TIL my pork butt turned out fine without wrapping

Many say you have to wrap pork butt to keep it soft. I left it open last cook and it was still juicy. What's your take on wrapping?

3 comments

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3 Comments

ninap956mo ago

Tried both ways for years and honestly it depends on your goal. Leaving it unwrapped gives you that awesome crunchy bark everyone fights over. Wrapping it just speeds things up and makes the meat a bit more tender, but you lose some bark texture. If your butt was juicy uncovered, you probably had good fat content and kept the temperature low and steady. The real key is letting it rest for a good long time after, that's what keeps the juices in.

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jordan_owens756mo ago

@ninap95, I've actually found wrapping in foil gives me way better results for keeping things moist. The bark might soften a bit, but you can always throw it back on the smoker unwrapped to crisp up at the end. My last unwrapped butt dried out a little, even after a long rest, which was a bummer. Wrapping just locks in all those juices way more reliably in my experience. It still gets plenty tender and saves hours on the cook, lmao. Maybe different smokers play a role, but I'm sticking with the wrap for now.

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norag386mo ago

Jordan's got a point about rewrapping to crisp up the bark, that's a solid move. It really does come down to what you're after, like @ninap95 said. For me, wrapping with butcher paper is a nice middle ground, it breathes a little better than foil so the bark doesn't get totally soggy. The long rest after is non-negotiable though, no matter which way you cook it. Letting it sit wrapped in a cooler for a few hours makes all the difference for keeping it juicy.

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