I placed the brisket fat side down & smoked it w/ white oak chucks. It is the recommended wrapping technique for most people, and indeed what I prefer. Again, I can’t stress enough that this is how I like my brisket. We all have cravings. I still make a right dogs dinner of wrapping occasionally. I’ve been running this site for a good 3.5 to 4 years now, and kind of been learning ‘website management’ as I go along, and made a few early mistakes. Cook them all at the same time, same rub, wrap at the same time, but at the end of the cook take them off at different times. Just be sure to … I do cook to temp of 205 internal but its just not as consistent as I would like. Using butcher paper to wrap your brisket decreases your cooking time – typically about 10% less time compared to smoking one bare. Optional, but recommend for the next 5-7 hours. In short, wrap when the bark is set. Can’t you just taste that perfect brisket already? If the answer is “yes,” it’s not set. The foil protects your meat from minor temperature swings by helping keep the temperature constant, which can be great for beginner pitmasters. Now if there is anything that can start an argument, it is whether it is acceptable to wrap briskets during the cooking process. . A lower temperature means a slower cook, which means it will take longer to get to the critical point for wrapping. There’s nothing scientific about this one, but ultimately, it’s probably the most important. To help you on your journey to smoky nirvana, I’m going to teach you all about wrapping your brisket for part of the cook. Another one is how crucial it is to cook to temperature, not to time, to ensure your meat is done. Wrapping your brisket changes the cook time, whether or not it’s juicy or dry, and how crunchy your bark is. The ones at 200F and 212 F will almost certainly be under and over done respectively. A larger brisket, say about 13 pounds, I’d wait until more like 6 hours before breaking out the paper or foil. Cooking a great brisket takes a lot of preparation, time, and patience but all the work is worth it in the end. It’s hard to judge how long a brisket stall will last. SMF Premier Member. Thanks! However, there are risks to leaving your brisket exposed. Pull the paper in tightly, and fold in the sides after completing the roll. © 2020 Food Fire Friends, All rights reserved. I am a bit perplexed because I can’t picture the way you describe how to wrap the brisket in the butcher paper. Thanks for the informative article! This will also help your brisket move through the stall more quickly and cut down your total cook time. Aluminum foil is the original Texas Crutch method for wrapping brisket. It’s my opinion that the small oven of my Traeger actually cooks faster on larger cuts of meat because I reach 170 degrees, on a 11 lbs brisket, usually in about 3-4 hours. Use your hand to flatten and smooth the paper. So, it’s a trade-off. One of the pieces cooked to somewhere in the 203f to 209f range will almost certainly be just right for you. Therefore, it’s going to begin losing its moisture sooner than a large brisket will. Wrapping your brisket in aluminum foil is the exact opposite of smoking your meat bare. Again, smooth and flatten the paper with your hand. But, in a nutshell, it’s a time in the middle of a low and slow cooking session when the temperature inside the meat stops climbing due to surface evaporation of moisture. Repeat the triangle fold on the point side so that it mirrors the one on the flat side. We find with our smokers that it takes 10-15% longer to smoke a brisket with no wrapping. However, compared to wrapping in foil, the bark is a little less moist, deeper and crisper. Wrapping your brisket in butcher paper is not entirely unlike wrapping it in foil: it locks in the moisture and the heat, helping the brisket through the stall without drying out.