To build a better bark on my brisket, I should...

[bruno994]

To build a better bark on my brisket I should...now fill in the blank...

[erbeman]

Not steam it. In other words, cooking it in foil with juices.

[bruno994]

Not steam it. In other words, cooking it in foil with juices.

I have done that along with a spritz of an apple juice and sugar mixture every hour or so as well. Both work great, just looking for other suggestions.

[erbeman]

This should help.

http://www.texasbbqforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17484

[BluDawg]

If your braising in Foil you will never get good Bark ( at least in my opinion) Either skip & go neked or switch to Butcher Paper.
Bark is built by the natural sugars in the meat caramelizing and the deposits of particulates in the smoke sticking to it.
Butcher paper will give you the Speed of Foil and not mess up the Bark paper is porous so it breaths un like foil, you get a moist environment and continue to take on smoke.
I cook all my Butts & Briskets at 300 Briskets I wrap after 4 hrs and some where in the next 2 hrs it will achieve Holy Grail status.The only rub I use on Beef is 50/50 K salt & med grind black pepper.
Also note you get better bark with a Stick Burner than yo do with a charcoal based pit.
This one was cooked neked

Close up


This one was cooked in Butcher Paper

Close up

[dub']

...cook fat side down,no foil.

dub(works 4 me)

[k.a.m.]

Well then there is old k.a.m. that comes in and say's sure you can use foil and achieve a nice bark.
Foiled at 160° taken to 205° internal temp then rested for three hours.

[jtilk]

To build a better bark on my brisket I should...now fill in the blank...

It's not what you should do, it's what you SHOULDN'T do... as in DO NOT spritz or foil.
As for what you should do, put plenty of rub that will help form the bark. Brown sugar helps create a good bark (although I'm not one for sweet brisket).

[bruno994]

Why no spritz? The apple juice basically dissipates and the sugar content helps build a crusty exterior...I don't like sweet brisket either, my rub contains heavy salt and pepper with a combo of other spices that blend well.

[jtilk]

Why no spritz? The apple juice basically dissipates and the sugar content helps build a crusty exterior...I don't like sweet brisket either, my rub contains heavy salt and pepper with a combo of other spices that blend well.

Spritzing adds moisture. It cant dry out and allow the bark to form as long as moisture is being added. Same reason you avoid a water pan if you want a bark when cooking brisket. May not be quite so bad if you stop spritzing after a certain point... But there is also the argument if sugar is what you want from the apple juice, why not just add it from the beginning with the rub?

If it works for you, continue what you are doing.

[js-tx]

use butcher paper.

Should add you don't any sugar to create a bark, salt and pepper work just fine. I think it's about having just the right amount of moisture in your pit. Too much and you got a soggy bark, too little and you get a crusty thick bark. I typically wrap with butcher paper, however there are times when I'm doing 2 briskets or another butt and with all the extra moisture, no wrapping was necessary. This is especially true if you cook under 275* or under. If you go hotter that extra heat will evaporate that moisture. Trial and error...

[BluDawg]

Why no spritz? The apple juice basically dissipates and the sugar content helps build a crusty exterior...I don't like sweet brisket either, my rub contains heavy salt and pepper with a combo of other spices that blend well.

It extends the cook time, It adds absolutely nothing to the Cook as far as flavor, A moist environment makes lousy bark. That brisket has plenty of natural sugar in the meat and the fat that will caramelize and form a flavorful bark.There is such a thing as TO MUCH or Throwing everything at it and hoping something works. Put it on the pit close the door and maintain the cook temp and just leave it alone to cook. It is all about the meat not allot of complicated nonsense. A Clean constant fire will do more for good BBQ and Bark than all the books ever written on the subject. In 30 + yrs of cooking BBQ I've tried it all at one time or another. Less is always more.

[Gator]

I'm with BD on this one, build a good fire, rub it, put it on the pit and don't touch it till its done. It'll come off blacker than the ace of spades, you can work back from there is its too much smoke for your liking.

[Boots]

I'm not gonna argue about all this with my good friends here, especially the Dawg whose cookin I would gladly sample anytime, except to say that there is at least 2 ways (or 4 or 6 or 18) to skin a cat.

I'm just gonna describe what I did, and you judge for yerself. This is the Wagyu that ol' Yoda and I did for the 2011 Taylor cook.

So, 22 hours total cooking at an average of 200-210. About 16 hours fat down first in good slow blue smoke, hickory and pecan, and me praying like a deranged Deacon the whole way. "Mopped" it the whole way (spray bottle really) with this whiskey-butter-rub thing I do that really does some nice stuff to the meat. Then foiled it 3 hours fat side up in the super duty stuff that is recycled skin off a B-52 bomber from Viet Nam days. Then peeled off the cover and slow smoked it all the way in on final approach to touch down, ever so lightly, and rolled to a dead stop on the button at 22 hours. Yoda and I traded off 4 hour shifts as Nighthawk, watching over the thing, and every time we'd do a shift change, the coming on shift would pour a whiskey neat and raise a toast for the coming off shift to help get to sleep. Nice starting tradition for our team. Yoda even started singing "Cattle Call" about three AM to calm everybody down in camp, cause the heat was up pretty hard that summer (August at 3 AM was about 97 degrees that year) and the natives were getting restless. Only 3 beer bottles heaved at him out of the dark as a result, which I counted as a standing ovation in cookoff terms. It were a mite caliente for all us gringoes, I tell you, 107 during the day).

So we sliced the beast up and turned it in, and it's still the best thing I ever cooked, the bark was light and strong and everso crispy like the best ol' fried chicken crust you ever had, the meat was juicy and nary any real fat left unrendered, and the smoke and whiskey and pepper all just kinda oozed out and slapped you hard like Liz Taylor on a hot tin roof and said "HELLO!".

It was only later when we didn't walk that I figgured out the judges were from the Deef, Dumb, and Blind School for Dropped on the Head at Birth Children down the road in Schulenberg (LOL).

Bless all you opinionated souls out there, you help keep me a happy fella.

[jtilk]

Nothing to complain about there Bootsy... looks like a winner