Would parchment paper work or does it have to be "butcher paper"? I have a roll of parchment lying around for pizza is why I ask.
I have done smaller cooks with parchment paper, and I see no reason it would not work. But, the cost of baking parchment is higher than butcher paper. And now that I have the roll, I am finding many more uses for it. Such as packing my meats for freeszing, laying it out to prevent grease on stuff, making paper hats. I like having it around. Still, I would think parchment paper would work.
A caution though, I have to "seam" my paper together, and this makes it less stable and allows for some liquid loss, or I butcher fold it (I tried both ways, not much, if any, difference), either way, the package is not as easy to handle as I am sure one piece would be.
I always wanted to do that on my UDS. My first question is I guess at what temp do you smoke them at?
And 2) Pork on top or Beef on top grate?
I do a stepped smoke:
225F for 2 hours to get as much smoke as I can. Plus, I like the smoke ring I get that way.
300F for 2 hours, this gives me time to get the bark the color I want. I have always done this as I believe when I just go hotter, bark development doesn't seem as nice.
350F until done, this gets things done faster. In particular, for cooking in paper, I don't see any reason to go lower, as there is no need to worry about scorching or charring. I do not go higher, as anything above 400F might be a bad scenario for the paper.
I typically have gone pork on top, brisket on bottom, but, I offset the meats if I can, so the air flows around them.