Competition judge told me my bark was just burnt sugar, had to change my whole rub
At a small cookoff outside Tulsa last spring, the head judge pulled me aside and said my bark was bitter because I was pushing brown sugar too hard at 275. I dropped the sugar, added a touch of celery seed and went lower at 235, and my next brisket scored 12 points higher across the board. Anyone else get a single critique that flipped their process overnight like that?