Go to the Recipe: Bark Builder: The Secret to Better Indoor Barbecue
Where... is the recipe? Is this just an advertisement that's being listed in the recipe section?
This seems like exactly the sort of science-based recipe that I'd expect to see behind the subscription paywall. Especially since these ingredients are not particularly obscure (I have them on hand).
Was not listing the ratio of the 4 ingredients a mistake? Do you plan on listing these soon, similar to the rub ratios?
Really disappointed that you’re not giving your paid subscribers this recipe. You’re getting away from your core business again and trying to sell food to people who come here to learn to make the food. RIP Joule sauces.
The lack of any kind of recipe is disappointing. I have these ingredients on hand. Why should I have to buy your proprietary blend? I expected better, to be honest.
I sure wish we could've seen some of those "300 hours of experimentation" that lead to this item. Boy, if only there was an actual article written about the scientific process that lead to the creation of this bark builder. For the price we pay for your studio pass the exact ratios for this recipe should be free and there should be an in depth article explaining the trial and error that your team supposedly went through to get to it. I'm frankly insulted that the bog standard spice blends are the ones that we get recipes for and the one actually interesting item from this recent batch of articles is just shown to us with a coupon code and an advertisement. People are not going to continue paying to studio pass when Serious Eats has a more scientific approach for free, and you aren't going to attract new customers by making articles and recipes that are indistinguishable in quality from the local ad supported food blog. The core chefsteps audience is not the same one that would spend $20 on a blend of 4 ingredients that they likely already have.
Until Dan mentioned it, I didn't know you could buy a single bottle of Bark Builder. This page only links to a bundle that costs more than an annual Studio Pass membership. Even one bottle is 6 oz for $25 with shipping and discount and includes an ingredient the article does not mention ("Lemon Crystal" instead of regular citric acid).
The word isn't "free," though. The recipes should be included with Studio Pass. That was the price we were asked to pay to benefit from the recipe development in the ChefSteps kitchen. To be told now that the kitchen has solved barbecue problems, but won't tell us how to do it without purchasing black-box pre-mixed ingredients at a significant markup, seriously undercuts the Studio Pass proposition. What recipes are coming next that aren't included for subscribers?
No one is forcing us to buy anything. There's always google instead of StudioPass if we are not happy with what it provides. CS employees have to eat and pay for their kid's school supplies too.
Personally, SeriousEats jumped the shark some time ago and is now a waste of time with a bunch of wannabe "chefs" and "food journalists" regurgitating their Mom's ethnic recipes and things they just googled. Such is the way of the Internet...
Hi Dan, we totally hear you. It's always a challenge when something great ends up being so simple. This is the first product of its kind to assist in building a bark you'd expect on meats you've smoked for 12+ hours, indoors. We'd love to send you some so you can believe for yourself. Someone from the team will reach out soon.
Hi Matt, we hear you. This page was always intended to be a how-to use Bark Builder guide explaining the science and uses for Bark Builder. That may not always have been clear. We really value your feedback and it's part of what makes the ChefSteps community so great. To be completely upfront, all our recipe content will always be made available to StudioPass members.
Frustrating this recipe is being held back, but I guess I’m used to feeling unimportant after being here from early on (so went through the “oh you bought Premium? Yeah we’re essentially cancelling the development of that and have a subscription now” stage… and now being Premium AND Studio Pass isn’t enough to get some ingredient ratios).
Then, on top of that, I can’t buy the product as they don’t ship internationally.
I was really surprised to see you guys selling a jar instead of giving us the recipe, or even _selling the recipe as part of a course_--I could take that.
Selling magic in a jar instead of education is not what I would have expected and I'll be pretty disappointed if that's a new trend around here.
Well, one of the reasons I got a microscope was to reverse engineer spice blends. If I get a jar of this stuff, we'll see what I can figure out and share with the community.
We hear you, but you do not ship internationally. I really love what CS does, I have subscribed to several sites to learn more about cooking, but frankly, CS is the best by far. Having said that you are changing your business model and I understand the motivations, however, it is like going to Harvard for a law degree and then you are told that there is a class that you will not have access to learn....make sense?
Increase subscription prices or offer to buy up additional, funky recipes...I promise you will make more money that way and it is recurring! Just my 2 cents!
I obviously don't have this yet, but I bet you already know the answer -- what happens if I use bark builder and then smoke it in a smoker?
