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I used to think wrapping briskets in foil was cheating, then a judge at a KCBS event in Topeka set me straight
I always ran my offset stick burner wide open with no wrap at all, mostly because I figured paper or foil was a shortcut for guys who could not hold steady temps. Last month I was cooking a contest in Topeka and a judge wandered over while I was pulling a 14 pound packer off at 203 internal. He asked why I never wrapped and I told him my honest answer, that I thought it made the bark mushy. He laughed and said the foil versus paper thing only matters if your fire is dirty, and that wrapping is just a tool, not a crutch. I tried the Texas crutch on my next two cooks, wrapped in pink paper at 165, and the flat came out way juicier without losing the bark I cared about. Now I am wondering how many other things I wrote off as cheating without actually testing them myself. Has anyone else flipped their stance on wrapping after judging feedback or just got stubborn about it like I was?
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caseyl182h ago
Hold on, a judge just wandered over to your pit mid cook and started talking wrapping with you? That is wild to me because every contest I have been to, judges are kept far away from the cook sites until turn in. Still, the point about wrap being a tool and not a crutch is dead on, since a clean fire means the paper just holds moisture instead of steaming off bad smoke. Guess I need to stop being stubborn and actually test the stuff I have been writing off too.
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