Does your Cooking or Cooked Brisket EVER see foil?

Once on the pit, does your brisket ever get foiled?

  • YES

    Votes: 87 86.1%

  • NO

    Votes: 14 13.9%
  • Total voters
    101
  • Poll closed .
G$

G$

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This topic has been discussed before of course, many times, but peoples' points of view change in time, so I would like a current snapshot on opinions.

The question is:
For a typical cook, once your brisket goes in the pit, does it ever see foil either during or after the cook.
​
This is a YES/NO question, purposefully.
 
"EVER / During or AFTER"


I always foil/cooler when done.. to hold it and let it rest/finish


not always when cooking.. only if i need to.
 
Poobah, looks like you edited your post I was going to reply to. I specifically did not want a "sometimes" answer in the poll. If you do it "sometimes", your answer is "YES".

(FWIW, I'd love to hear the "sometimes" reasons in the replies, just not the poll)
 
G$ said:
Poobah, looks like you edited your post I was going to reply to. I specifically did not want a "sometimes" answer in the poll. If you do it "sometimes", your answer is "YES".

(FWIW, I'd love to hear the "sometimes" reasons in the replies, just not the poll)
Click to expand...


yup, after I re-read your question I realized my answer was off base :oops: and u intentially left out the "sometimes". So i re-typed it..

My explanation of 'sometimes"..
I prefer not to foil during cooking. Only reason i would foil would be to either: 1 - Hurry things up a little or 2 - its STUCK for to long and wont break..

If its foiled becase its stuck, i may remove it from the foil as soon as it breaks and temps start climbing again. that depends on how much juice it let out. if its loaded in juice, i leave it foiled to finish.. If it hasnt released much, i put it back in the pit naked. if its really full, it usually means its near done, or will be soon.. probably becase its 'braising" in the foil.


BUT.. i like to foil when its done and cooler it for a few hours. I try for at least 2, but dont always have the willpower. :biggrin: I never removed it from the pit, rest uncovered and then sliced it. Just never was in that much of a rush.





so, becase you said "ever" and Before OR AFTER.. i answered sometimes.
 
I have been doing more foil with my briskets this year and my score have not been as good. I think Im going to forget the foil next season and see what happens.
 
16 poll replies, and the response are shaping up about like I expected.
14 YES
2 NO
​
Actually, I expected even less "NOs" relative to YES, but we will see as more data comes in. For what it is worth, I think have used foil either during or after virtually every brisket I have ever cooked, whether flat or full packer. I am vowing to change this and try my next several without foil at any part of the process.

I am no expert at this tricky cut of meet by any stretch, but I am rarely satisfied by the outcome, and it is often a 'mushy bark' that annoys me the most. (In other words, if I am lucky enough to have an acceptable level of moisture in the thing, I invariably suffer through with mushy bark. I am looking for perfection ... and I am a far way off!!!)
 
I said "YES" - however I don't actually foil when I wrap, I use film. I use the foodservice film, and wrap it, then cooler it for at least 2 hrs.
 
i tried that foodservice film..

Quite the fight it puts up... and me having the patients of pitbull, the wrap usually wins and gets thrown out.... or is that looses??
 
G$ said:
I am no expert at this tricky cut of meet by any stretch, but I am rarely satisfied by the outcome, and it is often a 'mushy bark' that annoys me the most. (In other words, if I am lucky enough to have an acceptable level of moisture in the thing, I invariably suffer through with mushy bark. I am looking for perfection ... and I am a far way off!!!)
Click to expand...

Stick it back in a hot cooker(300 +) with a little sauce on it and firm that bark back up. Works for me anyway.
 
YankeeBBQ said:
Stick it back in a hot cooker(300 +) with a little sauce on it and firm that bark back up. Works for me anyway.
Click to expand...

Yup, good point, that is an option. Or even the oven if you cooker has died down.

Part of the point of my poll is to see how many folks really "K.I.S.S." (Not a "right" or "wrong" statement by any means) Like I said, my next few will be: put hunk of meat in a low pit for 12 hours, remove, (hopefully) enjoy.

By the way, currently:
24 YES
2 NO
 
On the pit, I use foil when:

1. I need to preserve the color.

2. I need to speed up the cook. I will bump the pit temp after wrapping.

3. I need to shorten up the tenderising time. I will leave the pit temp the same after foiling.
 
IF i want to reset the bark after removing it from foil, and I no longer have a hot pit, i either throw it on a hot grill, or under a broiler for a minute or 2.

But personally, i dont care if the bark is crunchy or not.. so I'll take it mushy.
 
As a Texan it is my duty to use foil and perpetuate the stereotype that the Baron of BBQ has propogated.

For home consumption I'll foil in the pit, and keep it foiled when I move it to the cooler. Sometimes I'll toss it back in naked to firm up the bark if time allows. If not I can live with the texture for that one meal, since the leftovers will be frozen and the texture of the bark will change anyway.

For competition, the YankeeBBQ method works. The hot spot for just a little while will crisp the bark back up. You just need to plan for it in terms of time, temp of the pit, and temp of the meat.
 
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