How to wrap ribs in butcher paper

Last Updated on: 23rd October 2022, 12:53 am

Butcher paper has taken the smoking space by storm after being used by several pitmasters in their smoking techniques .

It helps you beat stall and protects your meat from drying out during the smoking process.

When it comes to smoking ribs , butcher paper can help to avoid the over-smoking of ribs , make them tender and also keep them warm for longer time.

It is preferred over foil because it allows your meat to breathe so that it does not get mushy due to the accumulation of moisture.

Wrapping ribs in a butcher paper is not a rocket science and you can master it after some practice.

It is similar to wrapping in foil, although you will have to be careful about placing it in direct contact with fire because it will catch fire.

Here is a step-by-step guide to wrapping ribs in butcher paper.

Wrapping ribs in a butcher paper

Wrapping ribs in butcher paper is as easy as it sounds. There is no complexities involved in this process, and you can do this if you have a prior experience of wrapping with foil.

Even if you don’t have a prior experience, you can wrap your ribs by following the step-by-step guide given below.

Ribs should be wrapped when the temperature of the ribs is around 150°F .

You should consider taking them out at this temperature and wrapping them to beat the stall. You can also follow the 3-2-1 method for smoking ribs.

1. First of all , you will have to take the sheets of butcher paper to be used for wrapping the ribs.
   You can buy these sheets from local bbq stores or online through Amazon. Make sure that these sheets do not contain wax and are food grade.
   
2. These sheets are usually not much wider, so they cannot contain ribs within a single sheet.
   So you will have to place two butcher paper sheets parallel to each other in way that they should be overlapping each other.
   
3. After that, you should consider placing ribs in the center of these sheets.
   You should make sure that the the ribs are  placed in the center so that both of the sheets can be wrapped around a single chunk to allow effective wrapping.
   
4. After placing the ribs in the center of butcher paper, you should consider wrapping the ribs in the paper.
   Place the ribs at the end of the paper sheets and roll the ribs over to wrap the ribs in the butcher paper.
   
5. After rolling the ribs in the butcher paper once, you should consider removing any air present in the paper.
   Then, you might want to pick up the corners of the butcher paper and tuck them under the rack.
   
6. After tucking the corners , you should consider pulling the ribs back a bit to wrap it tightly and remove any air present within it.
   When the moisture level rises, the air in the butcher paper can change how the ribs look.
   
7. After wrapping the ribs tightly , you should consider rolling the ribs over the butcher paper throughout the length of sheet.
   The sheet length should be long enough so that the ribs can be rolled at least 2-4 times.
   
8. Until this point, you should have wrapped your ribs inside the butcher paper.
   Now you can move forward by placing it into the smoker if you are planning for further smoking or sealing it with a tape if you are planning to send it to someone else.
   
9. You should place the ribs inside the smoker for 2 hours so that the temperature of the ribs increases and they are cooked properly.
   It will make the ribs tender enough to be separated easily from bones.
   
10. After 2 hours, you should consider taking your ribs out and unwrapping them .after that, place the ribs back into the smoker.
    It allows the ribs to attain a smokey flavor and better bark before being served

While placing it inside the smoker, you should avoid placing it in direct heat.

Butcher paper is made up of natural pulp made of wood and can catch fire upon fire contact which might affect the appearance and flavor of the ribs .

Factors affecting the time for wrapping ribs

It is really difficult to answer when to wrap your ribs in butcher paper without taking into account the several factors of your smoking process.

The major constituents of smoking time are explained below.

ribs size

The size of ribs that you are smoking is the main determinant of the time when you will have to wrap your ribs.

The larger the ribs, the more time it will take to absorb the smoke properly and enter the stall .

If you are smoking a small amount of  ribs  then it will likely take it less time to increase its internal temperature and absorb more smoke than a larger amount of ribs.

Wrapping ribs weighing 7 pounds or less is usually possible after 3-4 hours of smoking.

