Hooey or not??? (Red Butcher Paper)


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

TVWBB Platinum Member
saw this online and had to track it down. it sounds to my like a classic bunch of hooey but wanted to see what the board thinks. I see at least one common misconception in the recipe, which leads me to dismiss the whole thing.

Most recipes for smoked meats require them to be wrapped in aluminum foil at some point during the cooking. This recipe calls for red butcher paper, which Bruce Schatte says is the secret to the moistness and flavor of his brisket - a cut of meat that is notoriously difficult to tenderize. (Light colored paper doesn't work as well, he says, because it reflects the heat off the meat.) "Foil seals the steam inside and boils the brisket, and it's like mush," says Bruce. "The paper breathes, and it doesn't trap all the hot steam and oil. It helps you not ruin a $25 to $30 piece of meat."

* 1/2 cup salt
* 1/4 cup freshly ground pepper
* 1/4 cup cayenne pepper
* 1/4 cup garlic powder
* 1 beef brisket - about 10 pounds

Build a fire in a smoker/grill for indirect heat. Maintain a temperature of 350 degrees.

Sprinkle the salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder on both sides of the brisket. Sprinkle with just enough water to moisten the seasoning and run it into the meat.

Place the brisket, fat side up, in the smoker on the side opposite the coals. Cook for 1 1/2 hours or until the fat starts to bubble. Put on a thick pair or rubber gloves and turn the meat over. Cook for another 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is brown and sizzling.

Transfer the brisket to a 3-by-6 foot sheet of red butcher paper, placing it crosswise 1 1/2 feet from the short end of the paper. Wrap the end of the paper over the brisket and fold it tightly. Roll the brisket up in the paper, continuing to pull the paper tightly over it, and finish with the fat side up.

Place the wrapped brisket back in the smoker, again fat side up (This will allow the juice from the fat to spread throughout the rest of the meat) with the thick end of the brisket facing the coals. Cook for 5 more hours, allowing the temperature of the pit to gradually drop to 250 degrees as the fire get lower.

Remove the brisket when the meat is so tender it gives when you poke it with a finger. Unwrap the paper, cut the brisket into 1/4" thick slices (cut it againist the grain, please!) and serve.
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j, somewhere on this board, this was brought up before, last year IIRC. Way too many cans O suds tonight to even guess where it was posted.
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I know I saw it here though.
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most of it doesn't makes sense to me.

Supposedly foil (most reflective) makes the brisket mushy, but red (the least reflective) doesn't. Therefore, all things equal, red paper should transfer the most heat to the brisket.

It just seems like it would all end up on a big mess.

but it does lead me to thinking that working with parchment paper might be an interesting experiment. ribs en papillote, anyone?
 
It reads as a modified high heat method using paper instead of foil.

The science quoted is garbage IMO.
Light colored paper doesn't work as well, he says, because it reflects the heat off the meat.
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We're not dealing with the sun's rays, we're transferring thermal energy into a piece of meat. Foil will transfer heat better than paper. As far as turning meat to mush, cook anything too long in a liquid and that's what you'll get. The problem isn't the material it's the amount of time used. We know foiling works and works well because we've done it.

Paul
 
but it does lead me to thinking that working with parchment paper might be an interesting experiment. ribs en papillote, anyone?
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I've seen many recipes that say foil can be substituted. Parchment paper is certainly more traditional. More importantly, in a restaurant, parchment paper makes for a better presentation than a foil packet IMO. Also, I would suspect that foil can create a much tighter seal and make it more difficult (less forgiving) to cook delicate foods such as fish.

Paul
 
buthcer paper is used because it does not transmit or absorb liquid easily during the short time between when the meat is cut or brought out of the counter, given to the customer and taken home and back into the fridge or used immediately. it is cheaper than aluminum foil, which was not available pre-ww2.

that is why buthcers who personally wrap meat for customers use butcher paper.

down south in a lot of bbq joints the food is served on butcher paper. there is nothing special about it other than it is waaaaay cheaper than serving the food on paper or styrofoam plates or re-usable plates.

wrapping cuts of meat fresh off the smoker or grill in butcher paper will not maintain heat for very long altho a double wrap will keep wetness and grease off the counter for about 25 minutes until it soaks through...

anyone foolish enough to substitute butcher paper for foil deserves to perpetually be mocked while they clean their grease pools off their kitchen counters.
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one last thing if the concern is juices and grease collecting just poke a hole in the bottom of the foil and let it drain out.

but i am not an advocate of foiling to begin with. to each their own. but that technique sounds like something that would show up on alton brown's show or bobby flay's.
 
