why foil?.....


 
B

Becky M-M

TVWBB Pro
"practicing" with another butt today. i would say it went better. havent pulled it yet, it is resting. i wrapped it in foil then a towel and now in the microwave.

had a 9lb butt... cut in half. put them on at 9am. with about 15 unlit. lid temp was about 250.

at 11am, i had an emergency and had to leave home. so i loaded up some more coals and left. i had not opened or peeked before that. came home at 2pm and it was still going strong.

at 4pm i checked temps on them. they were both at about 190. i say about because i have a cheapie long probe thermometer for now.

so i took them off a while ago....about 430pm. and foiled them.

i just did it automatically. i know meat has to rest.

but why foil it?
 
to keep the towel clean ? its just easy to use to wrap the butt(meat) while it rests. you could use something else if you can find something to work to your satisfaction.
 
Becky -

Foiling helps to hold in moisture, as well as speed up the stall process, when larger cuts will not progress past a certain temperature until the connective tissues break down within the meat. Foiling will cause the bark to soften a little, but when it comes to pulled pork, I don't care for crispy bark anyway.

Something else to consider is not to be focused on temps as much, but use a probe of some sort to check for doneness. You can use anything from a toothpick to a bamboo skewer to a metal shishkebab skewer to probe a pork shoulder in several places. When it feels like you are probing into melted butter, it is done.
 
becky, i assume that you want to pull/shred the pork. normally you take it to 200deg plus. to slice i take mine to about 185 or so. normally you want to let the meat rest for st least a half hour. foiling lets it rest while not cooling down to fast plus its easier to pull while still hot. the best is to just try differant methods to see what happens. this method whill help make more sense of it. i did and it made sense to me after reading waaaay to much info.
 
thanks george. my daughter was actually just asking if i could make it where it could be sliced next time. thanks for answering my next question.

i pulled it and it is super tender.... and really moist. this one was better than my first.

fun practice
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To keep hot til serving time, pure and simple.

If a pork shoulder is bbq-ed to perfection, don't think for a second that holding in foil is gonna help anything. Here's a great little video someone made of Chris Lilly pulling butts off the smoker. As you can see, these didn't need chopping, but it's a real crowd pleaser outdoors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8M6KOkyw8
 
To keep hot and make it easier to pull. Trim as much fat from the butt as you can and cook until the bone wiggled easily when you think it's done. If you want to slice, cube really, take it off after it reaches say 170 and cut it up. It's just as good really. Oh yeah, practice makes perfect.
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George, correct me if I'm wrong but to slice the temp for pork is around 180. For pulled pork its 195 and over.
 
thanks for all the input. again.... i am really learning all of this right now and it is a major help all the info and opinions that everyone has.

sooo.... foiling.

you foil midcook if you want to speed up the cooking process.

you foil when you pull it at 180, wrap it up and let it rest to also bring the temp up for PP.

you foil to keep it warm until eating time.


i thought foiling was integral to making the PP.

my first butt, i didnt foil. i pulled it off at 190 or so and let it rest covered for just a bit.

this second butt i made was much better. i foiled after i pulled them at 190 and they rested for a good hour or so.

the second one was noticeably better. more tender, more moist.

my next practice run, i am thinking i will tent it with foil while it rests. i would like to have the bark crisper.
 
If you can time it right or have timing flexibility, pull it off of the cooker when done, let it stand for 20 minutes unfoiled and pull it. You'll get firm bark and juicy meat. Don't know if you use a finishing sauce but the No. 5 is great for the sweet and the Lexington is great as a sour. Both are also great dips if you have a finicky audience.
 
Here's how it was essplained to me some time ago.

A butt will 'stall' because it is exuding moisture and therefore convective cooling itself. We do the same thing when sweating. By foiling when the butt gets to ~160 you deprive it the ability to essentially 'sweat' so the stall doesn't occur and speeds up the cooking process. Think of it as wearing a raincoat in a sauna.

Typically, if you want to slice the butt then cook to ~185. If you want to pull it then 205-ish.

Russ
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Russ Sylvester:
If you want to pull it then 205-ish. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Russ, that's a pretty high finished IT*, even if foiling. Do you cook HH? Just how fast?
 
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