# Wrapping Brisket in Paper?



## BrooklynQ (Oct 12, 2007)

I picked up Extreme Barbecue the other day and there's a recipe in there that says you should wrap with Butchers Paper - NOT foil.  Anyone have any experience with this?

Here's the recipe...

Most recipes for smoked meats require them to be wrapped in aluminum foil at some point during the cooking. This recipe calls for red butcher paper, which Bruce Schatte says is the secret to the moistness and flavor of his brisket - a cut of meat that is notoriously difficult to tenderize. (Light colored paper doesn't work as well, he says, because it reflects the heat off the meat.) "Foil seals the steam inside and boils the brisket, and it's like mush," says Bruce. "The paper breathes, and it doesn't trap all the hot steam and oil. It helps you not ruin a $25 to $30 piece of meat."

    * 1/2 cup salt
    * 1/4 cup freshly ground pepper
    * 1/4 cup cayenne pepper
    * 1/4 cup garlic powder
    * 1 beef brisket - about 10 pounds

Build a fire in a smoker/grill for indirect heat. Maintain a temperature of 350 degrees.

Sprinkle the salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder on both sides of the brisket. Sprinkle with just enough water to moisten the seasoning and run it into the meat.

Place the brisket, fat side up, in the smoker on the side opposite the coals. Cook for 1 1/2 hours or until the fat starts to bubble. Put on a thick pair or rubber gloves and turn the meat over. Cook for another 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is brown and sizzling.

Transfer the brisket to a 3-by-6 foot sheet of red butcher paper, placing it crosswise 1 1/2 feet from the short end of the paper. Wrap the end of the paper over the brisket and fold it tightly. Roll the brisket up in the paper, continuing to pull the paper tightly over it, and finish with the fat side up.

Place the wrapped brisket back in the smoker, again fat side up (This will allow the juice from the fat to spread throughout the rest of the meat) with the thick end of the brisket facing the coals. Cook for 5 more hours, allowing the temperature of the pit to gradually drop to 250 degrees as the fire get lower.

Remove the brisket when the meat is so tender it gives when you poke it with a finger. Unwrap the paper, cut the brisket into 1/4" thick slices (cut it against the grain, please!) and serve.


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## Thom Emery (Oct 12, 2007)

Interesting idea


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## LarryWolfe (Oct 13, 2007)

Makes sense to me and sounds pretty cool to boot!  Thanks for sharing BQ!


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## SoEzzy (Oct 13, 2007)

In Smokestack Lightning they talk about both brown paper grocery bags and I think butchers paper.

On the Xit ranch they talk about the grocery bags, I can't recall the section that has the mention of paper, it my be Kentucky or Tennessee or one of the Carolinas.


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## DaleP (Oct 13, 2007)

Interesting, thanks for sharing.


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## wittdog (Oct 13, 2007)

The guy we cooked next to at Franklin mentioned doing that with parchment paper..kind of the same concept...I need to give this a try


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## Cliff H. (Oct 13, 2007)

Puff sent me this link a couple of days ago.

http://wildedtx.blogspot.com/2007/10/te ... isket.html


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## john pen (Oct 13, 2007)

I like the bag idea.Gonna have to give that a  try....But Im a purist on my beef..Salt, pepper and garlic only


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## Puff1 (Oct 13, 2007)

I'll try anything to make my briskets better


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## jminion1 (Oct 13, 2007)

Cooking in paper bags has been a technique used for a long time, it was started by cooks using all wood for fuel (without preburn) because the meat was being over smoked. 

The foil thing was called the Texas crutch for a reason and was done for the same reason as cooking in paperbags. They found you can speed up the cook using foil and now you see cooks doing 6 hour briskets. 

Jim


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## wittdog (Oct 13, 2007)

jminion said:
			
		

> Cooking in paper bags has been a technique used for a long time, it was started by cooks using all wood for fuel (without preburn) because the meat was being over smoked.
> 
> The foil thing was called the Texas crutch for a reason and was done for the same reason as cooking in paperbags. They found you can speed up the cook using foil and now you see cooks doing 6 hour briskets.
> 
> Jim


Its nice that our elder members have been around long enough to fill us in on what it was like when fire was invented  
Seriously thanks Jim this stuff is new to alot of us young pups.


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## jminion1 (Oct 13, 2007)

Flytyer said:
			
		

> Foil or paper, wrapped brisket is wrapped brisket. No problem from my standpoint either way. Might as well choose the easiest cheapest method if that's how you do it.



Cooking in paperbag does not speed up cook or effect the bark like foil does. As with anything while cooking you can have good effects but there also effects that you must account for.

Witt
Please let's not talk age, Wed is the big Six OH. LOL

Jim


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## wittdog (Oct 13, 2007)

Oh man..talk about hitting a nerve  
Happy Birthday Jim...


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## Green Hornet (Oct 13, 2007)

They do fish in a bag here at a few resaurants. They put the veggies in there too. Steams them at the same time. 
Happy BDay Jim!


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## Cliff H. (Oct 14, 2007)

Wonder if the bag will work on a wsm without catching fire ? :scratch


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## K Kruger (Oct 14, 2007)

> Most recipes for smoked meats require them to be wrapped in aluminum foil at some point during the cooking. This recipe calls for red butcher paper, which Bruce Schatte says is the secret to the moistness and flavor of his brisket - a cut of meat that is notoriously difficult to tenderize. (Light colored paper doesn't work as well, he says, because it reflects the heat off the meat.) "Foil seals the steam inside and boils the brisket, and it's like mush," says Bruce. "The paper breathes, and it doesn't trap all the hot steam and oil. It helps you not ruin a $25 to $30 piece of meat."



Sorry, but this is nonsense. 

First: No, '[m]ost recipes for smoke meats' do _not_ 'require' foil. Many people use it--but most require it? Hardly.

Second: If he's ruining meat because of foil he doesn't know how to use it.

Third: The meat steams in paper--that's the point. It is a classic technique (-- _en papillote_) and does precisely that. 

Fourth: An understanding of simple cooking physics clearly shows that the color of the paper being an issue belies reality. The color is immaterial because the meat is cooked at high temps for some time before wrapping. Much of the heat at the outset of wrapping comes from _inside_ the wrapping. That's the point as well. The composition of the paper is germane, not the color.

Lastly, this: '...again fat side up (This will allow the juice from the fat to spread throughout the rest of the meat)...' is ********. 'Juice from the fat'? On what planet? 


Cooking in paper is a viable approach. It's been around a long tome One can overcook in paper just like one can overcook in foil. (It is, perhaps, marginally easier to screw up with foil but if you know what you're doing you can avoid this no problem.) 

By all means give it a shot if you wish. Use any appropriate paper you wish--white parchment, brown parchment, white butcher, red butcher, brown butcher--no matter--so long as it's not waxed.


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## Finney (Oct 14, 2007)

I've done plenty of turkeys in grocery store bags (although I keep hearing you're not supposed to use them because of recycle content) and hey always come out great.  And.... I ain't dead yet.


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