Question about foil

Bluehawg · Dec 5, 2012

I've not been one to use foil a lot when cooking but over the past couple years I've heard a lot of other folks talking about foiling meat when smoking after a while and letting it cook in the foil for the rest of the smoking/cooking time. I've seen quite a few posts on here with guys using foil as well.

I am curious about how you guys that foil do it. Do you wrap it tightly and double the foil or do you loosely put the foil on it? Do you make like a foil pan with the top opened a bit or do you close it off completely? I've mostly used foil to cook blooming/smoked onions with butter and have finished off a couple of chuckies using a foil pan but I've always poured a little beer in the pan for the chuckies. When you do ribs, for example, and foil how do you keep the ribs from adhering to the foil? Same question for brisket.

I don't mind experimenting a little with the foil if I have some base knowledge of the techniques used what I don't want is to end up with a piece of meat that you have to scrap foil off when you plate it OR worse yet, having to pick chunks of foil out of my teeth.

Thanks in advance for the info guys. Ya'll have always been a huge library of information and I know there will be a whole plethora of ideas shared.

Brethren have truly helped me kick my cooking skills up a notch since I've been a member and for that, I'm TRULY thankful.

bigabyte · Dec 5, 2012

Yes to all of your questions.

The primary purpose of the foil is to push through the stall by braising, which means a fairly tight seal and maybe a little added liquid (or letting the meats own juices perform that magic.

Covering a pan with foil is purely convenience, and it works basically the same as above (but not quite as effectively from the braising perspective). It is a lot easier to manage a pan than meat wrapped in foil, especially if you wish to reserve the juices.

When I foil meat, if I get a good seal with one layer of foil (and it is HD foil) then I am happy with that. OTherwise you need more layers to make sure it holds together and doesn't tear or puncture as you move it to the cooker.

I get a realy long strip of foil, and place the meat centered on one half of the foil, then take the other half to fold over, bring the sheets together as cleanly as possible, then crimp up and seal tightly.

Because you are pushing through the stall, if you don't check your meat, you may find yourself overcooking it before you know it on your first few attempts.

(wait a minute....what the FARK am I doing posting over here in Q-Talk???)

DownHomeQue · Dec 5, 2012

Foil also is used to help Soften up Bark on Big cuts Brisket, Butts, Etc.. also as a barrier to keep from oversmoking foods...

HeSmellsLikeSmoke · Dec 5, 2012

One more point not covered. Since the meat is steaming, foiling will reduce the cooking time needed.

Bludawg · Dec 5, 2012

No foil her never have never will.

NickTheGreat · Dec 5, 2012

Bludawg said:
No foil her never have never will.

Only foil I use is to line the water bowl in my WSM to catch grease :mrgreen:

Bluehawg · Dec 5, 2012

How do you keep the foil from "sticking" to the meat?

aawa · Dec 5, 2012

I use foil on my ribs to empart another layer of flavor to them.

I pan up and foil the pan w/ pork butts that I do Hot and Fast as that is the way I learned to do them HnF that way. However I need try to do a HnF (~325 degrees) without foil method to see how it turns out. I also need to try ~275ish without panning up/foiling as well to determine which way I like the most.

aawa · Dec 5, 2012

Bluehawg said:
How do you keep the foil from "sticking" to the meat?

When you foil the bark has been set on the BBQ. The bark will prevent the meat from sticking to the meat.

bigabyte · Dec 5, 2012

The foil doesn't stick to the meat, so you don't have to do anything.

Bluesman · Dec 5, 2012

My methods vary:

Butts no foil cook through to probe tender like Buttah
Ribs depends on what I'm after. Sometimes 3-2-1 sometimes cook through no foil
Chuckie always foil in a pan of veggies and broth at 160* until probe tender like Buttah
Brisket foil the flat at 160* until probe tender like Buttah
Chicken no foil
Lamb no foil
Rib Roast no foil
Beef ribs no foil

Booze, big glass and ice wearing a foil hat

captndan · Dec 5, 2012

I've done butts both ways. If you don't want much of a bark use foil. If you're after the old Southern way for Mr. Brown don't even think about foil. Foil does make handling easier. I really don't see the need for foil but I will use it occasionally if the situation warrants. Enough science for today.

IamMadMan · Dec 5, 2012

I personally do not foil, but there have been a couple of times where I have had temperature problems and had to foil for a short time so I did not overshoot the target times.

landarc · Dec 5, 2012

The great advantage of foil is that it makes it a little more predictable how long the meat will take to cook. With practice is also makes a more predictable product easier to achieve. It is a valid tool if you are cooking just a few chunks of meat.

I use Heavy Duty foil, as wide as I can get. I generally will put a pan under it to move it around, as the bone easily punctures the foil. I vent the foil a little, a couple of holes, but, that is not necessary.

chad · Dec 5, 2012

Give it a try. It may just fit your style. I use it to keep on time...when I really don't care how long a cook session takes I'll sometimes leave it uncovered. I usually inject and foil or a foil covered pan keep all this juice from winding up in the bottom of the cooker.
YMMV!

Wampus · Dec 5, 2012

bigabyte said:
(wait a minute....what the FARK am I doing posting over here in Q-Talk???)

ound:

I foil often. Sometimes not, but usually do. There's absolutely no "must have" one way or the other, it's a preference.

I like it as a tool and option when I want consistency. Sometimes I just let the BBQ go without and it turns out great.

Sometimes I use butcher paper.

SOMETIMES, when things are taking longer than I want, I'll just foil to speed things up a bit (as Chris said, to push through the stall or speed up the cook by braising).

I like having it around as an option for sure. It's a great tool when you need it, as long as you understand what it will do for you, not unlike any other cooking tool.

It definitely doesn't HURT anything.

It's pretty much used ALL THE TIME in competition cooking and comp teams are all about consistency and control of cook times and temps, so that should tell you something right there.

BobM · Dec 6, 2012

I wrap racks of ribs tightly in foil, generally with an added, liquid mixture for an additional profile.

I pan my pork shoulders, briskets and beef ribs then wrap them tightly with foil.

Bob

Deeg · Dec 6, 2012

My understanding is that foiling helps shorten "the stall" by preventing some of the moisture in the meat from evaporating. If this is true, wouldn't foiling result in moister meat?

bigabyte · Dec 6, 2012

If meat was a sponge, then yes.

Question about foil

Bluehawg

Full Fledged Farker

bigabyte

somebody shut me the fark up.

DownHomeQue

is Blowin Smoke!

HeSmellsLikeSmoke

somebody shut me the fark up.

Bludawg

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NickTheGreat

is One Chatty Farker

Bluehawg

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aawa

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aawa

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bigabyte

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Bluesman

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captndan

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IamMadMan

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landarc

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chad

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Wampus

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BobM

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Deeg

Knows what a fatty is.

bigabyte

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