Got shown up at a backyard cookoff in Amarillo and it fixed my brisket bark

Elizabeth Taylor · 2026-10-17T20:15:04.774205+00:00

So last month I entered this small backyard cookoff out in Amarillo, nothing fancy, maybe 14 guys with drums and offsets set up behind a feed store. I had been wrapping my brisket in foil for years at the 165 mark, thought I had it all figured out. There was this old fella two spots down running a rusty offset who never wrapped his at all, just let it ride naked the whole cook and spritzed it maybe every 45 minutes. He took first and I took ninth, and when I asked him about it he said "paper lets it breathe, foil steams it, and steam makes pot roast." I went home and tried butcher paper on my next two cooks instead of foil and the bark came out way better, dark and set instead of soggy. The flat did run a touch drier so I started spritzing with apple juice and vinegar every hour after the stall hits. Curious what temp you all pull yours to wrap, if you wrap at all, because I'm still messing with the timing.

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Got shown up at a backyard cookoff in Amarillo and it fixed my brisket bark | BBQ Pitmasters - Topic Shares