Foiling question...

[Scott T (Odirom)]

Foiling BBQ in the middle of a cook:

Tightly surounding the entire piece of meat?

Tighly foiling the lower half of the meat for a meat shield?

Are you trying to create a complete foil 360 degrees around the meat? Are you trying to seal out or seal in?

Or are you simply trying to make a heat shield to keep the rising heat out?

Does this differ between high heat vs low and slow?

does it differ in strategy between brisked and butt?

Does contact with the meat do anything? Do you want to tent the closure? or touch as much meat as possible?

Does the foil need to be TIGHT tight, or just wrapped tightly. (Meaning does tighter make a difference? or is enclosed your only goal?

Are you trying to keep heat out? or hold heat in? Or just using it at a blast shield/thermal regulator?

I guess I am looking for a foiling topic, the what (specifically) and why.

Sorry for sounding like a dork, but I don't get my head around foiling, and really want to learn more, but there only seems to be snippets of foil info out there.

Anyone have anything?

Please and thank you,

 

[LarryR]

Scott, don't sound like a dork at all, I had many of the same questions when I tried foiling. I believe the majority of foilers wrap in foil similar to THIS as I used to. Now I just throw her in a roasting pan and place a piece of foil over the top similar to THIS . For me I find that later more convenient, don't have to worry about poking a hole in the bottom of the foil etc. I could not tell a discernible difference between the two methods.

Regarding the "science" of the foil there are others here who are more qualified to explain this. I've used it on both high and low heat cooks with excellent results. I do believe foiling helps a brisket retain moisture as well as finish quicker.

 

[KenP]

I don't foil butts during the cook. Why should you, or why do some people do it?

 

[LarryR]

Ken, excellent point for clarification. Briskets are the only product I foil during the cook. I've heard of some people foiling butts too. I believe they're doing this to accelerate their cooks.

 

[Todd Randall]

As I understand it, foiling accelerates the cook and helps to retain moisture. Butts don't need the extra moisture, but if you have to go to a wedding at 2PM, finishing those babies off fast might be better accepted by the wife/sig other than being late to the wedding

As for blocking heat, you might use a slice of foil on top of the edge of the food grate if you had a brisket that was big and was touching the side. That would help that end of the brisket from getting burned as it helps to force the air around it. But, foiling the whole piece of meat is going to make it hotter inside that package and make it cook quicker.

Kevin knows a lot about foiling technicalities and can probably answer up your questions with good information.

Todd

 

[K Kruger]

You pretty much hit all the points, Todd.

Moisture is a better conductor of heat than dry air. Foiling (or placing in a pan and covering) raises the moisture level around the meat and thus it cooks more quickly. As you'd surmise, any evaporation of moisture stays within the foil and, also, dripping that would otherwise drip away stay in the foil too. This is why some of us refer to foiling as a 'braising phase'. Though not, technically, braising at the beginning (because no liquid is added), depending on the meat actual braising can occur as drippings build up in the foil.

Because foiling hastens cooking it can be a good trick to use if shortening a cook is in order. I don't particularly care for foiling butts (imo, too much moisture is maintained), but foiling will shorten the cook if they seem to be languishing and time is running out.

I don't use a pan myself, just HD foil, when I foil something. For briskets (packers) I like from 1/2-1 inch airspace around the sides of the meat and a bit more than that for headspace above. Packers throw off quite a bit of juice and I find it better contained if the foil isn't tight to the meat. Also, it makes it easier to avoid getting burned by hot juices when checking the meat. The crimp you make in the foil to seal it should be above the level of the top of the meat so that juices do not force their way out during cooking. Crimp well but make it so that uncrimping isn't a PITA, so that checking the meat isn't difficult.

Generally you are sealing in.

The same rationale applies whether cooking high or low.

It is best not to bother temping after foiling, especially with high heat cooks. (Though you can temp for foiled low/slows you should still feel for tenderness, not go by temp.) Because mositure conducts heat so well it is quite possible to see a very quick rise in internal temp not long after foiling, sometimes within minutes. This occurs because of the conductivity of moisture. Whether you see a quick rise or not depends on probe placement, moisture content of the meat, and a few other variables (none of which you can predict) but whatever you see can be disregarded. (And this is why I suggest not bothering to temp foiled meat.) Though the temp within the foil (and within the meat) will rise usually pretty quickly after foiling, it is not temp that determines 'done', it is the necessary amount of time passing that determines done. Foiling will speed this up. Determine done by feel.