To wrap or not to wrap...

[noboundaries]

No wrap: ribs (beef or pork), butts, meat loaf, and poultry (whole or parted). Why? PITB.

Wrap: chuckies, packer briskets, and pork loins. Why? Better end result and recipe versatilty.

Sometimes wrap, most times not: tri tips. Tri tip is the pork butt of beef because it is so forgiving and mimics other cuts from steak to beef roasts to brisket flats as you smoke to a higher internal temp.

 

[whistlepig]

Brisket, chuck roasts, and pork butts get wrapped. Not ribs or anything else.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
I hope this is obvious, but do not wrap anything you are smoking versus cooking

I do appreciate the advice, in your last line. I am literally new at smoking so any obvious tips and advice are welcome!

Smoke into meat supposedly stops around the 150° mark. Don't wrap too early or it defeats the smoke flavor.
I frequently smoke mac-n-cheese. The slurry is very very warm fresh out of the pan. Dump in a foil pan and in the smoker to get get a good flavor. I stir the foil pan 2-3 times for an hour or so.

 

[whistlepig]

Smoke into meat supposedly stops around the 150° mark. Don't wrap too early or it defeats the smoke flavor.
I frequently smoke mac-n-cheese. The slurry is very very warm fresh out of the pan. Dump in a foil pan and in the smoker to get get a good flavor. I stir the foil pan 2-3 times for an hour or so.

Correct. Wrapping the meat pertains to the texture. Not the smoke flavor.

 

[noboundaries]

Smoke into meat supposedly stops around the 150° mark. That's a myth that persists like an old wive's tale.

Don't wrap too early or it defeats the smoke flavor. Absolutely factual.

See my comments in the quote.

 

[sandyut]

RE: comments about how dry/humid. I am in Utah and its dry here too. Doesnt change much. I used a water bowl with and without water in my WSM and there was not change in the meat product at all.

 

[GaryHibbert]

I wrap anything requiring a long cook. We prefer soft bark to hard, and my pork rub has a lot of brown sugar in it that burns fairly easily.
Everything else gets cooked nekid.
Gary

 

[retfr8flyr]

A lot of wrapping choices depend on what you are using to cook with. Personally I don't wrap anything on my Big Joe. I much prefer the flavor and bark from cooking unwrapped. I do wrap some things on my Timberline, due to the pellet grills tendency to dry meat a little more than I like. When using a stick burner, gas, or Weber style charcoal grill, then I would wrap meats on the long cooks. Kamado type grills retain so much moisture during a cook that I never have any fear of something coming out dry.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Smoke into meat supposedly stops around the 150° mark. Don't wrap too early or it defeats the smoke flavor.

The way I see this is around the 150-160 mark the meat starts to sweat or stall because of evaporation. At around 150 the myoglobin changes color to grey, this is irreversible. So the pink ring penetration stops at around 150-160* but I agree, the smoke flavor continues to build.

 

[Displaced Texan]

There was a mention of using a "foil boat" method for brisket. Is anyone doing this? I have seen some videos from this guy from "Chuds BBQ" that I stumbled upon. His brisket looks great, and he uses that method in an offset smoker.

I have been doing the butcher paper wrap but am open to new ideas. This is totally going against the over thinking I have been trying to avoid lol. I wasn't looking for any new wrapping method, I just saw a YouTube video linked on a Facebook group and watched it.

Like Michael Corleone, they pulled me back in!

 

[cal1956]

i live at an elavation of 6,700 feet and never wrap anything .it just comes down to what you like

 

[sandyut]

i live at an elavation of 6,700 feet and never wrap anything .it just comes down to what you like

Same - I never wrap anything

 

[Displaced Texan]

I have been finishing my briskets overnight in the oven. I guess with a water pan in there, not wrapping would be fine, but it does really hold in a lot of the juices.