If the ribs are larger in size, then it will have a larger area to be smoked and hence will require more time before being wrapped.

Usually, ribs that are  more than 10 pounds in size can take around 5-7 hours to be smoked properly.

Smoker temperature

The second thing that affects the wrapping time is temperature of smoker . If the temperature of smoker is higher, then it will take less time for the ribs to reach the stall .

After reaching the stall ,you can move forward to wrapping your ribs to increase its internal temperature.

If the temperature of the smoker is lower (which it usually is to allow proper cooking of ribs), then you will need time to wrap the ribs because the ribs will take longer time to reach the stall.

So you should not just depend on the time passed to decide whether or not to wrap.

Bark

The third factor that can affect the wrapping time of ribs are the bark of the ribs. You should keep in mind that , no one wants to taste a chunk of meat with a delicious flavor but poor appearance.

In addition, the bark also gives an overview of amount of smoke the ribs have absorbed.

You should consider examining the appearance of the ribs carefully before making a decision about wrapping.

If the ribs has a good bark then you should consider wrapping it to avoid darkening, while if they have a thin bark, ,then it will require a bit more time before getting wrapped in butcher paper.

Internal moisture

The final factor that determines the time to wrap ribs is the internal moisture of ribs. If the ribs are delicate or have started to dry out early then you should consider wrapping it to avoid drying out .

Usually, ribs should be wrapped after 3 hours of smoking.

why wrap ribs in butcher paper

Wrapping ribs in a butcher paper is a personal choice. There is no limitation that you have to wrap your ribs with butcher paper ,aluminium foil ,parchment paper or to wrap it at all.

But by wrapping it with a butcher paper, you can protect it from drying out and over-smoking.

First of all, wrapping a ribs protects it from drying out during the smoking process.

The butcher paper traps the moisture of the ribs being evaporated and deposits it back onto the ribs. This helps the ribs retain their tenderness.

Secondly, butcher paper protects meat from over-smoking. When the bark has developed, the smoke stops penetrating Into the meat and starts depositing on the surface of meat.

It can lead to over-smoking and a bitterness of taste. By wrapping it in butcher paper, the smoke doesn’t come in direct contact with the ribs and chances of over-smoking are decreased.

when to wrap ribs in butcher paper

There is no black and white answer to this question because different pitmasters use different metrics to decide when to wrap their ribs in butcher paper.

The most common of them are based on temperature, time and color of smoked ribs.

You should preferably wrap your ribs when they have a good smoky appearance, have been exposed to smoke for at least a couple of hours, and the internal temperature of ribs is around 150°F .

It will allow you to wrap your ribs at the best time possible.

Wrapping ribs by taking in account the time

Some pitmasters use the temperature as a determinant of perfect time to wrap ribs .

The reason for this is that when the internal temperature of ribs reaches around 150°F, it stalls and the temperature stops rising.

By wrapping ribs at this temperature, you can make sure to beat the stall and increase the temperature rapidly.

The ribs become tender and are cooked properly when the internal temperature of ribs is around 190-200°F.

Wrapping ribs by taking in account the time

The second technique is to take in account the time of ribs being smoked. It usually follows the 2-2-1 or 3-2-1 methods.

It is basically a technique by which you want to smoke ribs for 3 hours, then cook them while being wrapped and finally smoke them unwrapped for last hour.

When smoking ribs by the 3-2-1 method, ribs are first placed in the smoker for 3 hours to allow it to be smoked properly.

After that, the ribs are taken out of smoker and wrapped in butcher paper.

After wrapping, they are placed back into the smoker for 2 hours to increase their internal temperature and cook properly.

Finally, after 2 hours, the ribs are again taken out of smoker and smoked for 1 hour to allow the ribs to have some smokey flavor and good bark.

Wrapping ribs by taking in account the color of ribs

The last technique to determine when to wrap your rib is to examine the color of the ribs. 

