Page 18 - Barbecue News Magazine September 2021

one half wrapped in aluminum foil. The wrapped brisket did not stall. Myhrvold also concluded that the stall was caused by evaporative cooling.
Why does this happen at low cooking temps? At 190°F, as in Myhrvold's test, or at 225°F (the temperature I recom- mend for a lot of my smoking recipes), the evaporation rate can be so great that the meat cools off as fast as it heats. That causes the internal meat temp to get stuck—usually in the 150 to 170°F range—and it can remain pretty much un- changed for hours, driving the novice cook nuts. That's the stall.
The meat temp will stall until much of available moisture on the surface is gone and the surface is dry like jerky. That’s bark formation. Yes, bark, that delightful, crunchy crust loaded with spices, is a sort of jerky.
Generally, the higher the cooking temperature, the shorter the stall, and in some cases, as you approach a cooking temperature of 300°F, there may be no stall at all. Humidity is also a factor because higher humidity means less evapo- rative cooling. Some electric smokers are so tight and high in humidity that they may experience no stall whatsoever. However, the high humidity may also mean less bark. One workaround for this problem is to crank up the heat near the end to crisp the surface.
Airflow is another major factor. The greater the airflow, the shorter the stall. For example, pellet smokers, which in- clude a fan, create an efficient convection environment that speeds evaporation and shortens the stall.
Why doesn’t the meat just stay in the stall until it com- pletely dries out? Because much of the water in meat is bound to other molecules, especially collagen and protein. Even after meat breaks out of the stall, there is still plenty of moisture left behind. Let's say your pork butt or brisket loses 25% of its weight during cooking, and it easily can. Much of that is water evaporating and dripping off, and some is fat dripping off. Even so, there is still plenty of
water left. That juicy taste also gets a boost from melted fat and gelatinized collagen in the meat not to mention saliva.
Benefits Of The Stall
The stall can be aggravating, but it has four benefits for barbecue:
1. It helps create the bark, which can be very tasty.
2. It holds the meat at a moderate temperature long enough for fats and connective tissues to liquefy, signifi- cantly improving texture, juiciness, and flavor.
3. It gives naturally occurring enzymes time to tenderize the meat.
4. It heats the meat evenly so the center and exterior are similar in temperature.
How To Beat The Stall
There are three ways to beat the stall.
One is to cook at a high temperature. Many BBQ com- petitors now roast pork shoulder and brisket in the 300°F range and up. Cook at too high a temp, though, and you get tough dry meat because the proteins shrink.
Another technique is use the Texas crutch, a method of wrapping the meat in butcher paper or aluminum foil and adding a splash of liquid like beer or apple juice. Competi- tion cooks have employed this trick for years. Typically, they wrap the meat when it hits 170°F or so, or when they like the color. The conventional wisdom was that the added liquid creates a bit of steam that tenderizes the meat, and since steam conducts heat faster than air, it speeds cooking. The truth is that the paper or foil prevents evaporative cooling. If the wrapper is tight it prevents evaporation altogether. It’s like running a marathon in a rain coat: You’ll sweat, but it won’t cool you down. Over a period of hours, the temperature inside the wrapper slowly approaches a low simmer. Any moisture that comes out of the meat just pools in the wrapper along with the liquid the cook adds.
BarbecueNews.com - 18
SEPTEMBER 2021