Pink, peach, aluminum foil wrap

[twilliams]

Here is a age old question, when smoking then wrapping what is the proper way to wrap on what to use? Paper vs. Aluminum foil? Is just personal preference or is there flavor and moisture difference between the two?

[Tex_77]

I use both. I haven’t done a side by side, but both work equally well. Some people even just use aluminum pans with foil. I think it’s all personal preference. Supposedly the butcher breathes and leaves a better bark.

[Jonathon]

twilliams We have managed to avoid any crazy contentious threads here but I fear for this one, oh well, could be fun, people feel VERY strongly about this! Anyway let me toss my bit of gas on this…I don’t like wrapping! I just find a way to add humidity!

[twilliams]

Jonathon well i may be mistaking here but humidity speeds up the cooking process. Doesnt that take away the theory of low and slow? Or is there no real benefits of slow cooking as long as it reaches the desired temp?

[TexLaw]

“Low and slow” does not mean “as low and as slow as possible.” The idea of “low and slow” is to “cook” the collagen (the primary protein in connective tissue and what makes meat tough) to get gelatin. That both tenderizes the meat and retains moisture. Gelatin is what makes something “lip smackin’”! That reaction requires moisture, and one of the best cooking methods to make it happen is braising.

The idea behind wrapping is to achieve something of a braise. It also slows down evaporation. That keeps the meat from drying out on the pit, and it gets you through the plateau. In “Modernist Cuisine,” the authors finally showed us that the plateau is pretty much due to evaporative cooling. In other words, you aren’t so doing much cooking during the plateau. Instead, you are spending a bunch of time and fuel to dry out your final product. Or, you can wrap the brisket and get through that point (and get a better product).

Just like ribs, brisket’s high ratio of surface area to volume makes it particularly vulnerable to evaporative cooling. That’s why we wrap 'em both.

As for pink butcher paper v. foil? I’ve used them both and do agree that butcher paper sets the bark better than foil. It seems to allow enough evaporation to set the bark but not so much to stall the cooking. However, I get the same result just by opening up the foil when my brisket gets close to finishing (not on the bottom, mind you, but that’s the point, and I’m not as concerned about the bark on it). Since I’m only cooking 1 or 2 briskets at a time (instead of the 100 or so that Franklin’s cooks in a day), I don’t mind the extra trouble. Of course, it’s not like wrapping with butcher paper is much trouble.

So, I’m quite happy using either. Whatever is in front of me will do. If Aaron Franklin says that pink butcher paper is better, then I believe him. The man cooks more briskets in a few days than I’m likely to cook in my lifetime, so I’m going to listen to him. However, in my situation, it doesn’t really make much difference.

[Jonathon]

twilliams Yup, just like TexLaw says, with low and slow we are trying to melt collagen and connective tissue without drying the meat out. Great response tex!

Also, I find that wrapping CAN (not does but can) ruin the hardwon and loved “bark” on brisket, butts or other large cuts of meat. Now, adding too much humidity can do the same but at home the best most people will be able to do is 55% rh and that isn’t gonna cause any issues!

Huh, I figured there would be more shots fired at this one. Darkfish89 Tex_77 Joe Hell PapaSop Austin Nothing from any of you?

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon I wrap in pink butcher paper and maintain a pretty good bark doing so!

[Tex_77]

Jonathon Did you miss my reply above?

[PapaSop]

Jonathon
Guess I can’t reply since I’ve never wrapped my meat in anything. Hey, wait a minute

[Jonathon]

Tex_77 apparently I did! PapaSop same team!

[Joe Hell]

PapaSop I didn’t wrap my meat once…the result of that incident turns 21 in December.