Why do people use foil?

[Steven Paul]

Why do people use foil?

 

[ChadVKealey]

Because they don't want the NSA to know what they're thinking?

But seriously, most meats only absorb smoke for the first few hours of cooking (pretty much until the IT reaches about 140-150), so from that point on, wrapping in foil doesn't interfere with the "smoking" process and can help to speed some meats (pork butt or brisket, especially) through "the stall". When cooking ribs, foiling allows you to basically braise them, breaking down the fat jackets around the bones into gelatin.

Some foil, some don't. It's largely a matter of preference or circumstance. I personally only foil for the rest, after pulling stuff off the smoker. A couple of times that I've been in a rush, I've foiled butts and brisket. I haven't foiled ribs (at least those cooked outdoors) for at least a year.

 

[YYang]

Chad pretty much covered it. This article from amazingribs.com has some more details. Also:

 

[Chris Allingham]

You can use foil to control the color of the meat. If you're using a rub with lots of sugar in it and you don't want your ribs or butt or brisket to look like a meteorite, you can apply smoke for a few hours, get some nice color on the meat, and then wrap with foil and cook until tender. This is common in competition barbecue.

You can use foil to accelerate the cooking process. If you don't want to babysit a brisket overnight, you can take it to 170*F then wrap it in foil and cook it at higher temp and it will be done much sooner, e.g. Brisket - Smoked & Oven Finished.

You can use foil to add flavor. A common competition technique is to wrap ribs or pork butt in foil and add flavorful liquids, honey, agave nectar, etc. to enhance flavor toward the end of cooking, e.g. Pork Butt - SYD Injection.

 

[Enrico Brandizzi]

I would say that:
1) smoke ring stops forming after the meat has reached 140-150F internal temp;
2) smoke absorbtion will NOT stop until the end of the cook. So it could be oversmoked.

 

[ChadVKealey]

I would say that:
1) smoke ring stops forming after the meat has reached 140-150F internal temp;
2) smoke absorbtion will NOT stop until the end of the cook. So it could be oversmoked.

True...thanks for clarifying the difference. If you continue adding smoke wood (beyond the 140/150 degree mark), then yes, you could get too much smoke flavoring into the meat. I typically bury wood chunks in the charcoal so that they should light/smolder in a timed fashion, so I almost never add wood once it's going.

 

[Lew]

You can use foil to control the color of the meat. If you're using a rub with lots of sugar in it and you don't want your ribs or butt or brisket to look like a meteorite, you can apply smoke for a few hours, get some nice color on the meat, and then wrap with foil and cook until tender. This is common in competition barbecue.

You can use foil to accelerate the cooking process. If you don't want to babysit a brisket overnight, you can take it to 170*F then wrap it in foil and cook it at higher temp and it will be done much sooner, e.g. Brisket - Smoked & Oven Finished.

You can use foil to add flavor. A common competition technique is to wrap ribs or pork butt in foil and add flavorful liquids, honey, agave nectar, etc. to enhance flavor toward the end of cooking, e.g. Pork Butt - SYD Injection.

All good reasons to foil, Chris. One drawback I've found is that as the meat braises, the smoke flavor seems to be washed away somewhat. Another drawback (or benefit depending on how you look at it) is that the bark becomes softer. I foil my briskets to reduce cooking time (hot and fast method) and they come out great, but I prefer pork butts with a hard, crisp bark so I almost never foil them unless time requires it.

 

[Kevin John]

The only thing I wrap anymore is Brisket and I use Butcher Paper because I'm cooking hot and fast. I used to wrap Ribs but after doing a side by side cook I liked the unwrapped Ribs better and they were just as tender, so I quit wrapping Ribs. Like Lew said above I don't like braised meat and mushy bark.

I do wrap with foil to hold foods then place in a towel and sometimes a cooler.

 

[Steven Paul]

so I did a side by side comparison after a thread from late summer made me start wondering about this whole foiling topic. I don't know when or where I started foiling but its been a standard for 10 years or so.

I did comparison cooks with both ribs and pork butts. Hands down the bark was better, the meat's texture was better.. there was nothing I did not like better about the non - foiled meat.

Aside from cuts that may benefit from or require braising (like beef ribs) or a necessity to rush a cook I can see no reason for the average backyard cook to use foil. (jmo)

 

[Craig Alumbaugh]

I use foil on when doing ribs and that is how I started out some years ago and it seems to be the way we like them

 

[Bill Farmer]

I no longer foil, and feel I get better BBQ.

 

[Steven Paul]

After rejoining this board I began to reexamine a lot of my cooking habits.

That original thread back in September made me realize that I had lost the reason(s) I ever started using foil.

Certainly the conclusions I came to are just one cooks opinion.