Quote:
Originally Posted by pnoon
So I have a question for the experienced (food) smokers here. What does it take to get that really dark crunchy bark? Is it a really thick layer of rub? Higher temps? Longer smoking? A combination of the above? Something else I'm missing?
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BBQ is one of those things where everyone eventually develops their own style and technique for this and many other things since we all cook a bit differently and prefer different combinations of ingredients and methods and individual pits work and behave differently.
For me, it can be a garlic paste coating (on lamb for example), or a heavier coating of rub - the rub having some brown sugar in it and no salt, so I can get away with this. That and 230F-240F pit with some smoke and that's about it for me. I hardly ever baste or mop.
Personally, I think Brad, gator and Luke get better looking barks than I do most of the time, so take my advice for what it's worth.
Traegers burn very clean, so you might never see a super dark bark.
Another thing to keep in mind is that these photos might not be representing the color correctly. A lot of the food I take pictures of looks darker on the screen than it actually is (or at least on my monitors - which might or might not be properly calibrated).
BTW - I've had dark crunchy bark that looked great but when you bit into it, it was due to oversmoking or overtemp and was bitter and nasty, so ehhh.