BATTLE OF THE BRISKETS! No Wrap vs Paper Wrap vs Foil Wrap | Backyard Test Kitchen

[Music] what's up you guys it's susie from heygirlhey.com and welcome to my backyard test kitchen today i am doing a brisket spearmint three different briskets from the same place cooked on the same smoker same temperature same rub all of it but we did one with a foil wrap one with a butcher wrap and one with no wrap and you're gonna have to watch to the end to see the results let's do it so as you can see i'm sitting here with these briskets they are finished cooking they are resting but i need to take you guys through the steps of how we got to this point so that we can cut them open and give them a side-by-side taste test first up we need to talk about the briskets so these three briskets all came from the same butcher same shipment as close in size as we could get them and enclose as great as we could get them they all look very similar when we started out they also were all trimmed the exact same way so we should have a pretty great start to our experiment here next we need to cover the wood that we're using the smoker that we're using and what temperature we're cooking at i'm going to be doing these on my camp chef pellet smoker i can fit all three of them side by side so i have a really optimistic hopefulness that they will cook really evenly during the course of this experiment we're gonna be using a mix of oak and cherry pellets that's my favorite for brisket oak for that texas flavor cherry for color and as far as temperature goes we are going to be running this 225 degrees fahrenheit from start to finish so as you can see our briskets are all trimmed they all look the same now we have to season them similarly so we're going to be giving these a nice liberal slather on all sides with classic yellow mustard and then an even coating of my beef seasoning this is what i use on all of my briskets it's a good salt and pepper based rub and it's going to give us a good bark and some really amazing flavor now that our briskets are trimmed slathered and seasoned they're ready to hit the smoker again this is running at 225 degrees fahrenheit on my camp chef pellet smoker i am going to be putting these briskets on fat side down now normally in my pellet smoker i go fat side up i really like the way that that cooks but because i'm doing three i am a little worried about air flow and i think there's gonna be more heat right underneath the briskets and having that layer of fat on the bottom i think will actually help protect the briskets from drying out especially on the one that we're rolling without any wrap on it at all [Applause] [Music] at 7 30 in the morning these briskets have been on for nine hours and a quick temperature check is showing me that we are ready to wrap so not only is our temperature in that 165 to 175 degree range but i can also tell that the bark is starting to set on here really nice so this is when i typically wrap my briskets now all these briskets are a little bit different in temperature and i can tell the one furthest on the left is showing me signs of being a little bit further along i think that's because it's closer to the fire pot so i am gonna swap those during the wrapping process but first i'm gonna pull off this middle brisket this one's getting my butcher paper so we're going to start with just my 24 inch butcher paper tear off a big sheet and wrap that brisket up as tightly as possible you don't want gaps in the brisket you don't want big air pockets or places that the liquids can seep out just tuck it nice and tight fold it all the way get that one back on the smoker now i'm going to shift over the one that we're going to keep naked that was over the fire pot to the far end and pull off that last brisket this is going to be our foil wrapped brisket i'm going to tear off two large sheets of rental drop foil i'm gonna overlap those because i don't have foil that's wide enough to cover it so i'm gonna do two side by side and same thing we did with the butcher paper get that brisket on there and wrap it up really really tight crimp the ends keep it tight you don't really want any pockets of liquid accumulating in your brisket foil or it will actually soften the brisket even more than it normally well with the foil wrap so all three of our briskets back on the smoker we're still rolling at 225 close that lid up and we're gonna let these go until they are finished cooking based on my past experience i do believe that the foil wrap brisket will be done first the butcher paper next and then our unwrapped brisket will be finished cooking last so we'll see 10 30 in the morning our briskets have been on for three hours since we wrapped and my foil wrap brisket is already done that means the foil wrap brisket start to finish was done in 12 hours so we're gonna pull it off put it in the cooler and let it rest while the other two finish cooking 12 30 in the afternoon that means we're 14 hours from the beginning of