Replacement for towels in a cooler

[McGurk]

All read up on "resting in a cooler", but still had a couple of thoughts...

Is the towel there solely to retain heat at the meat? It sounds like you take your foiled meat, wrap in a towel or two, and set in a cooler, and then place more towels inside to get rid of dead air. Is that right, or is there a different reason for towels?

Could a guy instead just take hunks of styrofoam (high density pink would be my thought), cut them to useful sizes for your cooler, wrap them in saran wrap (or the like) to seal 'em up, and place them inside to take up space if that is what the extra towels do?

My thought is that a person could still do the foil wrap, followed by a towel, drop that into a foil pan, and set it all in your cooler (as small as possible while still being a decent cooler). Then, place your precut wrapped styro-hunks into the cooler to get rid of dead air, and close her up tight. If the hunks get juiced; unwrap, discard the wrap, and rewrap!

Am I way off base here, or do people actually like showering with beefy towels? :becky:

 

[Jorge]

One purpose the towels or newspaper serve is to keep the cooler from melting/warping, as well as taking up some air space.

Edit: The towel makes a commitment to BBQ I'd worry about the foam melting. If you have a good cooler, you don't need to worry about filling all of the airspace.

 

[SmokeJumper]

I use an old commercial insulated pizza bag with a metallized interior layer. The thing I hate about using the pizza bag is if I deliver the brisket lateI have to give it away for free.

 

[DC-Q]

Cheap kithen towels

I bought some cheap kitchen towels at costco I think. (2) 24 packs for $9.95 or something like that. 4 or 5 years ago. Just soak in cold water over night and wash normally. They're still nice & clean. When I put my meat in the cooler to rest I don't wrap it I just put a couple in the bottom of the cooler & pack more around the meat to take up space. It will stay real hit for quite some time.

 

[EatonHoggBBQ]

I use an old commercial insulated pizza bag with a metallized interior layer. The thing I hate about using the pizza bag is if I deliver the brisket lateI have to give it away for free.

Oooooo.... good idea. I have two or three of those bags laying around here.

 

[PimpSmoke]

I used to put a couple of foil wrapped bricks that I left on top of my firebox on top of a towel and then another towel and then the meat and then more towels.

Now, I just use an old blanket.

Thinking about it more, you could probably get away with tightly packed crumpled newspaper and just throw it away when your done. Pretty sure the main concern is taking up dead air space.

 

[thillin]

I've been using a small styrofoam cooler that a Honey Baked Ham was delivered in. I just line it with foil.

If I have to use a cooler. I put a couple of towels on the bottom, and then just lay 2-3 towels over the brisket.

 

[Ribbin' Randy]

Am I way off base here, or do people actually like showering with beefy towels? :becky:

I like to dry off with porky towels!:dancer:

 

[Meat Burner]

We just crumble up newpaper under, on top, and around the sides. Works great for hours. Throw the newpaper away when done.

 

[BBQ Grail]

I use an old blanket.

May I suggest that whatever you do use that you not just grab any blanket out of the closet that looks old. I have it on good authority that old ratty blankets could actually be family heirlooms.

At least that's what I've been told...

 

[JiveTurkey]

Use the blankets that your in laws use when they visit. Keeps em from coming back again.