Why Foil?

Sartori42

New member
Messages
3
Grill(s) owned
  1. Stampede
Hello,

First post. I have an RT-590 on order. Looking forward to cooking on it. I previously used a Smokin-It #2 box, but I am looking forward to moving to pellets.

I'm curious about the prevalence of recipes here and other places that talk about using foil to wrap meat for a period of time. The 3-2-1 method for ribs sticks out to me. Can anyone explain why you would want or need to wrap the meat in foil for the middle of the cook? I would think the best plan is to put the meat in the smoker and leave it alone until you're ready to rest it and then serve it. Is the issue the moisture of the meat? In my previous smoker, you put a pan of liquid (I used apple juice) inside the smoker near the heat source. Most things I read about that in regards to pellet grills advises not to put liquid in the grill.

Thank you.

Steven
 
From Meathead at amazingribs.com

  • This next step is known as the Texas Crutch. This optional trick involves wrapping the slab in foil with about an ounce of water for up to an hour to speed cooking and tenderize a bit. Almost all barbecue ribs competition cooks use the Texas Crutch to get an edge. But the improvement is really slight and I never bother for backyard cooking. If you crutch too long you can turn the meat to mush and time in foil can soften the bark and remove a lot of rub. I recommend it only for barbecue competitions when the tiniest improvement can mean thousands of dollars. Skip it and you'll still have killer ribs. But if you've seen it on TV and must try it, click here to learn more about The Texas Crutch. The Texas Crutch is it is baked into a popular technique called the 3-2-1 method which I do not recommend. Two hours in foil or butcher paper is far too long and can make the meat mushy. Try the Texas Crutch after you master the basics.
 
With pellet grills, I've found it is better to leave unwrapped for ribs. I do still wrap my briskets in butcher paper. It does take longer to cook obviously.

As far as a water pan, you can. Sometimes I do this.

I would try doing ribs though unwrapped. After 2 to 3 hours, I start spraying the ribs with apple juice/apple cider vinegar every hour or so.
 
I don’t wrap anything. I used to but found it didn’t really do much as Meathead states. I don’t spritz either. Again, I used to, but fout it really lengthens the cook time 1. You’re opening the cooker and cooling it down some and 2. The spritz cools down the meat which must be recovered.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Ribs will be the first thing I smoke in this smoker, but certainly won't be the only thing. I'm trying to understand the "why" of the foil. What is the goal?

kstone - why spritz? What would happen if you didn't?

My thinking is probably skewed by the smoking I've done in the past. With the box smoker, you left the door shut until the meat is ready to come out. They call it Lazy-Q. So, my thought is that I want to put my meat on the grill and leave it alone until it gets to the correct temp. My question is... will I end up with dry (drier... less juicy?) meat by not opening up and (at least) spritzing?
 
jfrosty - thanks. Didn't see your response until after I posted the above. I agree with everything you said and I think I will press ahead with my plans unless someone can tell me a good reason for messing with the meat mid-cook.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Ribs will be the first thing I smoke in this smoker, but certainly won't be the only thing. I'm trying to understand the "why" of the foil. What is the goal?

kstone - why spritz? What would happen if you didn't?

My thinking is probably skewed by the smoking I've done in the past. With the box smoker, you left the door shut until the meat is ready to come out. They call it Lazy-Q. So, my thought is that I want to put my meat on the grill and leave it alone until it gets to the correct temp. My question is... will I end up with dry (drier... less juicy?) meat by not opening up and (at least) spritzing?
recteq recommends something very fatty, like chicken thighs for the first cook. This is worth watching if you have time

 
Welcome to the forum.
I do both with ribs. If I’m in a hurry or cooking ribs for the neighbors I wrap in foil. They get done faster and are easy to get fall off the bone and less bark (so softer chew) which the neighbors like.
As long as I have time I cook my ribs nekked. We prefer the bark and a slight tug on our ribs. Nothing wrong with no wrap. If that is what you are used to smoke on!
I wouldn’t add the water pan, spritzing is optional. I think a lot of people peek during the cook and the ribs look dry but once the fat starts to render everything gets juicy so I don’t think you’d have a problem letting it roll to the end.
Bottom line is if you don’t like the results of the first cook it just means you have to do another cook and try something different. I don’t see a downside.
 
