Butcher paper wrapped brisket

Ok, so I did this 8lb choice angus brisket yesterday. A few weeks ago I got a huge roll of brown butcher paper from a local butcher supply. It looks more like craft paper but that's all they had so I took a chance of it being ok. Apparently it's a somewhat common practice used at some of the central TX BBQ places, see http://texasbbqposse.blogspot.com/2010/12/butcher-paper-wrapped-brisket-posse.html

Instead of using foil, butcher paper is used instead, with the idea being that foil will steam your meat and make it mushy leaving you with no "bark". Butcher paper is supposed to allow your brisket to breath a little while maintaining a moist environment for your brisket.

About 5 hours into the cook when the brisket developed a nice color to it I wrapped it up. Not a tidy wrap but oh well, I'm not sure that's important. I re-inserted my temp probe after I took these pics.



After a 2hr rest inside the kitchen oven, still wrapped up but sitting in a aluminum pan with a single layer of foil covering the pan. It was resting fat side up, so hence the blemishes when I flipped it over.


All sliced up. No smoke ring to appreciate whatsoever. This could hurt my scores in a BBQ comp. but lucky for me that's not the case here. Lack of a smoke ring is probably partially due to the rub I used which was Oakridge Competition Beef and Pork, which is excellent BTW. I used True Cue lump with about 5 good sized wood chunks, so there was definitely smoke. I waited for the smoke to lighten up a little and by the time I pulled the brisket from the fridge and put it into the keg, the keg was just about up to temp.


So although this brisket tasted great and was tender, it came out fairly dry. I had over trimmed it w/out using an injection. (Got the idea from watching Pitmasters, but I forgot about the fact that they inject their brisket.) It cooked for about 7 hours at around 275*. I had no remote monitoring capability as my stoker had probe issues , so I used a standard wired thermometer instead. I should of pulled it an hour sooner, when I went out to check on it, the alarm was going off as the IT was 207*!! I did not anticipate this brisket being done this soon, so yet another lesson learned I suppose. I normally check for doneness with a skewer or therm probe, but that 207* was the highest I ever let a brisket get to, so I pulled it immediately. Right now I'm not convinced butcher paper speeds up cooking the way foil does, so I don't think it was a factor in this situation. Although this was not my best brisket by far, it had a nice bark that wasn't mushy or too "crispy" which I believed it allowed the natural flavor of the rub to stand out more than usual. So all in all I believe the butcher paper served it's purpose and I will be using it in more experiments in the future and see how it goes.

Thanks Mike, I figured it was because OR rubs have natural ingredients vs. rubs with nitrites and other things that help contribute to a smoke ring. Also a smoke ring is not something that is easily accomplished in kamado/keg cooker. Perhaps I used too much rub and didn't allow enough air flow to the surface of the meat. I know smoke rings are "over rated" but they do make a difference in comp. scores even though they are not supposed to be judged.

That's quite possible Mike, I should of put a handful of regular briquttes with my lump. I've heard that's supposed to help.

Thanks, no I haven't tried a high heat brisket cook yet. It's on my list to do. The smoke ring is very elusive, I usually get a small smoke ring on my briskets. I've seen some get bigger smoke rings on their kegs and BGEs. In IBCA comps that are dominant here in TX, it's pretty much like a people choice judging, anybody can judge. I helped judge a comp last year and even remember the head judge mentioning a smoke ring as a positive factor in giving a quick overview on judging criteria before she passed out the boxes.