Butcher Paper vs Foil vs No Wrap. You be the judge.

GrannyX4 · May 2015

Loved the video.

4Runner · May 2015

Thanks @GrannyX4 I'm going to wrap in paper around there....based on bark appearance.

EggHead_Bubba · May 2015

@cazzy... I was of the opinion Franklin only wrapped when the color was right and if it had enough smoke based on his Youtube video comments. Personally, I have never wrapped brisket during my BGE cooks. I used to wrap ribs for 2 and then 1 hour but now I do those unwrapped as well and will never look back. I tend to agree with @SGH that Franklin does this at his restaurant as part of the normal procedure to can consistency when cooking such volume.

BYS1981 · May 2015

Can't wait to watch.

SGH · May 2015

aukerns08 said:

@SGH very cool piece, thanks for posting. I'm actually trying my first brisket wrapped in paper now. I'll be wrapping it around 6 am or so. I could only find white butcher paper so that's what I'm using. I don't think the color should make much difference if any at all.

My pleasure. The color of the paper makes no difference at all. Hope that your brisket is a home run my friend.

Durangler · May 2015

A few have mentioned paper weight.
This brings me to a question: Regular foil, or heavy duty foil?
Just stirring the pot!!

SGH · May 2015

Durangler said:

A few have mentioned paper weight.
This brings me to a question: Regular foil, or heavy duty foil?
Just stirring the pot!!

Interesting fact, HD foil and 40# weight paper is real close to same thickness. Makes one ponder does it not?

FearlessTheEggNoob · May 2015

So far I have enjoyed better results overall with choice than prime.

Prime is a bit TOO fatty for my tastes. I wrap, and never have a problem with tenderness with either...once I decided to cook to 205 in the flat consistently. Also prime is more expensive per pound and generally has more trimming waste.

That being said, Costco in Cedar Park, TX. had nothing but prime packers to choose from so i trimmed the crap out of the one I currently have resting. I broke Aaron's first rule and changed about 3 different factors in my evolving process, but I don't expect that they overlap enough to muddy the feedback entirely.

We shall soon see.

SGH · May 2015

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

So far I have enjoyed better results overall with choice than prime.

Prime is a bit TOO fatty for my tastes.

With a very few words, you spoke volumes above. Everyone has different tastes and preferences. A lot of folks can't fathom that there are people who do not favor what they themselves do. For the record, I do favor Waygu Gold by a wide margin over anything else. Just my preference. But I have ate some great choice and select briskets in my time. This is just my opinion but I think cooking select grade brisket is the ultimate test of a pitmasters skills. It's much harder to pull off than the higher grades.

Botch · May 2015

Cool video. I noted the butcher at Kreutz was using a SGH-style cimitar blade.

I've always gone nekkid, will have to try the paper on the next brisket.

SGH · May 2015

Botch said:

I noted the butcher at Kreutz was using a SGH-style cimitar blade

Good eye my friend ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. I spotted it too.

cazzy · May 2015

EggHead_Bubba said:

@cazzy... I was of the opinion Franklin only wrapped when the color was right and if it had enough smoke based on his Youtube video comments. Personally, I have never wrapped brisket during my BGE cooks. I used to wrap ribs for 2 and then 1 hour but now I do those unwrapped as well and will never look back. I tend to agree with @SGH that Franklin does this at his restaurant as part of the normal procedure to can consistency when cooking such volume.

I honestly think wrapping on the BGE isn't really needed because of our cooking environment. A lot of moisture in the air and no draft so it definitely is a friendlier environment.

I highly doubt Franklin ever barbecues at home and pretty much always cooks in volume. He prefers sushi and barbecue will never be a lunch or dinner choice for he and Stacy in their personal lives. This is something that just comes with running a joint. You love making it but hate eating it. With that said...he always wraps.

DMW · May 2015

cazzy said:

EggHead_Bubba said:

@cazzy... I was of the opinion Franklin only wrapped when the color was right and if it had enough smoke based on his Youtube video comments. Personally, I have never wrapped brisket during my BGE cooks. I used to wrap ribs for 2 and then 1 hour but now I do those unwrapped as well and will never look back. I tend to agree with @SGH that Franklin does this at his restaurant as part of the normal procedure to can consistency when cooking such volume.

I honestly think wrapping on the BGE isn't really needed because of our cooking environment. A lot of moisture in the air and no draft so it definitely is a friendlier environment.

I highly doubt Franklin ever barbecues at home and pretty much always cooks in volume. He prefers sushi and barbecue will never be a lunch or dinner choice for he and Stacy in their personal lives. This is something that just comes with running a joint. You love making it but hate eating it. With that said...he always wraps.

Totally understand that. When I worked in an egg (the white kind) processing plant during high school, I could no longer eat eggs.

logchief · May 2015

Thanks SGH, great info for when I get off my dead ass and do my first brisket. Is it a prob to use the white paper. Most of it appears to have a treatment on the inside

FearlessTheEggNoob · May 2015

I am really happy with the result on this one.

Went with an aggressively trimmed prime packer. Also lightly scarified the red surface with a fork to promote rub adhesion and bark formation.

The fleshy end of the point was fully exposed and blackened. Cutting into it was like opening some large, chocolate covered bing cherry...only with moist juicy meat inside.

Still, I'm gonna be in a fat-induced coma for the next couple hours, but I suppose it was worth it.

