I've used aluminum foil for the 2nd stage of most smokes (at the stall point) with great success. I was urged to switch to butcher paper.
I could be wrong, but it seems like the foil makes a better package meaning it keeps in more moisture since you can crimp the seams tight. Not so much with the butcher paper. Plus the butcher paper generally leaks some grease at the bottom.
Please let me know your thoughts about the pros and cons of each. Thanks!
I wait too long to wrap for it to make much of a difference. Eventually everything's going in foil anyway, so I don't waste my time with butcher paper.
As a side note: butcher makes a horrible boat, barely makes a canoe
I use butcher paper when I want a firmer bark, usually double-wrapped. I use foil when I want a softer bark, for things like Mexican seasoned chuck roast for tacos. I don’t cook many briskets anymore, but I can definitely tell the difference on chuck roasts and tri-tips between the two methods. I haven’t played much with the foil boat versus fully wrapping though.
I’ve used both. The butcher paper just makes more of a mess than I want to deal with. I have no problems with the results from butcher paper. The best Dino ribs I’ve ever done were in butcher paper. I just use foil now. I still do quite a few briskets. Those I cook most for seem to be divided. Some like brisket when it’s wrapped at 165 to 170 F it has less bark but is noticeably more moist. The rest like a brisket that is wrapped after the stall, somewhere in the 185 to 190 F range. It has a better bark, but thinner areas may dry a bit. Foil is also good to be able to move straight from the smoker to the cooler to rest it. There’s no wrong way. As you get older you’ll realize that pleasing everyone is tough whether it’s beef or pork. Some will want it falling apart or off the bone, others will think it’s over cooked. A truth I’ve slowly come to realize is “even the best bbq you’ve ever cooked won’t please everyone “.
I bought a large roll of butcher paper and have been using it this year. It certainly makes a mess as you mentioned and I do cuss at it a bit...although I like the way my brisket and ribs came through it. Yes some of the moisture does get away but I have my wraps on baking sheets to finish so I could grab some of it back. Has been plenty left in the paper for my taste though.
Talking strictly concerning ribs - I used to use foil, now only butcher paper. For me, foil traps moisture, stews the meat and generally ruins the bark. I bring my ribs to probe tender in my KBQ. No need to wrap to finish cooking. When done, the ribs are spritzed, wrapped in butcher paper to keep from drying out and kept warm.
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I use butcher paper for pork ribs. I think it helps tenderize them without significantly softening the bark and they aren't just braising in the juices. I use a foil wrap for brisket because I can press out the air pockets much easier than with paper and it's going to rest in foil for a few hours after it comes off the cooker anyway. I think big air pockets in the paper extend the cooking time significantly. I smoke my pork butts chunked up to maximize bark, so those go into pans and tightly covered in foil when it's time for wrapping. Credit to realdocBBQ for sharing this method to cook butts.
I don't wrap ribs, my preference. For pork butt I put it in a foil pan and seal with foil to finish. I don't worry about the bark because I found once it's shredded the moisture from the balance of the product moistens it anyway. Haven't done a brisket in years but I used paper wrap. Haven't done enough of them to know any better.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
I have only ever used foil here, for ribs, brisket or butts, *IF* I wrap. My preference is to only wrap brisket, AFTER the stall, around 170F. I've wrapped butts or ribs on occasion to power through the cook faster, but prefer to not wrap pork ribs or Boston butts if I can avoid it.
For what its worth, the prevailing school of thought is that foil gives it more of a soft, braised/pot roast texture and butcher paper keeps the bark firmer. There is a video on YouTube where Aaron Franklin cooked 3 briskets, one wrapped in foil, one in butcher paper and one unwrapped and compared the test/texture across the three.
So fimer bark, perhaps a bit less moisture vs. softer bark, juicer but perhaps more pot-roasty flavor/texture. But at the end of the day, they both work and its just preference and frankly I doubt the difference is super significant.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
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Foil is the way to go. I am convinced that restaurants use butcher paper because it is soooo much cheaper than foil. If you use foil, you get to keep all the juices to add back to the sliced meat.
If you let the brisket sit out for 5-10 mins with not foil, that bark firms back up.
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