I have all 4 of these ingredients in my pantry in large volumes. It seems kind of crazy to buy this instead of you know, getting the recipe...
I’m starting at:
80% powdered Isomalt
10% Nonfat dry milk powder
5% baking Soda
5% citric acid
And working from there.
Anyone have any thoughts?
First Premium isn’t enough , now Studio Pass comes without recipes included. I got Studio Pass to see the development notes, science, and ratios. Instead, I read through your “recipe” to find an advertisement. It’s as disappointing as decoding “be sure to drink your ovaltine”. Way to maximize shareholder value ChefSteps. Your value proposition is shrinking.
“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Eric Hoffer
I've become convinced that the difficulty with bark formation indoors comes down to humidity. A smoker constantly whisks the moisture cooking out of the meat out of the cook chamber along with the smoke, whereas ovens (despite having some degree of exhaust) seem to keep that water around much longer. You don't want zero humidity (there's water in smoke and to varying degrees in the ambient outdoor air), but you probably want a lot less than what you get in an oven with a big piece of meat in it, even uncovered.
Yesterday I cooked a pork shoulder in my oven (one of those countertop combi ovens from a ChefSteps competitor, though I didn't use the steam feature) using Meathead's packaged Memphis dust for the rub. Convection on the whole time. For the first hour it was set to 275 and I left the door cracked open, then I turned it down to 225 and closed the door. The bark came out great. (I also cut it into four or five chunks and cut off all the fat and put it in a drip pan, recombining everything when I shredded at the end. It was a little over four pounds and cooked in less than four hours.)
That seems like a good place to start, I was thinking a slightly different combo, thoughts?
60% Isomalt
30 % Milk Powder
5% baking soda
Fantastic - it's great to see the experimentation beginning (and I suspect that we'll get a pretty solid ratio figured out quite quickly).
Do you have any particular rationale for your initial baking-soda/citric-acid percentages? I have a suspicion those ones are more important to the performance of the final product (vs getting the isomalt/milk-powder ratio perfect).
Maybe we should start a thread over in the forum to track and collaborate on the progress, and work through ideas?
They also partnered with a store that doesn't ship internationally. So completely impossible to access any benefit from the "300 hours" that studio pass helped pay for.
I like this, I will test my theory this week and will revert back to this blog
Has anyone tried the Bark Builder for outdoor cooking?
How'd the experiment go?
ChefSteps: Have you tried this product with meat on an outdoor smoker? Pellet smokers have challenges when it comes to building bark. It would be an interesting experiment.
How would this work on a sou vide steak?
if all recipe content is made available, where the bark recipe?
Have you guys thought about getting your rubs into The Kansas City BBQ Store? Ide be more than happy to buy some and take it to them for testing
CS-will you address the pellet smokers question?
So where's the recipe? You are being dishonest.
I actually ended up trying this at 40% isomalt, 40% nofatmilk and 10% of citric and baking soda. It was effective but I think I might go 40% isomalt, 30% nonfat milk powder and up the citric in baking soda 5% more each. That reaction between those seems to be very important as you outlined.
WTF?????? Bark Builder: The Ultimate Guide to Better Indoor Barbecue: See the Recipe????? more like SEE THE ADVERTISEMENT
I hope you found something solid through your experiments - and if you ever do, report back in here!
Where is the recipe?
Just to say thank you very much for adding the recipe
Fantastic. It is great to see you update this as a proper recipe. Thank you. I'm excited to make this and give it a try.
It's also fun to see that some the the experiments were beginning to move towards the actual ratios, but still had a ways to go.
LOL I mean I’m happy now, but why did it take so long?
Very close to what I was doing but I'm equal parts isomalt (100%) and milk powder, 10% baking soda, citric acid, and I also add around 10% activated charcoal.
Can’t wait to try this out, great to see the full recipe posted
Thank you! Will dried whole milk powder work?
Hey, I think whole milk powder would work great as a sub.
❤️
This should be ideal to make burnt ends.
Would elixir #1 work as well as for hydration?
_C_an this be applied to chicken?
Love that we now have the recipe for Bark Builder. I ran out and when I tried to order more it was out of stock.
I am going to try Bark Builder on a roast that I will cook in my barbecue. Do you think this will work if I used a rotisserie instead of just putting the meat in a pan?
