Vent: A guy at the Memphis in May contest told me my brisket bark was 'too dark' and it's been bugging me for months.

He was judging the 'People's Choice' tent, and he pointed right at my cutting board and said, 'That's burnt, not bark.' I'd been running my offset at 275 for 14 hours, and the color was perfect to me. Has anyone else had a judge just flat out call your main cook wrong like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

knight.felix2mo ago

Forget that guy. A dark bark is a sign of good sugar and spice caramelization, not burning. Running an offset at 275 for that long is going to give you serious color, and that's what you want. Some judges just have a very narrow idea of what "perfect" looks like. Trust your process if the flavor and tenderness were there.

mia7002mo ago

But how much of a score drop are we even talking here? Like, @carter.julia is right to ask for a picture, because a little dark is fine but I've seen bark that's basically charcoal. If the flavor was good, maybe it's not worth getting so worked up over one judge's call.

robin6282mo ago

Exactly! I got docked hard for "too much bark" once and the meat was perfect. Some folks just see dark and think it's wrong. Keep cooking how you know works.

carter.julia2mo ago

So what's their bark even look like then?