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Butts about foiling?

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Jebpot
Jebpot Posts: 374
in EggHead Forum
What is the difference of foiling at 160 and just letting it cook till 190 with grill temp around 230 the whole time? still new with the egg.. thanks ahead of time for info.

XL and Small

Chattanooga, TN

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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
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    Most pieces of meat that are cooked at lower temperatures go thru a period called the stall or the plateau. The bigger the piece of meat, the longer the stall.  Depending on the ambient temperature, somewhere between 160 - 185F, the meat's internal temperature stops climbing. A good sized butt can stay in the stall for 10 hours.

    Once it was demonstrated that the stall was simply evaporative cooling, lots of people have started wrapping their butts, etc, w. foil when they reach the plateau. This prevents evaporation, and cuts many hours off the cook.

    I find the texture is not quite the same, and the bark is not as well developed. But the results are quite tolerable.

    While I don't do "turbo" unless I'm short on time, I have been cooking at higher temperatures. About 275F dome temp. Works as well, and shaves an hour or so off the cook.
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  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
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    This a matter of opinion.  Some like the "bark" cooked into their butts, thats the dry parts that form at the tips.  More of this occurs on "low and slow" cooks without foiling.  By this method, your butt is going to reach a "stall period" somewhere around 170 to 180 degrees, and can stop increasing in internal temperature for hours??  each butt is different??  And of course this method can take six to ten hours longer to cook?? 

    The foiled method, refered to as "turbo cooked", holds more of the natuaral juices inside the foiled container, and allows the butt to cook right thru the "stall period".  In other words the butt's temperature increases at a near constant rate.  This is a big advantage since the finish time can be planned.  After the standard "rest period", i pull my butts right in the same foiled container, and mix the "saved" juices back into the pulled product.  I have never had to add any liquid to moisten up the pulled pork.  The meals i serve using pulled pork have little use for bark, so this works for me, and there is no need to worry or stress during overnight cooking. 

    Notice the juices being mixed into the pulled pork in the picture.

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  • Jebpot
    Jebpot Posts: 374
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    Thanks for explaining. these cooking now are not on a set time. Just enjoying using egg and going to vacuum pack in portions later. Capping strawberries to freeze while they are cooking. Have a great day.

     

    XL and Small

    Chattanooga, TN

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  • Jebpot
    Jebpot Posts: 374
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    at 8 am today.

    XL and Small

    Chattanooga, TN

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  • Mattman3969
    Mattman3969 Posts: 10,457
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    I use a mixture of the methods. I will start out with temps of 260-275 until the meat hits 150-160 internal and then turn the heat up to 350ish and push thru the stall with no foil. Bark is awesome crispy and meat is nice and juicy. A 9 1/2lb generally takes me about 7 1/2hrs

    -----------------------------------------

    analyze adapt overcome

    2008 -Large BGE. 2013- Small BGE and 2015 - Mini. Henderson, Ky.
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  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
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    Jebpot said:
    at 8 am today.
     
    There are many ways to accomplish the same result here on this forum, always keep that in mind.  Whatever works best for you is the way to go!  Your butts look good!  And if you like bark, REALLY like bark, just cook it to an internal of say 230 and you will have plenty of it!!

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