Pulled Pork... Best time to foil? and more importantly WHY??

[jirodriguez]

Man has been cooking meats with fire for almost a Million years...."Modern Day" BBQ (whole Hogs etc) is usually traced back to Colonial times...400 plus years ago...generally in/to the Carolina Colonies..  To my knowledge the use of tin foil in BBQ (As A Crutch) is a modern "fast food" practice..only being in place for maybe 3 or 4 decades. ~~ Only in very recent history does man need, a Roll of Tin Foil, A Pound of Brown Sugar, A Quart of Apple Juice, Swaddling Clothes, and a 48 Quart Igloo Cooler to Cook ..XYZ....(You fill in the blank)

When to foil? Don't!! ...  Learn to Cook instead.

Why Foil?... Other than the obvious..I don't have a clue. 

Fun!

Course by that logic we should all abandon our cars and just walk everywhere.... heh-heh.

Foil really is just personal taste, no real right or wrong as long as you get the results YOU like.... unless you are doing competition smoking then its the resulst the judges like.

 

[Bearcarver]

Man has been cooking meats with fire for almost a Million years...."Modern Day" BBQ (whole Hogs etc) is usually traced back to Colonial times...400 plus years ago...generally in/to the Carolina Colonies..  To my knowledge the use of tin foil in BBQ (As A Crutch) is a modern "fast food" practice..only being in place for maybe 3 or 4 decades. ~~ Only in very recent history does man need, a Roll of Tin Foil, A Pound of Brown Sugar, A Quart of Apple Juice, Swaddling Clothes, and a 48 Quart Igloo Cooler to Cook ..XYZ....(You fill in the blank)

When to foil? Don't!! ...  Learn to Cook instead.

Why Foil?... Other than the obvious..I don't have a clue. 

Fun!

LOL Good one!

Maybe we can take our horse & buggy to pick the hog up over at Charles Engle's house too?

Bear

OOOOPS, Didn't see yours Johnny. It was on the last page all by itself.

 

[corn cob]

Naw...go ahead and use you Car/Truck, but on your way back, you may as well stop by the grocery store and pick up your Canned Biscuits, Instant Grits, Imitation Cheese, Instant Mashed Potatoes, and for dessert, a Chocolate Cake in a box...... Don't forget the canned icing....

Enjoy!

 

[jstanford]

We used to walk everywhere but then they invented the automobile! Some things are better with advancements.... Not sayin' that the food wasn't good way back when but there is a reason God put brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, etc on this earth.. To make a rub recipe! Long live the rub....Long live the bark!

 

[jirodriguez]

Naw...go ahead and use you Car/Truck, but on your way back, you may as well stop by the grocery store and pick up your Canned Biscuits, Instant Grits, Imitation Cheese, Instant Mashed Potatoes, and for dessert, a Chocolate Cake in a box...... Don't forget the canned icing....

Enjoy!

 Oh I definately agree there are a lot of "modern day" advances I could do without  -  instant mashed potato's

I usually foil just for the reduction in cooking time and all the drippings I get to keep in the foil.

 

[Bearcarver]

Naw...go ahead and use you Car/Truck, but on your way back, you may as well stop by the grocery store and pick up your Canned Biscuits, Instant Grits, Imitation Cheese, Instant Mashed Potatoes, and for dessert, a Chocolate Cake in a box...... Don't forget the canned icing....

Enjoy!

Wow, all that because many of us use aluminum foil?

Maybe you could get rid of your ECB, your Brinkman Pitmaster Deluxe Offset, and your 3 Propane fryers, and go strictly with your favorite campfire cooking. You don't need all of those modern "crutches".  

Bear
 

 

[jstanford]

I looked back in some of my old history books from school, ancient civilizations cooked all thier food on offset smokers and the ones who didn't opted for their propane smokers. This dates back to the early 1700's according to the book. In 1812 they invented the drive-thru and it all went downhill from there, just sayin'

 

[corn cob]

For those who understand, no explanation is needed

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible......

Cheers!

 

[pokey]

FWIW From this newbies limited experience: I've done a whoppin' three butts, all without foil, 5 - 7 lb range. They took anywhere from 16 to 18 1/2 hours at 250 and came out great. I admit I love a crispy bark, though. Some of the shorter times I've heard folks talk about I assume are possible/happening because of foiling.

I tried foiling ribs using 3-2-1 timing at 250 and thought the meat was too soft. But others I served to thought it came out great.

