Foil pan or sheet

W

wayner123

Got Wood.
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
41
Reaction score
3
Points
0
Location
Deltona, FL
Hello all,

I hope I am not repeating discussion, but I am going to be doing a Butt or two this weekend on my UDS. I have read discussion on doing hot and fast and low and slow. I am usually somewhere in the middle as I tend to cook around 250-275. I usually don't use any foil for the entire cook, but I want to try it out on the UDS. Do you recommend I wrap the butts in sheet foil or to put the butts in a foil pan with juice and then cover that with sheet foil? Thanks for any help.
 
Use a heat deflector of some type (I use a 15"Ø terracotta potting dish from HD wrapped in foil) and do them right on the grate at 225°-250°. No foil req'd!
 
DC-Q said:
Use a heat deflector of some type (I use a 15"Ø terracotta potting dish from HD wrapped in foil) and do them right on the grate at 225°-250°. No foil req'd!
Click to expand...

The heat isn't really the issue for me. There is some fire management required due to the rendered fat dripping onto the coals, but that's not the main concern. I was just wondering if those who have done either or both have a preference.

One problem with my last few butts is that I have had to let them go all the way to 215 to get pull-able meat. I wondered if the foiling methods might help with that as well.
 
wayner123 said:
One problem with my last few butts is that I have had to let them go all the way to 215 to get pull-able meat. I wondered if the foiling methods might help with that as well.
Click to expand...

Cook til the bone will pull clean and the meat fills like buttuh' w/ a fork. It's done when it's done and I'm learning more and more not to go by IT, but I've never even heard of cooking to 215 IT. I suspect you've got a faulty therm.
 
wayner123 said:
...Do you recommend I wrap the butts in sheet foil or to put the butts in a foil pan with juice and then cover that with sheet foil? Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

I've done them both ways, and haven't seen much difference except that with the foil pan there's less chance of a leak. Either way, you'll wind up with softer bark and a quicker shot through the stall, than without foil. I've made moist and tender butts with and without foil, but I've never taken one to 215 except by accident once....mush! By 195 to 200 the bone should wiggle free without hardly any resistance, and a probe should insert like butter. I agree with Dave Russell, it might be time to calibrate your thermometer?
 
wayner123 said:
The heat isn't really the issue for me. There is some fire management required due to the rendered fat dripping onto the coals, but that's not the main concern. I was just wondering if those who have done either or both have a preference.

One problem with my last few butts is that I have had to let them go all the way to 215 to get pull-able meat. I wondered if the foiling methods might help with that as well.
Click to expand...

With a deflector there will be no grease dripping on the coals.
 
My personal preference is for butts done without foiling or panning. But, if you do foil and pan, you will end up with a good product as well. There is always the problem of spilling that pan of drippings all over yourself afterwards, or that may just be me.

I like the harder crisper bark with no foil. The softer bark formed by foiling is preferred by some though. You will get to 200F to 205F which is as hot as I ever go with a butt.
 
i have done it both ways, its easyer to just wrap with foil, and i hae never cooked one past 205, I normaly just do a bone test and dont worry about the actual temp
 
I think you guys might be on to something by telling me to test my thermometer. I'll test the thermo tonight.

On another note, I have never yet had a bone to wiggle freely. I don't know if it's the quality of meat that I use or what, but I have had perfectly done meat and the bone was still holding fast.

Thanks to those who gave help on the foil issue. I will try one with the pan and one with the sheet just for farts and giggles.
 
I typically use a foil pan on the deflector, then the meat on top of the grate. I've tried wrapping in foil, but sometimes you can get a leak (and mess). It's good to have the pan as back-up, whether you wrap or not. I've also done them in the pan, but then it is more like simmering in a crock pot -- which isn't necessarily bad, but not what most people are going for.
 
wayner123 said:
On another note, I have never yet had a bone to wiggle freely. I don't know if it's the quality of meat that I use or what, but I have had perfectly done meat and the bone was still holding fast.
.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...maybe not like a " hot knife thru butta" but how about a bone that is clean?
If the bone is still holding tight, than I suspect that the pork (for Pulled pork) could be cooked longer...jus my .02
 
What Keale said, the bone *should come out freely. If not freely, it should definitely come out clean.

Cheers
 
Chef Country said:
i have done it both ways, its easyer to just wrap with foil, and i hae never cooked one past 205, I normaly just do a bone test and dont worry about the actual temp
Click to expand...


That's how it always starts. Then before you know it, you're wrapping your head so the black choppers can't follow you.
 
Mark said:
That's how it always starts. Then before you know it, you're wrapping your head so the black choppers can't follow you.
Click to expand...

or so the extree-terrestrials can't either. Didn't you see Mel Gibson's kids in "Signs?" :thumb:
 
wayner123 said:
I think you guys might be on to something by telling me to test my thermometer. I'll test the thermo tonight.
Click to expand...

I tested my thermometer and it was measuring 210 instead of 211.7, but that's close enough for me. So it wasn't lying to me when I took my butts out at 215 and the bone still held fast and the meat was not mush. Weird... I know, but there it is.

I'll be doing the butts tonight and I'll report back on my results.
 
So I went ahead and did something totally different. I know... I shouldn't have, but I just couldn't bring myself to braise the meat in foil.

I bought a pizza pan and placed over the basket in my uds. It worked out well, but it used twice the amount of fuel I normally do. The upside was that the temps seemed to hold steady better.
 
On my last few butts I let them go to 200 to get a pull able meat. I used a cheap aluminum foil pan with wood skewers to lift the butt off the pan. Then when the temp hits 175 i foil and put back on the skewered pan in the UDS. When it hits 195 i take it off and let it rest to 200-205 in the foil. I shred it in the pan with the drippings. Very juicy results. :thumb:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
First “Cambro”. Foil pan question.
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
SweetHeatBBQnSC
SweetHeatBBQnSC
N
Any tips on Brisket Flat?
Replies
12
Views
925
Vision
V
Headgear
Bag Sealer
Replies
10
Views
391
cayenne
cayenne
cayenne
Can you smoke a store bought ham (Spiral or otherwise) ?
2 3
Replies
42
Views
2K
thirdeye
thirdeye
D
Main smoker chamber grates. Slide out or not Yes or no ?
Replies
11
Views
308
Big George's BBQ
Big George's BBQ
Back
Top