Butcher paper

If it is recycled paper I would say no. Virgin fiber is fine. Recycled has way too much trash. The baled boxes behind Walmart and other retail store are generally what recycled paper mills use.
 
Doog i think your refering to masking paper that lowes sell's it is not food grade paper if you look at butcher paper it is coated on one side to protect the meat. let us know what you find out.
 
bawb said:
Doog i think your refering to masking paper that lowes sell's it is not food grade paper if you look at butcher paper it is coated on one side to protect the meat. let us know what you find out.
Click to expand...

thats freezer paper

the butcher paper we are referring to is not coated on either side
 
I've been doing a lot of reading and research on this subject and the thing that I realized immediately is that there really isn't a whole lot of information about cooking with butcher paper or what makes one paper safe to use over another! The information that is available on "food grade" butcher paper is pretty vague. From what I've read part or possibly all of what makes butcher paper "food safe" is that it has a coating on one side which helps to keep liquids such as blood contained. So it would appear that there is really more emphasis being put on keeping stuff IN the paper rather than keeping stuff OUT when it comes to FDA aproval.
A roll of class room kraft paper and a roll of "butcher" paper may come from the same paper mill, made with the same materials and processes and may look exactly the same but one of them has a coating on one side and one doesn't, so the coated one passes the FDA guidelines and is sold to butcher shops and restaurants (with a much heftier price tag I might add) while the other is sold to elementary school teachers but in reality there doesn't seem to be a huge difference (if at all) in the paper itself.
I've seen recipes for "paper bag chicken" or turkey where the bird was cooked in a plain brown paper grocery bag (obviously not meant for cooking with) and as far as I know, there has been no body made sick from it. I also read that the kraft paper that is used in school classrooms is safe enough to be chewed and swallowed by children (and we all know that they do, along with paste, white glue and erasers) without causing illness or little more than a tummy ache if a lot of it is consumed.
I wouldn't want to use something to cook with that has been determined "unsafe" but if it is unsafe then I want to know why! What exactly is in the thing that makes it "unsafe" to use? Don't just tell me that one product is approved and one isn't, I want to know WHY!
My thinking is that what separates butcher paper from craft paper or a brown paper bag is NOT differences in the paper itself but that one just happens to have a waxy or plastic coating and the others don't. There are NO guidelines as to which is safe to cook with because NONE of them were ever meant for cooking with at all! They're meant for wrapping objects, things that are raw or already cooked and keeping contents contained.
On more than one occasion I used a clean brown grocery bag for a small brisket or ribs and there was no issues or negative reactions at all to report from it and if I thought that a particular paper or paper bag looked iffy because of a print on it or a glue used on a seam, I'd just line it with parchment paper which IS MADE for cooking with before I wrap my meat with it.
We all have to make our own decisions about things like this but as far as I'm concerned thick brown paper is thick brown paper. Some is cheaper than others in quality but over all it's really all the same stuff made in the same mills and of the same materials and as for me if it's clean, brown paper my brisket is getting wrapped in it!:wink:
Check this link out for cooking a chicken in a "NOT FDA approved paper bag".:shock:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brown-Bag-Chicken-366890
 
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not all butcher paper is coated on one side.

the butcher paper I have and have seen for sale in rest supply stores is not coated at all
 
I agree with Oldbill. I have used brown paper bags for many years for wrapping chicken and brisket with no harm done. I think the craft paper is fine too.
 
ButtBurner said:
not all butcher paper is coated on one side.

the butcher paper I have and have seen for sale in rest supply stores is not coated at all
Click to expand...
True, all butcher papers don't have a waxy or plastic coating and to clarify, (from what I've read) in order to be FDA approved they generally are all "treated" in some way to retain liquids.
Here's a description of butcher paper from POS paper.com which seems to lump food grade butcher paper in with the same category as kraft paper for a variety of uses but does point out that the food safe version is designed to resist moisture penetration. So once again I see that it's food safe but beyond being moisture resistant what makes it so?:confused:
http://www.pospaper.com/butcherpaper.html
 
hold on... it's Kraft paper, not craft paper. Kraft refers to a specific treatment of wood pulp in the paper making process that is designed to make the paper stronger, slightly elastic and resistant to tearing. Kraft comes from a German word meaning 'strong'.

Kraft processed wood pulp is made into paper that is darker in color than other papers and is used for everything from paper used in arts and crafts, to grocery bags and butcher paper. IF it is KRAFT paper, it is all the same thing and the only thing 'food grade' about coated butcher paper is that is designed to keep bacteria out while the meat is wrapped and on the way home from the butcher.

now... using a Kraft grocery bag may not be great because of the adhesives used to hold the paper together. The paper itself is Kraft paper (thicker) but the adhesives are not and may be harmful when subject to heat extremes. I don't have any information on the adhesives though, that is just speculation.

So, whether you purchase paper labeled "Kraft Paper" at the local Hobby Lobby, or Uline, or wwGrainger, or Amazon etc. Old Bill is right... it's all the same thing.

I would also stay away from recycled paper whether it's craft or Kraft!

Read all about what Kraft is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_paper
 
7over said:
hold on... it's Kraft paper, not craft paper. Kraft refers to a specific treatment of wood pulp in the paper making process that is designed to make the paper stronger, slightly elastic and resistant to tearing. Kraft comes from a German word meaning 'strong'.

Kraft processed wood pulp is made into paper that is darker in color than other papers and is used for everything from paper used in arts and crafts, to grocery bags and butcher paper. IF it is KRAFT paper, it is all the same thing and the only thing 'food grade' about coated butcher paper is that is designed to keep bacteria out while the meat is wrapped and on the way home from the butcher.

now... using a Kraft grocery bag may not be great because of the adhesives used to hold the paper together. The paper itself is Kraft paper (thicker) but the adhesives are not and may be harmful when subject to heat extremes. I don't have any information on the adhesives though, that is just speculation.

So, whether you purchase paper labeled "Kraft Paper" at the local Hobby Lobby, or Uline, or wwGrainger, or Amazon etc. Old Bill is right... it's all the same thing.

I would also stay away from recycled paper whether it's craft or Kraft!

Read all about what Kraft is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_paper
Click to expand...
Good points, I realized after reading your post that I may have written the word kraft with a c and sure enough I did, I went back and edited!:-D
 
7 over I was wondering about the spelling. Seen it spelled both ways. K & C

Here is what I found at SAMs. It is 18" wide.

Thank you for all the replies!

Edit:I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure that's what I wanted.
 

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