It is based on the fact that if the ribs have absorbed enough smokey flavor, then their color will change to dark or pinkish.

So if the color of ribs indicates that they have absorbed enough smoke, you can take the ribs out and wrap them in a butcher paper.

Finally , you should consider smoking ribs for some time without wrapping them to allow them to have a good bark.

Is it better to wrap ribs too early

You should keep in mind that wrapping ribs too early is as dangerous for ribs as wrapping them too late.

If you wrap ribs too early then ribs will not have enough time to absorb the smoky flavor. Due to this, they will have a mild smokey flavor.

Is it better to wrap ribs too late

Wrapping ribs late is also bad for the ribs’ flavor. You can smoke ribs without wrapping them at all throughout the smoking process.

But if you want to get the benefits of wrapping, then you should make sure to wrap at the right time.

If you fail to do so and wrap too late ,then the ribs will be over-smoked and have a bitter taste.

Moreover, you will also have to experience stall , due to which the smoking time will be increased and tenderness of ribs will be reduced due to evaporation of moisture.

what temp to wrap ribs in butcher paper

The ribs are wrapped when the internal temperature is around 150 °F because at this temperature, the moisture in the ribs starts evaporating and cools down the surface of meat .

Due to which the internal temperature of ribs shows a plateau .

This plateau of temperature is known as the stall. Wrapping ribs inside a butcher paper helps us to beat the stall.

The reason is that ,the butcher paper traps the moisture and avoids evaporation. due to which the internal temperature increases as a result of streaming

Butcher paper allows us to skip the stall stage by just wrapping ribs at 150°F . The surface of butcher paper is also porous, which lets smoke sink and a small amount of moisture escape.

This makes the taste and appearance of the food better at the same time.

how to wrap pork shoulder in butcher paper

Wrapping the pork butt in a butcher paper is Similar to wrapping ribs , although the wrapping time may vary.

You should also think about wrapping it around 150 °F because, no matter what kind of meat you are smoking, stall will happen at 150–160 °F because of evaporation.

Here is step by step guide to wrapping pork shoulder in butcher paper

1. First of all , you should consider analyzing the time of smoking and internal temperature of pork shoulder carefully,to make sure that you are wrapping it at the right time.
   Because of wrapping early or late , both can affect the flavor of pork.
   
2. After that, you should consider taking a sheet of butcher paper or two if the size of pork shoulder is too large.
   Consider overlapping them on each other to make wrapping the pork shoulder easier.
   
3. After that you should consider placing a pork shoulder in the center of these sheets.
   You should make sure that the the pork shoulder is  placed in the center so that both of the sheets can be wrapped around a single chunk to allow effective wrapping.
   
4. After placing the pork shoulder in the center of butcher paper, you should consider wrapping the pork shoulder in the paper.
   Place the pork shoulder at the end of paper sheets and roll the shoulder over to wrap the it in butcher paper.
   
5. After rolling the pork shoulder in the butcher paper once, you should consider removing any air present in the paper.
   After that, you should consider grabbing the corners of the butcher paper and tucking them below the pork shoulder.
   
6. After tucking the corners , you should consider pulling the shoulder back a bit to wrap it tightly and remove any air present within it.
   The air present within the butcher paper can affect the appearance of pork shoulder when moisture increases.
   
7. After wrapping the pork shoulder tightly , you should consider rolling the shoulder over the butcher paper throughout the length of sheet.
   The sheet length should be long enough so that the pork  can be rolled at least 2-4 times.
   
8. Until this point, you should have wrapped your pork shoulder inside the butcher paper.
   Now you can move forward by placing it into the smoker if you are planning for further smoking or sealing it with a tape if you are planning to send it to someone else.

The final Verdict

Ribs are usually wrapped in butcher paper and foil . You should choose one that you like.

Furthermore, they are wrapped at 150°F to avoid stalling and quickly raise the temperature of the ribs. should consider examining the ribs carefully before wrapping them.