Foiling

[Bill Sutton]

After the cook we wrap out butts or brisket in foil and pack them in a cooler with towels for some number of hours before serving. Why do we use foil? Is there any reason that we can't wrap the meat in a plastic bag rather than foiling before we pack it in the cooler?

Opinions?

 

[Bob H.]

Foil is reflective and holds heat much like a space blanket. It is easy to conform to the shape of the meat, and will hold heat better than a pplastic bag.

 

[Cliff H.]

I have heard that plastic wrap somehow destroys the bark more that foil.

May be because there is no heat reflective value to plastic wrap. Just my .02

Opinions on this will be interesting.

 

[JimT]

Then there are those that advocate wrapping in original saran wrap first, followed by foil. I couldn't find the source I was looking for, but I believe it may have been Kevin Taylor (Stogie).

Saran for moisture retention, foil for heat retention. That would be my guess.

Try it out Bill, and let us know what you find. Just make sure the bag you use can withstand 200 plus degrees!!!

JimT

 

[Chris]

Foil works well for heat retention, you can also help keep the heat in by pre-warming your cooler (to make it into a hotter instead, joke). I either pour a couple of gallons of hot water in and leave it for ten to fifteen minutes, or I fill two gallon water containers with hot water and put one at each end of my large cooler, then put three towels on the bottom of the cooler and place the foiled meat on top of the towels, then another three towels on top of the meat.

I have had temperatures still in the 160° ish mark three and a half to four hours later when it is time to serve.

I am not a great believer in plastic wrap (sounds strange I know), but I don't believe that it is "good" for you, when that close to hot (still cooking) food.

 

[Joey]

Yeah, with the plastic wrap I would be concerned about the plastic melting and breaking apart as I unwrap it from a pork butt. I would be worried that little pieces of plastics would be stuck to the food and I wouldn't know it.

I have had a couple of instances when I microwaved something and the plastic wrap ripped due to the heat.

 

[JimT]

Chris and Joey,

I agree with your hesitation to use plastic wrap. Just to clarify things, in my earlier post I mentioned that some people use original Saran wrap (which is now sold as Saran Premium.) There is a difference!!

There are several discussions about this on these boards. Do a search just using "saran" and you'll get a bunch. Here's a good one, fairly recent.

FWIW, I've never used it myself.

JimT

 

[Joey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JimT:
...use original Saran wrap (which is now sold as Saran Premium.) There is a difference!!
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I didn't even know they had different levels of Saran Wrap! Thanks for the info, Jim!

-- Joey