The stall, Plateau, graphed on a 9lb Pork Butt smoking at 250 degrees .
The meat is sweating, and the moisture evaporates and cools the meat just like sweat cools you after cutting the lawn. Here’s how he proved it.
The barbecue stall is a simple consequence of evaporative cooling by the meat’s own moisture slowly released over hours from within it’s pores and cells. As the temperature of cold meat rises, the evaporation rate increases until the cooling effect balances the heat input. Then it stalls, until the last drop of available moisture is gone.”
The process seems to take all the moisture out from the surface and just below it, and this is clearly part of the formation of the crusty, jerky like, spice laden “bark” on the surface that contributes to the textural and flavor profile.
Chris Marks CBBQE (Chief BBQ Expert) Three Little Pig’s Rubs & Sauces and Good-One Smoker/Grills
