I need some bark!

[Hugh]

Ok smart people. I've got a couple chuckies in the bath for Sunday night dinner. My project this cook is to get something akin to a bark.

Phase 1 didn't go as planned.

I put a smoke on but I wasn't around to keep an eye on it (at the neighbor's house). I'm guessing it only got up to 170 and was on for under an hour and a half. I used my gasser. I could see from my neighbor's it was smoking nice, but when I pulled it, there was no bark at all. The meat still had a raw exterior but you could tell it had some smoke on it. Should I have seen some bark at this point? Maybe higher heat and or longer cook?

Its in the bath for 24 hours at 155 degrees.

I'll give it a big chill (5-10 minutes) and then ......???

I was planning to give it a good sear, but now I'm wondering if I should throw it into a screaming hot oven for a while to create some bark?

Here is the before photo.

[kmhfive]

So, smoke for an hour. SV for 24-hours... . Did you put a rub on the chuckie? Let's assume just salt for a dry brine. I would chill the chuckie down to below 40F. Maybe put a little rub on it with some onion powder or a little table sugar to start the Maillard reaction off right. Get your 2-zone setup either gas or charcoal at about 225F on the indirect side. Let the chuckie warm-up on the indirect side to about 130F. Then sear on the direct side to no warmer than your SV (155F). You should be able to get some bark although it won't be as thick as if you smoked it straight through.

The problem as I see it is that the bark really comes as the outer/exposed surface of the meat dries and starts to heat up allowing the proteins and sugars to brown. In your case there wasn't enough drying on the surface yet.

[Hugh]

Hi kmhfive . Yep, forgot to mention, dry brined for 3-4 hours. I like it. Chill it right down and then indirect cook/sear. Thanks much

[Potkettleblack]

first, the big chill is an effing stupid name for a long held cooking process known as shocking.

Shocking is good for searing. It’s not adequate for bark formation, which takes time. You will want to chill it completely, then rub with something like BBBR, and then 225 smoke to 155 IT.

[Jerod Broussard]

The Big Chill beat out The Big Shocking. It wasn't even close.

[Potkettleblack]

The Big Whatever is dumb.

It’s Shocking. That’s it. You shock the thing. Blanched veg, Sous Vide, it gets shocked.

I’m not going to answer any question on Sous Vide where people call it the Big Chill. That’s death and a chick flick from the 80’s.

[FireMan]

Arf, arf arf, arf, arf arf, arf!

[Jerod Broussard]

Finally someone with some real advice.

[ComfortablyNumb]

I was going to suggest if he wants some bark to get a dog. Then I noticed he was asking the 'smart people', not the 'smart assed people' It appears there are at least two in every crowd.

[FireMan]

Well now, does that make three?