Who likes to w(rap)?


 
Bill French

Bill French

TVWBB Fan
It seems that a heavily debated topic is whether or not to wrap your meat during the cook. I understand that it can help speed along the cooking if you find yourself behind schedule. My question is, if time is not an issue, is there a good reason to wrap a brisket, butt, ribs, etc. during the cook?
 
Bill,
You are correct, this is one of the heavily debated topics. Everyone seems to have their own preference. For me, I do wrap butts and ribs, haven't done a brisket yet but expect to wrap that as well. The tricky part about bbq is that it is done when it is done. Some pieces of meat will cook to your time estimates while others may cook faster and some slower. I know this doesn't answer the question if "there is a good reason to wrap during a cook" but it does present my preference of wrapping the meat.

Dave
 
I haven't done a brisket either, but I think a lot of people wrap them to keep them moist and help the tenderness part. This seems to be more imperative on a brisket than on ribs and butts

If you wrap ribs they can get mushy if not careful and the bark will soften on a butt if you wrap it.

I have never wrapped a butt and used to wrap ribs but now I am leaning towards no wrap

So to answer your question, its all a matter of personal preference. Some people like more tender ribs and softer butts (ha). In those cases, wrapping would be important.
 
Rick Body said:
I haven't done a brisket either, but I think a lot of people wrap them to keep them moist and help the tenderness part. This seems to be more imperative on a brisket than on ribs and butts

If you wrap ribs they can get mushy if not careful and the bark will soften on a butt if you wrap it.

I have never wrapped a butt and used to wrap ribs but now I am leaning towards no wrap

So to answer your question, its all a matter of personal preference. Some people like more tender ribs and softer butts (ha). In those cases, wrapping would be important.
Click to expand...

Softer butts :D
 
Pros of wrapping: Speeds up cook

Cons of wrapping: Kills bark, steams the meat

I seldom if ever wrap anything, if i do happen to wrap its with butcher paper, butcher paper can breath and does not kill the bark one works so hard for.
 
Typically with wrapping during the cooking process you add some liquid and essentially are braising the meat. This is what is called the "Texas crutch." This helps make it very tender and very moist. You also stop the meat from taking on any more smoke or color. This can yield an awesome product used judiciously. Some argue that with brisket it is absolutely necessary and I understand that almost all competition cooks wrap.

I would suggest that with your first few brisket cooks you wrap at 150 because you will get a moist and very tender brisket.

The downside of wrapping is that you can lose your bark and if you have too much liquid you can lose some flavor. Personally, I haven't wrapped my last few briskets and have really liked the results. I like the color of the meat and I love the bark I get. I love the rendering of the fat of the point and the fat in between the point in the flat. I haven't managed to get my flat as juicy as I do when I wrap.

So at this point its a matter of playing around with wrapping later so the bark sets, playing around with maybe wrapping with butcher paper, etc.

Wrapping ultimately does hold in moisture that is normally lost in the cooking process. When your stall happens, around 150 you are basically losing moisture. You are also forming crust. So those are just some things to think about.
 
Im glad this subject came up and hope more people chime in.

I am going to smoke my first brisket on the fourth and have been wrestling with wrap v. unwrapped.

I don't wrap my butts, or ribs and love the results. But I have read so many stories about how

dry and tough brisket will be if done wrong, that Im thinking of hedging my bet by wrapping.

Foil v. butcher paper is another story.

I watched a video of Franklin doing a brisket in a small offset stick burner and wrapping with paper.

He made it look so easy, and the end result looked perfect.
 
J. Ray Silva said:
Im glad this subject came up and hope more people chime in.

I am going to smoke my first brisket on the fourth and have been wrestling with wrap v. unwrapped.

I don't wrap my butts, or ribs and love the results. But I have read so many stories about how

dry and tough brisket will be if done wrong, that Im thinking of hedging my bet by wrapping.

Foil v. butcher paper is another story.

I watched a video of Franklin doing a brisket in a small offset stick burner and wrapping with paper.

He made it look so easy, and the end result looked perfect.
Click to expand...

You and I are in the same boat. I'm also smoking my first brisket on Friday and don't know yet which way I'll go as far as wrapping or not. If I do, it'll be with foil. I watched Franklin's videos as well. The frustrating part to me was, he says that he "really tries not to wrap" but then in the video, he wraps it!??
 
It's a tool, and if we're talking about smoking with the wsm, water pan ribs, no foil. Brisket, butcher paper. For dry pan butts I'll foil one if it looks like it might be stubborn or not cooking evenly, or if the bark looks like it needs it.
 
I have never wrapped a butt and used to foil ribs but now I don't anymore. I'm doing ribs Friday for a large group and plan to foil those with one exception, I'll use a large foil pan and cover with foil tightly. With that being said, would a pan foiled give the same effect as individually wrapped since there is more air space?
 
Dave S said:
With that being said, would a pan foiled give the same effect as individually wrapped since there is more air space?
Click to expand...

I have used a foil pan often since I have an 18.5 and it gets crowded. I put the whole rib rack in the foil pan and put some apple juice in the bottom, then cover the whole top in foil. It seems to work just fine
 
I've done briskets with paper, foil and no wrap. Butcher paper works great -- just wrap when the bark color looks good to you (usually around stall time). You can probe right through the paper with no problem. The downside is that the paper soaks up a lot of meat juice. I haven't figured out a way to wring it out. Foil speeds up cooking. A lot. It traps juices and keeps things moist. But it kills the bark and you can easily get pot roast instead of brisket. The meat will keep cooking after you take it out of the smoker unless you open the foil and let it cool to at least 170 internal. Unwrapped is the classic way to go. Water in the pan keeps the temp steady and provides moisture. The bark will get deeply smoky. The stall can carry on for hours and cook time is hard to predict.

Most barbecue joints don't wrap, at least until the meat is fully cooked and they're keeping it warm before serving. If you're doing dozens of briskets a day, it's impractical to fuss with wrapping and tending to every brisket individually.

Bottom line -- experience is the best teacher.
 
I do HH butts and brisket so wrapping with foil is a key, same with cut's from the chuck.
Rib's I don't foil anymore because I like the texture.
That's what I do.. How you do it depends on what works for you!:wsm:

Tim
 
I've never wrapped a butt, or a brisket. I always wrap my ribs. Everyone here likes their ribs falling of the bone, so I do it to keep the "boss" happy. I've never found it necessary for a big hunk of beef or pig. It's just done when it's done. :)
 
I have wrapped the 2 briskets that I've done...first one came out WAY over done...second one came out perfect...

I used to wrap my ribs, but no more...I like them a lot better with bark and not mush...

I also used to wrap butts, but don't anymore on those either...I guess if for some reason the butt wouldn't come out of the stall, then I might foil them, but they are so much better without the foil
 
I'm with Tim here regarding wrapping - I haven't smoked a brisket so I'm referring to pork butts here. I personally am not too concerned with "bark"...I DO like tender, moist meat with a smoky flavor. I do HH pork butts and I do wrap them (in foil) when they hit the stall. Some who wrap will remove whatever material they wrap with and put the meat back in the smoker to "firm up" the bark, others (like me) check for tenderness through the wrap and remove when it's ready. I allow it to sit in the foil for a while before I pull it. I'm happy with that!

Ya gotta do what makes you smile! :D
 
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