Hey all, I've been using my pro 780 for a year now but I just can't seem to get any good bark in any of my butts or briskets. In my latest cook I added a water pan hoping to maybe add moisture to help create a bark but it didn't go much. I can never semm to get a black flavorful crust in anything. The butt picture is almost 6 hours in and the brisket was an overnight cook at about 230 and was maybe 12 hours in
by Fizzy56
5 Comments
Hey! It looks like you posted an image!
If this is a photo of one of your cooks, maybe share the recipe and techniques
used, as it’s almost guaranteed one of the first questions you will be asked!
*What seasoning did you use?
*How long did you cook it, and at what temperature?
*Did you use any special tricks or techniques?
Traeger on!
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Put the pepper on first. Pepper makes the bark
That is bizarre. On the pork butt try trimming every last bit of fat off. Meat church says to just get rid of the fat cap completely bc there is enough fat inside the meat anyway. And that way you get more smoke on the meat you want. He also says that spraying with apple cider vinegar every hour gives the smoke something to adhere to. Maybe those two things can help!
At that temp, my butts take like 12+ hours. I think around the 6-hour mark they would probably look like that. I don’t ever wrap and at the end I always have great bark. Here are a few questions about the butt (I’m not as familiar with brisket):
Do you use a binder?
How much seasoning are you using? And what kind?
What temp are you taking the butt off the smoker?
Do you have a temp prob you leave in during the cook?
Have you done a test to find out your hot spots in your particular smoker? I like the bread test over the biscuit test but that’s just me
What method are you using? (Ie Traeger method, Meat Church method etc)
How often are you going and opening up your smoker to check on things?
Maybe it’s just the lighting but it doesn’t look like you have enough rub on that bad boy
Apply binder, and copious amounts of the dankest rubs 🤌🏻🤙🏻