Resting best: Commercial food wrap v. foil?


 

Tom Wray

New member
Greetings, new guy here, question on my extended rests using commercial food wrap ("Saran Wrap") v. traditional foil. Commercial wrap can reheat up to 300*. I'm not worried about the effect of plastic on my food, having read up on it and thus far found no discernible taste. I do like what I feel is better moisture retention in the wrap. Just curious what you bbq competition types feel about using wrap for my brisket and shoulder long rests? Do competition guys use foil only, or wrap?
 
I prefer pink butcher paper. Especially for briskets.
Preserves the bark much better than plastic wrap or foil.
 
Thanks, makes sense, the plastic does soften the bark. I’m guessing the pink butcher allows it to breathe and stay crispy?
 
Welcome aboard! I am far from expert but sometimes I wrap shoulders and briskets later into the cook and other times I don't wrap at all. When I don't wrap during the cook, I loosely tent the meat with aluminum foil for the half hour or so rest. When I do wrap during the cook I, too, often use pink butcher paper and do nothing further during the approximate half hour rest. In my mind I'm thinking a "rest" is the short length of time you give a piece of meat before cutting it to serve and I refer to a "hold" as the process of keeping an item within a certain temp for x hours before serving. When I'm holding meat that's already wrapped from the cook I will let it rest on the counter for up-to half an hour in order to bring down the internal temp a tad and then I'll fold a beach towel around it (your wife will love you) and place it in a cooler for up-to x hours. When I'm holding meat that isn't already wrapped from the cook I'll loosely tent during the rest and then typically wrap in aluminum foil, wrap the towel around it, and place it in the cooler. If you are holding wrapped meat and go straight from your cooker to the cooler I think there's a good chance it may continue cooking up-to several degrees and could cause problems for you. That is why I do a rest on the counter before placing it in the cooler. Best of luck too you!

This is the paper that I bought: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZYDRI8K/tvwb-20

I find this is also handy for holding paper or foil: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004MDLZK0/tvwb-20
 
Last edited:
I guess I'm weird in that I wrap in paper during the cook and usually rewrap afterward in foil for holding just because I don't want anything to drip in my cooler. It doesn't seem to effect the bark that much. It seems like I've seen places hold in plastic wrap. Louis Mueller maybe at one point? I think it would potentially be fine. I'd try both.
 
Using plastic wrap in commercial settings is very common, even for barbecue. I've seen it used to wrap brisket and other barbecued meats at chains like Dickeys BBQ and I assume that's all about moisture retention during the long hold times for their meats. But it's a trade-off obviously because some (all?) of those meats don't fare that well when held so long.

I see lots of foil used at BBQ competitions for cooking and holding meats.
 
Thanks, BF, super helpful. I get the diff btw the "rest" and "hold" processes....I should clarify that as a rookie I've only wrapped and rested my ribs in the commercial food wrap....but clearly after reading your and other's experience, and checking out the Aaron Franklin's book (The Bible of Brisket? :cool:) , I've realized I've got lotsa learning' to to.....so, to continue my learning curve, and I'm sure I"ll learn this from Franklin, but generally at what point in your long brisket smokes do you wrap the brisket to return to smoker for last part of smoke?
You've inspired me to a.) ordered his book, and b.) ordered the 24" pink butcher paper. Thanks for the tips!
 
Yes, the moisture retention is great, I use it to wrap ribs if I"m smoking a day or more ahead of the feed, but to your point the trade off is the loss of the bark texture. Hence I refresh/crisp the ribs over grill or in broiler....But I"m newly converted to the magic of the pink butcher paper as a way to rest without losing the bark texture....thanks!
 
Thanks, I"ve read up on the pink butcher paper, especially for briskets, and am sold on the concept. Can't wait to try it out, and ditch the plastic and foil! Just out of curiosity, generally when do you wrap your briskets during the smoke?
 
.. but generally at what point in your long brisket smokes do you wrap the brisket to return to smoker for last part of smoke?

I generally wrap at some point during the stall period but my overriding decision is that I will not wrap until I'm satisfied that the bark looks to me to be well-set, which will include observing the texture and color.
 
My BIL tried butcher paper and got good results, but went back to foil. I wrap briskets in foil at 160, take them off when probe tender, separate the point and flat, and wrap the flat in fresh foil and towels. I put the newly wrapped flat in a cooler to rest and make burnt ends out of the point. I've never used butcher paper or plastic wrap and don't see the need to.
 
I will sometimes pick a target temp, but the problem with that is there are various factors that influence when the stall happens. While the stall is happening that bark is forming, so it's a tradeoff of moisture retention vs. bark formation. If your goal is simply to avoid the stall and retain moisture, then I'd just go with tightly wrapped foil. If your goal is to protect the brisket from too much smoke and preserve the color, go with paper or foil. You help retain moisture as well. Just make sure your bark is set if that's important to you. Also, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. The bark can get too tough, in my opinion.
 
Last edited:

 

Back
Top