So now it’s time for the wrap. The wrap takes place when the brisket is crusty and darkly browned on the outside and reaches an internal temperature of 160 and 170 degrees F.
The wrap serves 2 purposes: it keeps the bottom of the brisket from burning and the meat from drying out.
When it comes to the wrap, there are two schools of thought—each championed by a titan of Texas barbecue.
We’ll call the first one the “Aaron Franklin wrap,” advocated by the legendary pitmaster and owner of Franklin’s Barbecue in Austin. Franklin wraps his brisket in butcher paper (the traditional pure paper kind, not the plastic lined butcher paper found in fancy stores like Whole Foods). The theory here is that butcher paper breathes—that is it allows moisture to pass through it, so the meat roasts rather than cooks in built up steam. But once the paper becomes completely grease soaked, it breathes less, locking in moistness. Aaron’s brisket is considered some of the best in Texas and probably in the world.
We’ll call the second one the “Tootsie Tomanez wrap,” practiced by the octogenarian pit mistress of Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas. Tootsie wraps her brisket in aluminum foil, which creates a hermetic seal, so the brisket steams as well as roasts. The steam penetrates and helps tenderize the meat, goes the theory. If you’ve ever had the good fortune to taste Snow’s brisket, you know it’s supernaturally moist. This method is known somewhat less flatteringly as the “Texas crutch,” but it also produces some of the most awesome barbecued brisket on the planet.
So which method is better and which one should you use?
We had a chance to try both methods side by side at the most recent session of Barbecue University. (Hey, with 50 people to feed, we needed a lot of brisket.) We started with 12- pound packer briskets and seasoned them with my new brisket rub (coarse salt + coarsely ground black pepper + garlic power + oregano) and cooked them over slow-burning oak in a Horizon offset barrel smoker. When the bark was set and the internal temperature reached 160 to 170 degrees, we wrapped half the briskets in butcher paper a la Aaron Franklin, and the other half in foil a la Tootsie Tomanez.
The Results
The student’s comments are based on the two hot and fast briskets. One in paper and one in foil.
The butcher paper wrap: Better bark (crispier. crustier). A textbook specimen: Like what you would expect a brisket to taste, look and feel like.
The foil wrap: allowed the meat to steam in its own juices, so it was extra tender. A couple students felt it was a little too tender. But it was very, very good.
Wrapping brisket is clearly more than just a step in the cooking process—it’s a personal choice that can change the entire texture and flavor of your brisket. Whether you’re a fan of the crispy, smoky bark you get from butcher paper, or the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness achieved with foil, both methods have their loyal followers. But what about you? Which wrap do you prefer? Or maybe you have your own twist on these techniques?
Let us know on social media and share your brisket stories with us.
We can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
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