I threw a pork butt on the smoke this AM for a 12 hr smoke including “the stall”. What happens during the stall?
Why does temp climb quickly to 140-ish, slow down until 165 or so, and then speed up again? I’ve only seen it with pork and beef, not with fish or poultry..does it happen with other red meat (ie venison, bison, etc.)? It makes sense for the temperature rate of change to slow down over time as the delta between internal and external temp narrows, but I’m struggling to understand the fast / slow / faster pattern.
In: Biology
Here is an experiment that tested if the stall was due to water or fat evaporative cooling: https://modernistcuisine.com/mc/barbecue-stall/
TL;DR is water evaporation, which was a surprise to me. It also explains the very short stalls I’ve experienced on my last two briskets. I wrapped each between 155 and 165 IT so that I could ho away for a few hours. In each case, the meat was at 195 a little less than 2 hours later. TIL.
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