The rind is that beautiful mahogany crust that forms on the ribs, shoulders, buttocks, and breasts when you slow-smoke them to perfection.
The bark should look brown, but never black. If you have black bark, then you have burnt bark.
There are a few simple steps to get the perfect looking and tasting crust. Follow these steps and your barbecue crust will turn out every time.
Step #1: Save the sugar for last
The simple fact is that sugar burns and that burning can ruin your crust. Stay away from dressings that are high in sugar at first. You can always go back in the last 1-2 hours and apply a glaze or sugar glaze.
Step #2: Cut your meat
Too much fat prevents a crust from forming on the meat, but without fat it will leave a flavorless crust. You want to leave a nice thin layer of fat. This thin layer will yield during the smoking process and give the crust a great flavor.
Step #3: Smoke, don’t vape!
When we barbecue over low heat, we often wrap our meat in aluminum foil. This is a great way to achieve the level of cuteness you want. But when you wrap your meat for too long, you’ll end up steaming it instead of smoking it. The smoke has to touch the meat to make the crust, so limit the time in foil.
Step #4: Build Your Bark Last
The best way I have found to build a beautiful and delicious crust is to baste my meat with a glaze, every 15 minutes, for the last 1-2 hours. The frosting can also be high in sugar because it will only caramelize in that last hour, not burn completely.
No matter what type of smoker you’re cooking in (dry smoke or a water pan smoker), you can achieve stunning mahogany crust by following these 4 steps.
