To wrap or not to wrap

[jfmorris]

Enough about your cooking style. What about the pork?

[Donw]

I do it a little different, a cross between wrapped and unwrapped. After I have good bark I pan it uncovered. The pan collects the renderings and juices which I add back, at least some, when pulling the cooked butt for added moisture in the finished product. I sacrifice a little bark but like the end product better. I also always cook at 275.

[smokenoob]

nakid!

[Al S.]

^^What he said! Spot on.

[jfmorris]

Don't wrap unless you are just time constrained and need to shave a couple hours off the cook. 99% of the butts I've cooked (probably up over 1000 by now) have so much fat and connective tissue that renders, that they are self basting and very forgiving meats. I haven't wrapped a butt in 15 years, been smoking them for 30.

If you wrap, you sacrifice bark, as you end up braising the meat in its own juices, and the bark will soften. If you don't like bark, that may be ok. I have a brother in law who hates it and picks out pork without any bark on it when I serve it for family get togethers. Most folks, myself included, love those tasty morsels. It's spice and smoke, attached to meat! What's not to love!

With a butt, if you need to finish sooner, I would rather push the temp from 225 to 250 or 275 to shave time off the cook. I do wrap my briskets when they hit 170 though, to avoid drying them out and to speed up the cook.

The WSCG is efficient and probably provides a moist environment when cooking in kamado mode. Your plan for dry brining and applying MMD is sounds and is what I do most of the time. Just plan on a long cook at 225. My last butt went 16 hours at 225, but then, it was a 9 pounder that despite "defrosting" for 48 hours in the fridge, had an IT of 25F when it went onto the smoker. I was barely able to get the meat probe inserted.

[JTW84]

Hey folks, brand new here. Just getting into smoking, and looking for some advice. What is the consensus here on wrapping butts during or just after the stall? Does it have any effect on the moisture in the pork if left unwrapped?

Not sure If prep matters for this topic, but If so I’m planning on dry brine for 24 hrs then Memphis Dust prior to smoking. Smoking on a WSCG as close to 225 as I can keep it. Just got a fireboard in the mail so hoping that helps as well. Up to this point have just used the thermometer on grill and eyeballed the meats. Two prior butts haven’t been bad, but definitely room for improvement. Thanks for any suggestions!