Why is BBQ black?


 
Gary H. NJ

Gary H. NJ

TVWBB Platinum Member
This is right up there with "Why is the sky blue?"...
My wife asked me this question last week when we had burnt ends. Honestly, I didn't have a great answer; certainly nothing that satisfied me. The obvious stuff came to mind -- accumulation of smoke and light caramelization. I do low and slow (225-270F) with very little sugar in my rub and don't glaze until the very end. My pork butts and briskets are the typical meteorite-black after 8-14 hours.
Any thoughts? :confused:
 
Last edited:
It has been my understanding that black is burnt. One wants that mahogany color. Too much sugar in the early stages will burn, therefore black. Do the sugar etc, during the last hour or so and develop the brown color, glazing every 10-15 minutes the last hour, that way the sugar will caramelize and not burn........................d
 
The taste is perfectly fine; not burnt at all. Maybe black is an overstatement. All low and slow bbq'd bark seems very dark -- was just wondering why...
 
Next time you do butt or brisket, when the meat is the color you would like to see on the finished product, or close to it, wrap it.
 
Maillard Reaction. This is different from the caramelization of sugar which occurs at higher temps than bbq usually (325-350)

From the font of knowledge wikipedia:

The browning reactions that occur when meat is roasted or seared are complicated, and occur mostly by Maillard browning[6] with contributions from other chemical reactions, including the breakdown of the tetrapyrrole rings of the muscle protein myoglobin.

Caramelization is an entirely different process from Maillard browning, though the results of the two processes are sometimes similar to the naked eye (and tastebuds). Caramelization may sometimes cause browning in the same foods in which the Maillard reaction occurs, but the two processes are distinct. They both are promoted by heating, but the Maillard reaction involves amino acids, as discussed above, whereas caramelization is simply the pyrolysis of certain sugars. The following things are a result of the Maillard browning reaction:
 
Gary H. NJ said:
...My pork butts and briskets are the typical meteorite-black after 8-14 hours.
Any thoughts? :confused:
Click to expand...

Just sounds like every single butt or brisket of mine that were cooked with water in the pan.

I love what water does as a heat sink for over-nighters and for unfoiled ribs. However, I can use the same sugary rub and get a pretty decent burnished mahogany butt bark....as long as I don't use water in the pan.

I prefer a little higher temp for brisket, so I just wrap it when it looks good.
 
...Butt I read on the other thread that you don't use water, Gary. No idea why your bark might look as it does, then. If you're cooking butts 14 hrs, it's certainly not that you're cooking too fast! I say as long as it tastes good, don't worry about it. But as already suggested, you can always wrap. If you don't like foiling, maybe give some butcher paper a try, at least to wrap a brisket.
 
David said:
http://ezinearticles.com/?4-Tips-to-Build-a-Good-Bark-on-Your-Smoked-Meat&id=4332162
Click to expand...

There's all kinds of stuff that get published or put on line. Some of it is quite helpful, like the article in question's tips NO. 2 and 3. However, I don't buy into the premise that "black bark is burnt bark". Would I rather have burnished, mahogany bark? Sure, but black bark doesn't mean it's burnt. Reheated chili in a pot that doesn't get stirred gets burnt. Toast gets burnt. Chicken grilled directly over and close to hot coals often gets burnt....but if BBQ bark tastes good, I don't call it burnt. But as to tip NO. 1, I've had beautiful mahogany burnished bark on butts with plenty of sugar in the rub. Like I posted earlier though, they didn't come off the wsm (with water in the pan.) Some of the prettiest butts I've ever smoked came off my old UDS, turbinado sugar in the rub, flipping a couple of times directly over coals at moderate temp. Now I use rubs that have mostly brown sugar. It darkens more, but has more flavor. Other than one cook where I tried cooking butts and briskets too fast without wrapping, the only BBQ bark that I've ever had that tasted burnt was in a bbq joint. It soon closed down.

