excellent shoulder the other day "catered", but it was more of a golden brown, but was tender as all get out.

I imagine the did it on a spit or just roasted it, but I'm wondering if I could get the same effect with the WSM?

Foil for the whole cook?
(I know this sort of defeats the whole purpose of smoking in the first place, but trying to broaden my skills )

Thanks!

 

[K Kruger]

Quite possibly they used no rub at all, merely salt alone or just salt and pepper and moderate cook temps. This approach is common in Texas, especially central, for nearly everything. Not my thing but 'different strokes' as they say. If you'd prefer the flavors imparted by a rub you can try a lightly applied very low sugar or no sugar rub. Keep the particle size small if you grind your own.

 

[David Willis]

So it's the rub that gets the bark going, not necessarily the smoke?

 

[K Kruger]

Heat combined with the natural sugars in the food item cause browning and higher heat means quicker and more deeply colored results. Bark formation is browning writ large. If an applied rub contains sugar browning is yet more thorough but even if the rub contains no sugar natural sugars present in the rub ingredients will color. What we know as 'bark' forms from an interaction of salt, meat proteins, water (drawn by the salt), solids from the rub and added or natural sugars. Added sugar, in particular, melts and mingles with other solids and can create a very firm bark though no-sugar rubs can do the same if applied heavily, depending on the rub ingredients. On some low/slow cooks high sugar rubs can remain quite soft as the sugar can hold moiture. Smoke is not required in any of these scenarios.

Smoke can and often does have an affect on color. If the meat is exposed to thick or a relatively large quantity of smoke then more particulates (benign and malign, colorwise) will settle on the meat. Some smokewoods often impart their own cast as well. Attention to smokewood procedure, quantity and quality can minimize the negatives.

Frequent basting or, as you suspect, cooking on a rotis, can allow for more even coloring (provide smokewood issues are attended to) and a softer bark finish (if a rub is used) as the frequent basing, either manually or because of the rotis rotation, tends to even out surface temps and keeps the solids moister longer.