Disclaimer: I used a Reynolds turkey oven bag instead of foil.

blasting · May 2015

Question. So at the end of a cook and you want to FTC because dinner is a few hours away... use paper instead of foil? or still use foil in that case? Will either of these have the negative effect of softening up the bark? Also, not done until it probes like buttah, right? What temp is it that you start watching for that? Thanks

cazzy · May 2015

blasting said:

Question. So at the end of a cook and you want to FTC because dinner is a few hours away... use paper instead of foil? or still use foil in that case? Will either of these have the negative effect of softening up the bark? Also, not done until it probes like buttah, right? What temp is it that you start watching for that? Thanks

Either are fine. Both will slightly soften your bark which is fine. Start probing at 195. You're looking for very little resistance in the thickest part of the flat.

Does your oven have a warm feature? 140-170? I have had great results with that wrapped in butcher paper.

blasting · May 2015

thanks cazzy.

SGH · May 2015

blasting said:

Question. So at the end of a cook and you want to FTC because dinner is a few hours away... use paper instead of foil? or still use foil in that case? Will either of these have the negative effect of softening up the bark? Also, not done until it probes like buttah, right? What temp is it that you start watching for that? Thanks

FTC is a general moniker. However, yes you can use paper in place of the foil for holding purposes. I haven't used foil for quite sometime. I guess we should start using the new moniker PTC (Paper, Towel, Cooler) instead. As to probing, you will get a million suggestions on this. However I will over this. When cooking Waygu or Waygu Gold Grade, I suggest that you start probing in he 180 degree arena. I did a monster several weeks back that was spot on in the high 180's. Waygu, Akaushi and Waygu Gold at a much lower temp than choice and select. I haven't fooled with Prime enough to say much on the subject. With that said, my hunch is that it's done at a higher temp than Waygu but at a lower temp than choice and select. Kind of middle of the road if you will. For choice and select I have always started checking around 190. This seems to be ideal as I have never seen one be overdone at that low of a temp. Usually they have to go considerably higher so 190 is a good starting point to probe.

SGH · May 2015

@blasting- About the only time that wrapping AFTER the cook causes issues is when you use foil and LOTS of liquids. Under these circumstances, yes the liquid can and will affect the bark. However if you have minimal liquid, the bark will be unaffected by the foil wrap after the cook. Bark softening is not a issue with paper that I have encountered.

SGH · May 2015

logchief said:

Thanks SGH, great info for when I get off my dead ass and do my first brisket. Is it a prob to use the white paper. Most of it appears to have a treatment on the inside

As long as its uncoated, the color of the paper is insignificant.

SGH · May 2015

DMW said:
When I worked in an egg (the white kind) processing plant during high school, I could no longer eat eggs.

I can relate to this all to well. 38 years ago I worked in a pickle processing plant. Seeing the hundreds of dead rats that got drowned being scooped out of the pickle silos every morning really made me shy away from pickles for a while. What is sad is, pickles are one of my favorites. Still to this day, when I open a pickle jar, that memory comes back sometimes.

blasting · May 2015

Thanks SGH. Cooking brisket reminds me of NASCAR. Looks ridiculously simple on the surface, but the devil is in the smallest of details.

SGH · May 2015

cazzy said:
I honestly think wrapping on the BGE isn't really needed because of our cooking environment.

There is a significant amount of truth in the above.

Tettletime · May 2015

@SGH I've been a pretty religious reader of the forum for about 6 months now, if a little shy about posting many things myself, since I got my LBGE. I gotta say, you-along with a few others-consistently post some of the most helpful threads here. This one is a great example. You could have just watched the video and learned a thing or two personally, but you thought enough of the people on here to link it. I thank you, good sir, for all you've done to help me with my egging. I was a fairly experienced bbq cook on an old offset, but I became a far better pitmaster with the egg and your help.

Sookie · May 2015

Before this post I never considered butcher paper as a wrap option, If you use this method on a BGE it's obviously different with heat coming from the bottom vs the side as in the video (thanks for sharing, by the way). Obviously you would use indirect heat, but is there any danger of the paper catching on fire? Is there a certain temp to keep it below if you use paper?

SGH · May 2015

@Tettletime- My pleasure sir. I have always tried to help in whatever way that I could. I gladly and freely share anything that I know or that I find. There is a old passage that I honestly try to follow to the best of my ability. It simply says: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. To me, it just always seemed like sound advice my friend.

@Sookie- Sister most all uncoated butcher style paper is good to at least 400 degrees. Some even higher. With that said, you will always be safe up to at least 400 degrees. If you use 40# weight uncoated paper, it's good right up to the 500 degree arena. It's not often that any of us cook brisket that hot. However for the record, myself, Nolaegghead and Cen-Tex did cook the final 6 briskets at last years brisket camp at a honest 440 degrees from take off to touchdown on Unit #1. However we chose not to wrap.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · May 2015

cazzy said:

blasting said:

Question. So at the end of a cook and you want to FTC because dinner is a few hours away... use paper instead of foil? or still use foil in that case? Will either of these have the negative effect of softening up the bark? Also, not done until it probes like buttah, right? What temp is it that you start watching for that? Thanks

Either are fine. Both will slightly soften your bark which is fine. Start probing at 195. You're looking for very little resistance in the thickest part of the flat.

Does your oven have a warm feature? 140-170? I have had great results with that wrapped in butcher paper.

I do this same thing. I never wrapped while cooking until very recently but I do like the bark a little better when I do. I do like to rest in butcher paper in a cooler or in the over/warmer and I rest for as long as I possibly can. up to 12 hrs sometimes.

Chubbs · May 2015

I tried to find a packer today. No dice. You texans are lucky. I have never wrapped my briskets but will give a try.

4Runner · May 2015

@Chubbs - I got mine from Ole Timey on Rosewood. I used to get most of my meat from Steak Mart on Rosewood until Robbie closed up shop and when into his mission work full time. Anyway, not impressed with Ole Timey for $5.99 #. Both of my briskets were stiff and tight. Still tasted good though.

Butcher Paper vs Foil vs No Wrap. You be the judge.

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