I see at least one common misconception in the recipe,
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The ridiculous "This will allow the juice from the fat to spread throughout the rest of the meat" bit? Yes, garbage.

The boring rub makes me think this is a central Texas commercial joint guy. (Hey, Paul?) There is a place that uses butcher paper for their briskets there, but I can't recall which.

As far as turning meat to mush, cook anything too long in a liquid and that's what you'll get. The problem isn't the material it's the amount of time used.
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Spot on.
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I see at least one common misconception in the recipe,
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The ridiculous "This will allow the juice from the fat to spread throughout the rest of the meat" bit? Yes, garbage.

The boring rub makes me think this is a central Texas commercial joint guy. (Hey, Paul?) There is a place that uses butcher paper for their briskets there, but I can't recall which.

As far as turning meat to mush, cook anything too long in a liquid and that's what you'll get. The problem isn't the material it's the amount of time used.
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Spot on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

yes that is very much a central texas, Lockhart area rub. and butcher paper is used in some fashion in all the central texas joints to serve brisket on but none of them use that technique in cooking.
 
The ridiculous "This will allow the juice from the fat to spread throughout the rest of the meat" bit? Yes, garbage.
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that was what I read that made me stop considering any potential the recipe might have.

When reading a solution to a so called problem (in this case foil=mush) you always have to wonder where the source of the solution is coming from. Maybe this guy would really dig a properly cooked HH brisket, or maybe he likes eating meat that tough as leather.

Paul, good call on the light. convection is color blind.

when the board gets tired of this bit of nonsense,I suggest reading this. the recipe looks ok, but the method is beyond bizaar.
 
No need to wrap a brisket in foil. If it is a flat that has no fat I can see...but dont know why youd buy that to begin with. Start w/ a nice Choice or CAB packer...will get you some killer bark and super moist. I can see after its cooked to hold for an hour...but people that wrap at 165 is beyond me.
 
Originally posted by Dave Hutson:
I get weary of people trying to overthink this process!!
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Do you mean that I didn't need to study the conversion of energy into work and heat and its relation to macroscopic variables such as temperature and pressure, and its underpinnings, based upon statistical predictions of the collective motion of particles from their microscopic behavior to cook a brisket?
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Gary
 
but people that wrap at 165 is beyond me.
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Because I can start at noon and have it ready for dinner at 6:00.
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oh, and at comps I don't have to be up all night to get a call.

but on a more serious note, I find foiling evens out the cooking, creating a moist and tender brisket from tip to tip. I don't foil my ribs and the ends are always overdone and the middles slightly under done. I assume foiling would correct this problem but I don't bother because I don't mind a little diversity in my bones (it makes for interesting bbq), but I refuse to make anyone eat overcooked beef.
 
Originally posted by Gary Michael:
No need to wrap a brisket in foil. If it is a flat that has no fat I can see...but dont know why youd buy that to begin with. Start w/ a nice Choice or CAB packer...will get you some killer bark and super moist. I can see after its cooked to hold for an hour...but people that wrap at 165 is beyond me.
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Well, though foiling a brisket is not necessary, it does have advantages in my opinion. I foil around 165º because it provides a consistent finished product as well as consistent cooking times. I feel it also provides a more moist product as well. Foil is a good tool if used properly.
 
when my buddys and I talk Q..this topic always comes up. Half foil, half dont...Of course it is all out of fun..there is no "right" or "wrong" but the ones that foil cant make a moist brisket w/out it.
 
but the ones that foil cant make a moist brisket w/out it.
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Nonsense.

Many people do not have access to Choice or CAB briskets (when home I do not) for one, and, secondly, irrespective of grade, foiling will return a consistently moist-from-end-to-end product that, especially with tapered flat packers, the lack of foiling renders iffy at best.

I could not care less whether anyone foils but as far as your buddys [sic] that foil not being able to cook a moist brisket without it, well, that's their problem. That sweeping generalization doesn't hold among those I know that choose to foil.
 
In my experience the only thing that will consistently produce a tender brisket is time.
But I always do mine at 225 and don't foil because we like the bark to be firm. I never buy a trimmed brisket, so the fat content plays a big part in not having a dried out finished produce for me. The problem with low 'n slow is that every brisket behaves differently and some will require considerably more time than others, but patience pays off in the end.
On the other hand, look at how much more tender ribs are when you foil them-these always get foiled when I cook them, even though I do them at 225 also.
 
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