The answer you seek is simple...Ask your target audience.... Do they want fall off the bone, super moist (XX chromosome)... or do they want correctly cooked ribs (XY chromosome)? I cook equal amounts of both :cool:
 
So for you guys that don't wrap what temp do you run? Also for planning purposes what's the approximate time on average?
Thanks, David
 
We mostly do St. Louis ribs. 225-250 and anywhere from 5-7 hours.
 
Good answers here, as usual I get to these threads a bit late. But my experiences follow.
Warning: what follows is wholly personal regarding tastes and preferences. Adapt or discard as appropriate for your tastes, as is typical for all things BBQ/smoking.
I've cooked on an RT-680 for 6 years now, and on a Traeger 22 Pro at our mountain cabin for 4 years. Both cook essentially the same so what follows has applied to both. I usually use a sauce glaze (commercial sauce of preference diluted by a small can of pineapple juice or the same amount of apple juice) rather than full BBQ sauce, as neither my wife nor I like a thick gloppy application of sauce on our meat. For us "less is more". My glaze application sets well in 10 to 15 minutes so there is no final "hour" on the grill at temp no matter which approach I take.
My first rib cooks were the 3-2-1 approach using foil at 225º. The Texas crutch. Very good but we found them too "fall off the bone" to our tastes. And the bark didn't hold up well after 2 hours in that foil sauna, at least for me. As some say, foil wraps end up steaming the ribs into tenderness...or beyond. The pros do it for competition for the reasons stated above, but they watch it very carefully.
Some wrap in foil and add liquid, often butter and brown sugar or the like, then sauce at the end. I tried it once and we found it too sweet "rib candy-like" with sweetness infused throughout the meat for our tastes. Perfect for others of course, but we prefer pure meat, a good rib rub of choice and a light glaze on top, not cooked into the meat.
I have wrapped with pink (butcher) paper for the two hours segment and it worked well, it kept the bark more intact but took a bit more work.
I then went to the "naked" approach at 225º and found (meat dependent of course, the pig is always in charge) that I only need about 5 hours to get the pullback of meat from the bone and the appropriate probe test (soft butter feel) for it to be done. I always spritz every hour, usually with a simple mixture of apple juice, apple cider vinegar and a bit of sweet red wine. I cook meat side up, only spritz the meat side, have a very good sprayer and can spritz a rack gently but well in 10 seconds. Heat loss is minimal and both grills recover in a minute or two.
The advantage to me with "naked" is a longer exposure to smoke, great bark. No real disadvantage except the full exposure to heat means you need to watch the end stage to not overcook, and since I believe spritzing improves the results to our tastes, it takes a 50' walk to our cooking ramada every hour for 5 or so hours. Not a real problem of course....
In the last 2 months I've been experimenting with a new approach I found watching a video on YouTube by two brothers who own an interesting meat butchering operation up in Ohio. Their channel goes by the name of the Bearded Butchers. Excellent info on meats of all kinds and always demos of how they get from the animal to the final form most of us see at the store. Very informative, plus they often cooking the meat too.
For ribs the brothers cook naked at 275º for 2 1/2 hours, wrap in pink paper for 2 more hours at 275º, they then glaze (about what I do) and return naked to the grill for 20 - 30 minutes. I find that is too "fall off the bone" for us and have refined the recipe to 2-2-10 minutes. When it is time to wrap I come out to the grill with a large piece of pink paper on a sheet pan, place it on the 680 shelf, then open the grill lid, remove the rack and place it on the paper, close the lid, wrap, wrap, fold, tuck, open the lid and return the grill (still meat side up) and close the lid. Not much more net heat loss than the spritz routine.
I also have been using their approach of seasoning substantially and (for me) wrapping tightly in plastic wrap overnight in the refrigerator. The wife says they are the best ribs she's ever eaten anywhere and "please do more". The pro's of this approach: quicker cook, great bark and very tender. The con's are a bit less time in the smoke and maybe too tender for some. But I've only tried baby backs so far and they do well. I will experiment with some good St Louis cut (Swift from Costco) in due course.
If you are interested in how baby backs become baby backs and how St Louis cuts are formed, take a look at the video below. At about the 15:00 point they cook both cuts (on their Traeger) and the taste test is worth the price of admission alone. Yeah, they sell seasonings and sauces, but not their meats unless you live near them and can visit their butcher shop. But this is mainly about teaching about pork ribs and their approach to cooking them:
So the bottom line is after 6 years on my 680 I'm still experimenting and still learning. The good news is I've never had a failure in those 6 years, just some better than others. Good luck.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top