The BBQ Stall: What It Is and What to Do
The internal temperature of your brisket or pulled pork is barely rising. This may be the stall: a temporary plateau caused by evaporative cooling. First check that your BBQ and thermometer are working properly. Then decide whether to continue unwrapped or wrap the meat. Neither approach is always best.
Check your BBQ and thermometer first
- Check the actual cooking temperature near the meat and confirm that the heat source is working normally. A falling BBQ temperature is not the same as a stall.
- Check probe placement: measure within the meat, not against bone, in a large fat pocket or just beneath the surface. Confirm an unexpected reading in a second location if needed.
- Is the BBQ stable and the reading reliable? A long period of barely rising internal temperature can then be a normal plateau in a large cut cooked low and slow.
What happens during the stall?
Moisture evaporates at the surface, carrying heat away. This evaporative cooling can temporarily offset much of the heat input, so the internal temperature barely rises. Not all the incoming energy goes exclusively into evaporation; heat and moisture continue moving through the meat.
The stall is often noticed around 65–75°C and may last several hours. Two to six hours is one possible example, not a minimum or maximum. Cooking temperature, the meat’s shape and thickness, surface moisture, airflow and humidity inside the BBQ all influence it. Not every cook has a clearly visible plateau.
Collagen can change during a long cook, but collagen conversion does not explain the stall. The Texas Crutch is a wrapping method to limit evaporation, not another name for the plateau.
Wait, use butcher paper or wrap in foil?
Continue unwrapped
Maintain a suitable, stable BBQ temperature and allow time. Bark can develop further, but waiting does not guarantee better, thicker or maximally crisp bark. It often takes longer than continuing with a well-wrapped cut.
Butcher paper
Food-safe butcher paper suitable for BBQ can be a compromise: it limits evaporation less than well-sealed foil and generally lets more moisture escape. Bark may remain firmer than in foil, but paper can soften the exterior too. Being unbleached alone does not establish suitability; follow the product’s use and temperature limits.
Aluminium foil
Closely fitted foil strongly limits evaporation and can speed cooking. Retained moisture often softens the bark. Foil can suit both pulled pork and brisket, depending on your aim. Wrapping does not guarantee juiciness or a fixed time saving.
When should you wrap?
Do not automatically wrap at the first stalled reading or a fixed internal temperature. Consider your schedule and the bark: is it sufficiently developed, and does the seasoning stay in place when gently touched? Follow the recipe and use clean equipment.
Wrap snugly without squeezing the meat and check probe placement again. Continue at a stable BBQ temperature appropriate to the dish. Wrapping often shortens cooking, but you cannot count on saving a fixed number of minutes.
When is the meat ready?
The stall is over when the internal temperature clearly begins rising again. Evaporative cooling is no longer balancing the incoming heat sufficiently, or wrapping has reduced that cooling. This does not require all moisture to have left the meat.
Cooking may still take hours after the plateau. Treat the temperatures below only as possible ranges for checking texture in these low-and-slow preparations, not universal finishing temperatures or food-safety standards.
- Pulled pork: around 90–95°C. Assess whether the meat pulls apart easily and probe resistance suits the texture you want.
- Brisket: around 93–97°C. Check several places for an easily sliding probe. The appropriate point varies with the cut and cooking method.
- Pork ribs: around 90–95°C is not compulsory. Thin meat and nearby bones can make internal readings difficult. Also assess flexibility and probe resistance according to the recipe.
Allow extra time and rest appropriately
Use the clock for planning and the thermometer together with texture for cooking decisions. Weight alone does not predict cooking time; an example of ten or fourteen hours is not a promise for your brisket. Build in a buffer.
Rest the meat after cooking according to a suitable recipe. Resting does not automatically add tenderness and cannot replace appropriate cooking. Distinguish a short rest from prolonged hot holding; a towel or insulated box alone does not guarantee a safe holding temperature.