Finally got my brisket bark right after a year of trying

I could never get that dark, crusty bark without burning the flat, so I messed with temps and rubs forever. Last weekend I tried wrapping in butcher paper at 175 degrees instead of foil, and cooking at 225 the whole time. It took 16 hours total, but the bark was perfect and the meat was still super tender. Anyone else find that the wrap timing makes or breaks the whole cook?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettykim2mo ago

Game changer" feels a bit strong. It's just a different way to wrap meat, right? I've had good results with foil too, so maybe it's not that big of a deal.

phoenixgonzalez17d ago

Yeah I was skeptical too until I tried it on a brisket last month. Wrapped in foil up to 190 and the bark was basically mush. Next time I switched to butcher paper at 165 and let it ride to 203. The bark held up way better and the meat was still tender. Foil works fine for pork butts where you want it soft, but for brisket I'm sticking with paper now.

the_lucas2mo ago

Wrap timing is everything, man. I switched to paper at 180 and it was a total game changer for my bark too.