Regards,
Dave
 
I stopped reading when he made his first 'point'. Unless you are cooking hot and fast,you run absolutely no risk - none - nada of browning or burning sugar. The caramelization point of sucrose/table sugar is 320 deg F.

I'm sure the author knows his bbq but he knows crap about food science.
 
Good discussion that could lead to more science in dark bark. And I'm learning here, so this is just a bit of that a little education is a dangerous thing. Lets start here:

Caramelization takes place at 320 degrees for table sugar. However, for fructose it takes place at 230. Fructrose, a plant sugar, is in apple juice as well as many other ingredients that we use, honey, molasses, which many spray or put on their meats. And from wikipedia we have:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose
"Fructose and Maillard reaction

Fructose undergoes the Maillard reaction, non-enzymatic browning, with amino acids. Because fructose exists to a greater extent in the open-chain form than does glucose, the initial stages of the Maillard reaction occurs more rapidly than with glucose. Therefore, fructose potentially may contribute to changes in food palatability, as well as other nutritional effects, such as excessive browning, volume and tenderness reduction during cake preparation, and formation of mutagenic compounds."

Sooooo, is it possible that all the interconnections between all these compounds lead to excessive browning due to fructose being present in some form, which causes black bark but not really burnt? Good question for Alton Brown...................d
 
This may be everywhere but here in NC at the barbeque joints you just ask for blackened when you place an order and they mix blackened in with the rest of the meat. I personally love the extra blackened flavor.
 
Bob, thanks for that link. I was planning on doing some like that, but now I can do a few he did not do, especially brown sugar............................d
 
Bob Bass said:
A good source for the color change also is here, from our good friend at Nickel City Smokers...

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?35841-Experimenting-with-Spices-and-Heat-Induced-Color-Changes&highlight=paprika+color



Bob
Click to expand...

Bob, that was a good thread post by Jeff. Wish we saw more like that, but by the way guys, AP Lang isn't the only one that prefers garlic salt over garlic powder. Although I honestly don't know the reason, Chris Lilly avoids garlic powder as well, preferring garlic salt. He doesn't use much or any onion powder in his rub recipes either, for that matter.
 
One thing you might try is making some ancho powder. The ground ancho powder is relatively expensive by the jar, but easy and cheap to make yourself out of the the big bags of dried ones at the supermarket. It had been a while since I'd made any, but as I deplete my rub jars I'm gonna try replacing more paprika in my rubs with ancho. It has more flavor than paprika so you can use less, but darkens less, as well. This is a pretty good amount, and I still have most of the bag of peppers left for when it's time to make more.
77867026-2376-495F-A711-B65AFB5A4C58-700-000000C67EABB6BD_zpsad42e044.jpg
 
David said:
Good discussion that could lead to more science in dark bark. And I'm learning here, so this is just a bit of that a little education is a dangerous thing. Lets start here:

Caramelization takes place at 320 degrees for table sugar. However, for fructose it takes place at 230. Fructrose, a plant sugar, is in apple juice as well as many other ingredients that we use, honey, molasses, which many spray or put on their meats. And from wikipedia we have:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose
"Fructose and Maillard reaction

Fructose undergoes the Maillard reaction, non-enzymatic browning, with amino acids. Because fructose exists to a greater extent in the open-chain form than does glucose, the initial stages of the Maillard reaction occurs more rapidly than with glucose. Therefore, fructose potentially may contribute to changes in food palatability, as well as other nutritional effects, such as excessive browning, volume and tenderness reduction during cake preparation, and formation of mutagenic compounds."

Sooooo, is it possible that all the interconnections between all these compounds lead to excessive browning due to fructose being present in some form, which causes black bark but not really burnt? Good question for Alton Brown...................d
Click to expand...

I guess the fructose concern is why Chris Lilly's loaf pan chicken, with the apple sauce slather, is suposed to be cooked at 300* and not any higher. Blackened bark on butts might be ok, but it doesn't fly with fryers! (Yep, I've tried a little hotter on my kettles, and learned the hard way.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top