The brisket stall, when to wrap, how long to rest, the 3-2-1 method and pulled pork temperatures: the timing questions every long cook runs into.
The 3-2-1 method was measured and popularized on spare ribs. Run the same two-hour braise on a thinner rack and you are not tenderizing anymore, you are cooking past the point the meat already reached, which is the mushy texture showing up across every baby back thread on the internet right now.
Updated Sep 2026
Google's own AI Overview gives a 45-minute minimum, a 2-to-3-hour sweet spot, and an 18-hour overnight hold for the same question. They are not rival recommendations. One is a cooling curve, the other is a temperature held flat on purpose, and only one of them has a safety floor underneath it.
Updated Sep 2026
Every source agrees the range is 195°F to 205°F, then splits over which number to trust. Both are right, because collagen does not melt at a temperature. It melts on a clock that a thermometer only tells you when to start checking.
Updated Sep 2026
The published answers run from 150 degrees to 185. The same pages that hand you a number then tell you to ignore it and look at the bark. Both instructions are honest. They cannot both be followed, because breaking the stall and protecting the bark want opposite timing.
Updated Oct 2026
Google's answer box gives the stall as 150 to 170 degrees. Its own first page carries reports of 130, 145, 150, 180, and a second plateau near 195. That spread is not noise, and it is not the meat. It is a reading of the air in your pit.
Updated Oct 2026