While I live in CA, I've made a couple of trips to Texas the last few years. I'm striving for the elusive brisket on my Green Egg. Getting close. The best so far was the last one where I went to the Texas Crutch by wrapping in foil. About three weeks ago I had some of the best brisket I've ever had at Roegel's in Houston. I had a chance to talk to the pit master and asked about the foil technique. He recommends trashing the foil and going with butcher paper to get through the stall. My wife was in a hurry so I didn't have time to ask deeper on why butcher paper is better than foil. (Frustrating, but she's the boss and we were leaving early the next morning for a long drive to Scottsdale). The bottom line is that foiling seals the meat and ends the evaporation process, thus allowing the heat applied to increase the meat temp rather than working at evaporation. I guess butcher paper will accomplish the same thing but perhaps does not seal too tight??? One way or another I will try paper for the wrap on a future cook. Does anyone else have some experience here?
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Texas Crutch or Wrapping Thru the Stall. Foil or Butcher Paper?
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It depends on how you like your bark, there are numerous ways to get what you want using either foil or paper and it all depends on when you wrap too. My personal favorite is foiling, I don't like the chewier bark of paper, but I wait until after the stall to foil when the meat IT is at or near 180. Then there's plenty of bark for me & mine, but the foil helps it to be a little softer (key word= little, it's not mushy like some may fear). Paper won't save you much time, but it will save a little and since it breathes a little better it'll be more like a happy medium between foiling and going nekkid. Wrapping in foil before the stall will leave your bark on the light side, but it will save you the most time.
I suggest try 4 briskets over time and try the 4 main ways of wrapping on each, and take notes. 1) Wrap in foil at the start of the stall; 2) Wrap in foil after the stall has come & gone (IT = 170-180 is a good ballpark); 3) Wrap in paper at the start of the stall; 4) Wrap in paper after the stall. And there's a 5th way, don't wrap at all, if you so choose. Popular with many as well.
All of us can tell you our favorite ways, but it's only words. If you try it all yourself then you'll learn exactly how you like it.
P.S. Please leave your review of Roegel's in our Member Reviews > BBQ Restaurant Roundup > Texas sub-channel.
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Thanks Huskee! What you say makes total sense. Taking notes makes total sense too but a bit too much like I'm working (which I still am unfortunately). With your suggestions and my first hand knowledge from Texas about pretty good brisket is, I'll get there. Like they say, life is about the journey, not the destination...
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I usually use peach paper. Don't use regular white butcher paper as that can be coated with stuff. The peach paper is available on Amazon or some online restaurant supply stores. I believe Oren is the most popular brand.
But sometimes I don't bother with wrapping. Kind of depends on how I am feeling that day and how the cook is progressing. If I need to speed things up a bit I will wrap in butcher paper but like Huskee I usually do it after the stall. I always wrap in paper before I rest in the cooler for at least a couple hours after cooking.
There is no "right" way to do it though. Play around with different methods and find what works for you.
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I'd use foil the first time. I believe it will get you out of the stall faster. Wrap it about 180-185.
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I toyed with this this past weekend. I decided to try out the untreated butcher paper option. While it likely preserved my bark better than foil, it also didn't help with pushing through the stall. I wrapped at 150 and after sitting at 170ish degrees for several hours, I decided to do an external wrap of foil, and that was a good decision as it helped push the temperature up to my desired 203 relatively quickly. I think the combo of butcher paper actually touching the meet with an external foil wrap will be my go to method moving forward. The truth is, brisket is a LONG cook and there's not much you're going to do to dramatically cut the time down, nor do you want to.
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I have come to prefer paper, but I would recommend foil to a newbie, just for a little insurance in case the meat ends up dry,. You will have a decent amount of juice to drizzle over it right after slicing, and that also makes a nice presentation.
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I have done them unwrapped and have had excellent results. I've never wrapped with foil or paper. Part of the reason is I don't worry about the stall. When I do brisket or pork butts I set aside the time for it. I don't electronically monitor temps so I don't have the little readout in front of me telling me every second of every minute that the temp hasn't moved in a hour. You know why there is a stall? Because you've been told there is one and you look for it by constant monitoring of temps. For briskets or pork butts I don't start taking temps until they have been cooking for at least 8 hours. Sometimes by then the stall has already come and gone so I guess it's like it never existed!
I have gone to what I call a hybrid technique for briskets and pork butts where I pan them around 165 to 170 add a little moisture to the pan like a dark beer. Put them back in the smoker uncovered and let them finish through. I started this when I wanted to capture the fat juices as they rendered rather than sizzling off the tuning plates in the bottom of the pit.
You are not braising because you are not covering anything and you are not steaming off any bark. What you are doing is creating a great au jus for brisket and a great juice that will get reabsorbed back into your pulled pork for always juicy never dried pulled pork. Also you are adding another flavor layer with the beer or whatever liquid you add.
As Huskee says everyone can tell you their method and that's all it is and this just happens to be mine. Everything comes with experience and what you personally like and what works for you.
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Foil pan is the method I've been using of late. If you do want to crutch you can always cover the pan with loose foil. I am going to disagree somewhat in that even with the pan open and sitting in liquid that is considered a braise as you are getting the benefits of boiling and steaming. But it's a minor point.
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