I wear these gloves when I'm working with something I don't want to get on my hands. Dirt, oil, grease, raw meat, cooked meat, lacquer or enamel paints, resin, brake fluid, coolant, etc.

If there were reusable options for each of these use-cases then I'd look into getting them.

I've always had trouble getting such an aggressive bark when I do a shorter first cook on it, but I wonder if upping the heat from 225 to 250 would give that kind of bark in a shorter amount of time. I'll definitely try this next time.

I think it was roughly 7 lbs when I stuck it in there.

I scored both sides for this one to maximize surface area for the bark

Nope, pretty much just put it in there and watched the display of the temp probe. Refilled the pellets a couple of times, but that was about it.

Oh my god what have I done

Recipe: Trimmed up a pork butt a bit. Got lazy and used a near 1:1 ratio of the traeger rub (whatever they sell at Costco) and brown sugar. Scored it to get the most surface area I could and applied the rub very liberally. Stuck it in the smoker fat side up for 11 hours at 225 until it reached an internal temp of 198.

I was going for a deeply caramelized bark on the outside, and I think I got it. The stuff around the edges is like meat candy.