BBQ and Texas crutch (foil wrap) vs. not wrapping

[eugenep]

I just got a weber smokey mountain water smoker for BBQ from my GF recently. 

 

I smoked a pork shoulder over mesquite and charcoal a few days ago over an 8 hour period on low at 220 F or so. My water pan dried out in the middle maybe at the 4 hour mark. 

 

The meat was not fall apart tender and was not as moist as I would like either. I'm guessing it didn't reach the 203 F temp that would break down the tough muscles. And the temp likely stalled way below that. I didn't wrap the meat in foil using a Texas crutch. 

 

Advise on the technique seems to be wrapping in foil after 3-4 hours vs.  different advise on not wrapping and the results will be the same.

 

If you don't wrap, you just wait for the meat to get past the stall temp and the temp will rise if given enough time (so I'm not going to bother wrapping). 

 

But the stalling temp will be harder to get past if you don't wrap, which is what happened to me. 

 

I never really understood the reasoning for wrapping. Some authors say it's like sweating. When you sweat and your sweat cools, you feel colder because of the wet sweat on your body. So by wrapping, you're stopping your meat from sweating and evaporating that sweat into steam and cooling the meat. I didn't really buy it. I think it's true but I'm not believing i the sweat explanation. 

 

But I did remember a passage I read on Modernist Cuisine and reread it again lately. 

 

It looks like evaporating water to steam takes energy and this energy expenditure is what cools the meat and causes the temp to stall and not rise (because heat = energy). 

 

By using the Texas crutch and foil wrapping, you are trying to create a 100% humidity wet environment. Once the humidity gets this wet, the meat surface won't evaporate.

 

Without evaporation no energy is lost and the meat won't cool and the temp won't stall. 

 

So that's why the weber smoker has this water pan in it - it's to encourage that wet humid environment (and also helps smoke adhere to the meat). 

 

And that wrapping and creating a wet humid environment isn't to keep the meat moist by pushing water into the meat but stopping water from leaving the meat. The environment is so wet that more water won't leave the meat. 

 

And wrapping isn't sealing in the juices or pushing water in etc. 

 

So I think I'm going to wrap after 3-4 hours of smoking and finish in a conventional oven since wrapping will stop smoke from further entering the meat. 

 

And I'm cheap and don't want to waste further charcoal and mesquite to keep the heat no another 4-5 hours. 

 

 

I just wanted to share owing to my excitement at what seemed like a clear explanation. I think reddit would call it a TIL 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by eugenep (log)

[chileheadmike]

I never wrap pork butts. I wrap briskets and sometimes ribs but never butts. There's enough fat in there that you don't need to worry about it. Get a remote thermometer and set it to 195. Keep an eye on your water pan. there's a distinctive smell when your water is getting low, you'll see as you cook more. You will also hear the fat sizzling. 

 

Don't overthink it, pork butt is the easiest meat  to cook on a WSM. Keep the top vent wide open and regulate the temp with the bottom vents. Don't use too much wood, I use 3 or 4 good sized, unsoaked chunks. 

[Tri2Cook]

Whatever the science behind it all, the wrapping does indeed defeat the stall. But it also assumes you're ok with the exterior surface being pretty much the same texture as the interior. There won't really be that outer layer of chewy smoky meat which you may or may not consider a good thing. I frequently use the wrapping because I'm using an electric smoker and once I've done my predetermined amount of smoke time, the rest of the time is basically just an outdoor oven. So to save wear and tear on the heating element, I wrap the meat and move it to a 225 F oven to finish. But I do sometimes miss that textural component from the exterior that you get without the wrapping.

[kayb]

When I'm cooking whole shoulders, I never wrap (I will tent when they're done and resting). And I cook shoulders for 18 hours, starting at 175 degrees and finishing at 300. (my pit, built by my father, has a thermometer in the lid). 

[scubadoo97]

Deleted 

Edited October 16, 2022 by scubadoo97
Deleted per site rules (log)

[eugenep]

I have read a lot of different advise on wrapping. Some say it needs to be air-tight. Others say you should put a lot of flavorful sauces and liquids in the wrap. 

 

I think there's this assumption that you are putting liquid into the meat to keep it moist and pushing it in. 

 

But it seems that what's going on is that you don't really need to do either air-tight or add sauces because you just need to create something close to a 100% humidity wet environment to stop evaporation (and hence cooling temperature that causes the stall). 

 

The background explanation makes it easy to sort through all this differing advise in some books at least. 

[Toliver]

I had heard that after 4 hours, the meat has absorbed all of the smoke it's going to absorb. 

So after 4 hours you wrap it in foil, place it on a sheet pan (with edges...in case your wrapping leaks juice), and put it in a slow oven for 8 to 10 hours. 

No need to worry about the water pan drying up, or having to keep throwing in expensive charcoal or fruit wood into the smoker for the next 8 to 10 hours. The oven finishes the cooking.

Though the video @scubadoo97 linked to was an interesting experiment, comparing foil-wrapped to paper-wrapped to "naked". But anyone who can afford to smoke three briskets at the same time isn't worried about the expense of 10 hours worth of extra hardwood charcoal or fruit wood.

[rotuts]

Aaron Franklin is indeed The Master

 

he has several books ,   PBS series , and  MasterClass series.

 

somewhere he has a similar episode on Pork Shoulder 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbzEa_juegs&frags=pl%2Cwn

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knOwrUrMbaY&frags=pl%2Cwn

 

enjoy

 

[eugenep]

I notice Aaron Franklin, in his book, uses higher temperatures than others - like 275F instead of 225F. 

 

The meat should tenderizes and gets past the stall at higher temps 300F without needing to wrap. 

 

I think it's because it's so hot that the heat races ahead of the evaporation pace going on from inside the meat that it cooks it through and breaks the stall with no wrap 

[mgaretz]

I don't wrap pork butts, but I do wrap brisket.  You don't leave the wrap on until it's done - as you noted, that kills the bark.  Once past the stall, you unwrap so the surface can dry out and create the bark.  Even if you keep your water pan topped up, it will not prevent the stall.

 

I think the jury is out on whether meat can absorb more smoke flavor after a certain temp.  The smoke ring won't form or get any deeper after a certain temp, but that is just cosmetic and really has no flavor in itself, it's just an indication that it could have good smoke flavor.  Some say that you can still build smoke flavor on the surface even at higher temps.  Higher cooking temps generate less smoke because of the nature of the fire, so that causes some confusion/conflation.  Remember that Franklin is using huge offset smokers and they can still generate a lot of smoke at 275F.  Harder to do at home, especially with a pellet smoker like I have. 

 

For pulled pork (butt), I also slice the butt into strips, but usually I am lazy and just buy Costco's boneless "country style ribs" - which are just sliced pieces of butt.  They cook much faster and you get much more bark.  Here's a picture and you can see my full write-up here:  https://blasphemyribs.com/2020/03/13/blasphemy-pulled-pork/