this brisket journey this paper wrapped brisket is coming off of the smoker going into the cooler with the foil wrap brisket now we're just waiting on that no wrap brisket it is taking its sweet time all right you guys 16 hours into the brisket cook our naked brisket was taking a long time to come up in temperature and i didn't want these two resting for too long because again i wanted to keep them as close as possible so i increased the temperature a little bit on the naked brisket because i wanted to get it done so i turned it up to 275 only for about a half hour and then it pushed us up into the doneness temperature that i was looking for now what i noticed with the naked brisket that i didn't notice in the other two briskets is that the temperatures were more uneven so the point of this brisket was very done the temperatures were even a little bit higher than 203 we were seeing some 206s and it was feeling very jiggly but the flat part of this brisket was still a little bit tight even though i was seeing those higher temperatures the flat did not want to soften as much as i typically see so i let it go for a little bit longer the point got a little bit more done than i typically would like but i think i got the flat to where i want it pulled it off letting it rest at room temperature and we are about ready to slice and taste these briskets [Music] briskets are rested i feel like it's the moment of truth so we're going to open up this butcher paper wrap and the foil wrap and take a look at each of these briskets i feel like i'm really taking one for the team here you guys i have to eat three briskets shoot you're welcome i guess so strictly from a visual perspective clearly clearly the naked brisket has a darker more crunchy developed bark so that's my first visual clue our paper wrap brisket this looks i smoke briskets like this all the time this is par for the course for what i'm expecting we got some really nice dark caramelization on the outside but there are some softer spots but all in all i feel really good about the look of this one and then we have our foil wrap brisket which i've also done in the past and you can definitely see a little bit more of the seasoning is moist in here it's not as dark of a bark but i feel like the tenderness on all of these especially these two the foil and the paper wrap brisket just feeling them there's there's higher tenderness here than there is on the no wrap brisket the bark itself or sorry the point itself on the no wrap is really jiggly but the flat seems to be a little bit tighter less evenly cooked so now we get to slice it right this is the moment of truth so i'm just gonna go halfway across the middle at all of these kind of where the point starts to transition into the flat and we'll give a good cross-section visual of each of them [Music] uh um this is the best job ever brisket war zone over here but i feel like i got an even smattering from the same places from each brisket so we can have a really accurate side-by-side taste test and don't worry this is all going to be sliced up and we have neighbors and family that we're going to be delivering trades of brisket too to share in the brisket-y goodness but i'm going to keep the best one for myself right yeah that's what we have to do okay come over here we've got a quick recap this is the naked brisket no wrap this is the butcher paper wrapped brisket this is the foil wrapped brisket and we have a slice from the flat a slice from the point and some crispy burnt ends i'm just gonna start at the top and taste them all with a little piece of this no wrap flat and i actually think this is the flat that i'm most excited about it's still got a little bit of texture to it but it breaks away nice and easy great smoke flavor this one i might say it's a little bit dry honestly i've had flats that are more moist but tenderness is there flavor's awesome okay on to the point of the no wrap brisket [Music] now this one was really well cooked remember the temperature got higher on this point than i typically taste take them to and yep this one's a little bit mushy i feel like because just didn't cook quite as evenly the point was a little bit more done than the flat but again awesome flavor really great crispy bark yeah the bark is awesome on that point and a little bit of the burnt ends right here now this is all bark so i'm kind of hoping that on the naked brisket the burnt ends are where it's at hmm those are heavenly those burnt ends on that no-wrap brisket are going to be hard to beat now this one i would actually say might be overdone by barbecue competition standards but this is actually kind of where i prefer my briskets at home in the flat to have a little bit of a breakaway this is the paper wrap brisket in the middle more tender than the naked brisket a lot more moisture retained in this flap i will say it doesn't have as much flavor as the naked brisket but the texture and the tenderness and the moisture is awesome i like