I think the bottom line is a matter of taste. We're all into this, among other reasons, because we like to make a better meal than you can buy. But the definition of "better" is purely subjective.

And since I use a pellet grill, I won't even wade into the "modern convenience" debate.

 

[jstanford]

I'm just having fun! I love the fact that we all have different opinions and convictions but what it all boils down to is a common ground we call BBQ! The love of preparing,cooking,sharing,eating and so on, I consider you all my friends... that's not a tear, I got something in my eye!?

 

[cowgirl]

lol  Great thread!  I'm a non foiler myself... It seems to come down to a matter of preference.

 

[jstanford]

So Cowgirl, your smoked bologna pictures inspired me, did the top cuts and it turned out AWESOME... Trying the cream cheese jalepeno thing this weekend..... Again, Thanks

 

[cowgirl]

So Cowgirl, your smoked bologna pictures inspired me, did the top cuts and it turned out AWESOME... Trying the cream cheese jalepeno thing this weekend..... Again, Thanks

Great!! I'm so glad to hear! Thanks for letting me know, I'm glad it turned out well for you.

 

[lucky13]

OK, what if you brought it up to 140, foiled to 150 then off with the foil till 160 then back on again at 170 etc, etc, etc??  Sure, you would waste a lot of time and foil but it would make the "Gotta Foil er's" and the "Don't Foil er's"  both happy.  And, maybe insead of actually using aluminum foil you use wet palm leaves like in Hawaii since they have been doing that for hundreds of years??  I think that covers about all arguements both ways! 

Just tryin to keep the peace.

 

[cowgirl]

OK, what if you brought it up to 140, foiled to 150 then off with the foil till 160 then back on again at 170 etc, etc, etc??  Sure, you would waste a lot of time and foil but it would make the "Gotta Foil er's" and the "Don't Foil er's"  both happy.  And, maybe insead of actually using aluminum foil you use wet palm leaves like in Hawaii since they have been doing that for hundreds of years??  I think that covers about all arguements both ways! 

Just tryin to keep the peace.

LOL.... Thanks!

 

[Bearcarver]

The point is:

Those who foil are right.

Those who do not foil are right.

Those who call foiling a crutch, and liken it to c[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]anned biscuits, instant grits, imitation cheese, and instant mashed potatoes, as if their way is the only way are wrong.[/color]

 

[jstanford]

Do any of you foil your instant mashed potatoes? What temp do you foil them? I can't get the temp probe to stick very well, anyone else have this issue??

 

[cowgirl]

Do any of you foil your instant mashed potatoes? What temp do you foil them? I can't get the temp probe to stick very well, anyone else have this issue??

 I like a good bark on my taters.

    Thanks for the laugh!

 

[bacardi]

Meat will absorb smoke as long as you apply smoke to it . The smoke ring quits forming at around 140 degrees F.  if you wrap in foil and use towels for insulation ,You shouldn't dirty a cooler. Foil at 160 -165 w/ some liquid and back on the heat till 200+ .Wrap in heavy foil into an ice chest insulated w/ towels or a blanket for at least an hour and it should stay hot for 4 or 5 hrs.

 If you want a crusty bark skip the foiling and just smoke to 200 degrees and let rest for 1 hr then pull
 

Many have reported that the rate absorbing of smoke greatly goes down at 140-145...I'm just not good with wrapping, whenever I start wrapping, juices go everwhere and get on the exterior of the foil.

 

Foil at 140*? Don't like any bark?  It's been my experience that it takes 3 to 4 hours to reach 140*, not really a lot of time to develop much bark.  And usually that's just about long enough to get a spritz or two in.  Do you wrap  yours at 140*?  How does resting a double foil wrapped butt, in two towels, dirty up a cooler?  There may be some rare situation that comes up causing someone to finish in an oven or crockpot as you suggest, but IMO, shouldn't be the norm.  If it is the norm, might as well start it in the crock and get you some liquid smoke and give a neighbor the smoker.  Just sayin.  

 

I wrap at 140-145.  Crockpot takes too long when you could just use the microwave, Just sayin.  Once you use foil, you're no longer smoking.  If you think you're still BBQing, then an oven/crock pot should still be considered BBQing :)

 

[jirodriguez]

Try using foil pans, they are much sturdier and work great!

 

Many have reported that the rate absorbing of smoke greatly goes down at 140-145...I'm just not good with wrapping, whenever I start wrapping, juices go everwhere and get on the exterior of the foil.