Foil while smoking?

FanOfFanboys · September 2012

So I'm doing a couple pork butts tomorrow. I've done 5-6 before so I'm getting pretty comfortable with process. My neighbor got some good rub from Tennessee other week and offered to me to use. Much appreciated. But then he told me the way to smoke it is to cover the butt in foil the entire time and once it's almost done then remove the foil to crisp it. I've been on this forum awhile and don't recall seeing anyone do that. Thoughts on that process?

ChokeOnSmoke · September 2012

No need to foil during the cooking process (and I don't know anybody who does). Take it up to an internal temp of 190-195. If you need to hold it for a few hours after you pull it, foil is fine then.

bertscampers · September 2012

How would the smoke get to the butt if it is in foil? I am also new and trying to learn.

Cheers

The Cen-Tex Smoker · September 2012

No, no, no. Tell him thanks for the rub and invite him to dinner after you cook it your way. He will be glad you did. Why not just do it in the oven if you are going to foil it the whole time?

FanOfFanboys · September 2012

Ok great. Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy or missing something.

nolaegghead · September 2012

The bark doesn't develop very well under foil. The only time I foil butts is if I need to speed up the the cook time and cranking the temp is just burning it.

Hillbilly-Hightech · September 2012

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

No, no, no. Tell him thanks for the rub and invite him to dinner after you cook it your way. He will be glad you did. Why not just do it in the oven if you are going to foil it the whole time?

+infinity.

I never understood why folks would foil stuff for the sake of of foiling it. Very little, if any smoke would get deposited onto the meat if you kept it foiled the whole time. Plus, foiling would essentially trap the moisture escaping from the meat, thus causing a sort of "steaming" effect. Any bark which developed prior to that would become moist (picture what happens to crispy skin or breading when you reheat something in the microwave).

I can see foiling in certain circumstances - for instance, wing tips if they are getting burned, or if you're trying to keep a certain part of the meat from getting overcooked relative to the other parts.

But foiling just as a way of cooking it, to me, is not BBQ, and as Cen-Tex said, you might as well cook it in the oven.

JMHO,

HH

Dave in Florida · September 2012

Not much reason to "smoke" your pork butt if you are going to cook it in foil. Might as well cook it in the oven and add a dash of liquid smoke.
:-&

Skiddymarker · September 2012

Dave in Florida said:

Not much reason to "smoke" your pork butt if you are going to cook it in foil. Might as well cook it in the oven and add a dash of liquid smoke.
:-&

+1, well said. Years ago I had a neighbour that used to foil ribs on his gasser, open for sauce the last 30 minutes only. The intent was to keep them moist, which they were. All the while they cooked the neighbourhood smelled great, you could smell the smoke from his smoker box, sometimes mesquite, sometimes apple/hickory. There was not one hint of smoke on the rib, the only thing you could taste was the BBQ sauce. I could never convince him he was using smoke like a potpourri.

tnbarbq · September 2012

Wrapping the butt in foil the whole time makes no sense to me. You might as well cook it in a crock pot.

SamFerrise · September 2012

Taking a shower with a wet suit on!

GreenhawK · September 2012

The only time I wrap anything is when it is done to keep it warm.

gte1 · September 2012

I have foiled to push through the stall, but it doesn't make sense to foil from the start.

MaskedMarvel · September 2012

"The Texas Crutch" - makes sense if you're doing it in your kitchen's oven... No business on the Egg, IMHO..

FanOfFanboys · September 2012

I skipped the foil. It was some of the best pork I've had and def the best I've made. I had two bottles of sauce on counter for the 15lbs I cooked. Less than 1/2 of one bottle was used. Everyone ate the meat straight, which I viewed as a compliment.

cookingdude555 · September 2012

I foil at 165. I like bark, not too much though. This allows me to get the smoke I want, a little bark, and stop it before it goes too far. This is only when I do L&S butts. The hot and fast I skip the foil.

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