that okay moving on to my butcher paper wrap point just breaks apart with my fingers that's how i want my brisket very juicy [Music] that one's also a little bit soft softer than i normally like but not quite as soft as the naked brisket the smoke flavor on there is fantastic though i like i like this one this one might be my it's definitely my favorite so far both on the point and the flat i just shaved another piece of the flap oops but how did the burn end stack up i'm feeling optimistic [Music] i think i just like burn-ins but i have to be honest the naked burn ends when the texture of the bark the crispiness of the bark was definitely a little bit better on that naked brisket it gave more of a contrast between the really like salty peppery crunchy bark and the soft point inside on the naked brisket so the naked brisket is still in first place for the burnt ends my friends okay onto the foil wrap brisket this is the texas crutch brisket and this is the one where you know a lot of people say don't do foil it's going to soften your bark and visually we did we did see that the bark was a little bit softened but that doesn't mean that it's going to be bad there was a lot more moisture in the foil wrapped pack though so i'm curious because typically when i do beef like this it has more of a roast flavor so i'm interested to see if some of that comes through in the brisket here goes the flour yep so wrapping it in the foil essentially creates more of a braising experience and it really does give some of those like sunday roast beef vibes that aren't very typical for a brisket that are actually pretty delicious so if that's your jam texas wrap brisket or sorry a foil wrap brisket might be for you because this is very tender it's a very moist brisket flat those would be awesome on its own it'd be awesome on french dip sandwiches a little barbecue sauce pickled red onions that is a beautiful brisket flap that might be my favorite flat actually i like i might like the the foil wrap a lot more than the paper wrap this is interesting i am learning some things okay time for the point on our foil wrap brisket now this guy also tears apart with my fingers very tender but i can already tell you i'm missing that crispy bark on top this bark is definitely much softer hmm tender moist totally delicious but you do get more of that roast beef flavor i like the point better on the paper wrap brisket than the foil okay last step is these burnt ends i have yet to find a burnt end that will uh unseat the naked the naked burning these are the most tender burn ends by far but i am missing the contrast of that crunchy bark on the outside it's just all soft in conclusion here's where i landed and this is not where i thought i would be the best burn ends naked brisket by far the best point comes from the paper wrap brisket and the best flat actually came from the foil wrapped brisket so this gives me a lot of knowledge moving forward if i'm just going to be doing a brisket flat i'm going to stick with a texas crutch i really like the moisture in just the brisket flat in the texas crutch if i'm going to be smoking a whole brisket eating the whole thing as a family i'm going to stick with my paper wrap i think that was my favorite balance of flavor of moisture of tenderness and it still held up on the bark really well if i am focusing on cooking just the point and i want to highlight burn ends i'm probably going to go no wrap the whole way from now on because i really like that contrast of the you know sharp crackly crunchy bark and the soft point inside and that is it you guys that is the result of my three brisket all meat all day all night experiment whether you try the full gamut experiment at home or not i do have recipes for both the foil wrap texas crunch brisket and the paper wrap brisket on my website so you can check those out and if you want to go naked the whole way pretty simple slather it season it smoke it until it's done and then enjoy a really delicious brisket as for me i'm going to put together some platters to share this awesome barbecue with my family and friends because hey grill hey that's what we're all about i want to help you make better barbecue so you can feed the people you love and become a backyard barbecue hero if you try any of these brisket recipes at home snap a photo post them online use the hashtag heygrill hey that way i can see them and cheer you on on your journey to becoming a backyard barbecue hero

Channel: Hey Grill Hey

Views: 226,536

Rating: 4.9015064 out of 5

Keywords: brisket, no wrap brisket, paper wrapped brisket, foil wrapped brisket, brisket paper, brisket foil, smoking brisket, brisket on the smoker, brisket on the grill, hey grill hey brisket, bbq brisket, smoked brisket, hey grill hey, hey grill hey ribs, hey grill hey tri tip, hey grill hey steak, hey grill hey turkey, hey grill hey beef

Id: 5It58EtDH8E

Length: 17min 36sec (1056 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 08 2020