To Texas Crutch or NOT to?

[NotTheGolfer]

So I keep reading that if you avoid the Texas Crutch during THE STALL, you will get a better quality "bark" on the meat, but it will also significantly lengthen the cook time. I am new to this, so I’m wondering HOW MUCH time avoiding the Texas Crutch will add to the cook. Thank you in advance for any helpful information you can provide!

[STEbbq]

Every piece of meat is different, but for brisket I’d estimate you’d save an hour or two but that can vary widely even within brisket.

[Steve R.]

It's not so much that not crutching adds time, as it is that crutching saves some time. When I do this, I wait until the bark is the way I like it, then crutch to kinda fast forward to the target "doneness." Lots of variables here, so it's hard to say how long you are looking at.

[Jerod Broussard]

Depends on the cook.

[realdocBBQ]

No way to predict - each piece of meat is different. Also depends on what you're 'crutching' with. Pink butcher paper or foil? If you do a single layer of foil and make it really tight, you're going to speed things up even more, and it's going to sort of braise your brisket at the same time.

It's all experience with brisket, and I'm by no means an expert. But generally speaking I'd say if you go all open you'll have the crunchiest bark, but the longest cook, and most chance of drying out your flat. Pink butcher paper to power through the stall, you'll cut maybe a couple hours off a large brisket, soften your crust but probably not destroy it all the way. With tight foil wrapping you might save another hour (over the pink butcher paper method), or less, and you will most definitely soften up your bark, sometimes to the point of mush and it just wipes off again. Foil is the fastest method and some would say the most "pot roast-like" product.

Maybe that will give you an idea, but those times are pure estimates and without knowing your meat, your cooker and your temp and other factors, you really can't tell.

This is why BBQ is an art just as much as a science. There's no substitute for experience.

[MrMeat]

I agree 100%

[bbqLuv]

Me too agree

[STEbbq]

Personally I have been skipping the crutch where the bark is really critical like in brisket or pastrami. But I have found the crutch really helps tenderize ribs especially if you are putting sauce on. Everyone has their own processes.

[USMCCrashCrew89]

I honestly go by how I feel going into the cook whether I wrap or not.

One consideration is if you are going to hold it in a cooler for an extended period of time since that softens the bark too.

[Red Man]

Depends on your bark preference and your cooker. You’re just going to have to experiment a bit. Personally I wrap with butcher paper at about 180 IT on my kettle and typically don’t wrap on my PBC.

[Richard Chrz]

For brisket, pork shoulder, chuck, I wrap with butcher paper after the stall and wanted bark, then the butcher paper holds all that fantastic grease next to the bark, and makes the bark even better. jmo

[Troutman]

Yea buddy !!

[mrteddyprincess]

I cook brisket on a Lang 48 inch and it hums naturally at 300-350 F. I ignore the stall, do not wrap, and usually get excellent results. I also go whole packer prime or choice, and I go with big cuts above 15 lbs. Five to seven hours for an 18 lb brisket. If I had a different cooker, I would have to learn all this over again.

[Oak Smoke]

That's so true. Every cooker is different. The ability to hold temp, the amount of air flow, and the moisture they hold varies with every cooker.

[JeffJ]

I go back and forth about wrapping. Sometimes I do it out of necessity when I'm running out of time and want to speed things up. My biggest concern is wearing away the bark. Having said that, too much bark, to the point where it's like crunchy beef jerky, isn't desirable either, from my POV. For me, the optimal scenario is developing really good bark before it turns black in color - that deep mahogany is visually appealing.

[Dadof3Illinois]

^^^This right here......+1

[klflowers]

I am an extremely lazy man, and wrapping seems like too much work, so I only wrap when I am in a time crunch. I try and avoid that at all costs. Most of my brisket cooks go overnight anyway, so the stall comes and goes while I am asleep. I have gained a lot of brisket confidence since I joined this site

[RonB]

Amen brother!

[surfdog]

I don’t wrap...partly because I can’t be bothered LOL and partly because when I started this smoking journey way back when, I didn’t even know that was a thing.

There was no resource like this one. The recipes I saw that wrapped didn’t look worth trying: wrapped WAY too early...might as well have plonked it into a covered roaster and added a cup or two of stock. BBQ they were not.

So I just learned by trial and error...and most of my friends & family that wrapped made worse stuff than most of my errors. Seriously. Who in the name of all things edible suggested that par-boiling ribs was a good idea?! [shudder]

[Huskee]

When I do butts, chucks (for pulled beef), and briskets, I don't wrap until after the stall, at about 180 or so. At 225-250 cook temp this takes about 7-8hrs on average until wrap time, then I wrap and it's about another ~2hrs to 200ish, then I faux cambro it another 1-2hrs. I am consistently at ~12hrs total until slice & eat time. I have some outliers on occasion, and YMMV too, but I plan every cook with this timing and it's pretty consistent.

[Jfrosty27]

I almost never wrap these days. For long cooks I just start early. If it’s done before I need it to be, I just cambro until serving time. I’m never off by too much.