Why the Towel?

[wgzn]

towels are like mustard binder and fat cap direction. old myths that for some reason, people hold dear, and get really cranky when you propose they're just "mythunderstandings"

i bbq part-time professionally. and i can tell you from experience that towels are not by definition, a necessity. all towels do is slow down the cooling process. which CAN be a good thing. but if you already have a good insulated cooler / cambro, and you're not needing to hold for exceptionally long (6+ hours) durations, i'm not sure how valuable they are AT ALL.

i used to use towels (simply because thats what everyone said to do). but i started to wonder what they actually achieved. so i did some very un-scientific testing. and found that unless i needed to hold a cooked brisket for more than about 4-6 hours. using towels had no beneficial effect on finished product.

when im cooking for family meals i just rest my briskets (still paper-wrapped) on the kitchen counter or cool oven, to an internal temp of 140ºF (that's usually about 90-120 minutes for the average "full packer" brisket) then slice and serve

i'm going to shoot a video test of this in the next couple of weeks, tracking the resting temps and sliced results of 3 methods to see what (if any) real benefit towels are for typical home cooking.

 

[chef k-dude]

I must have missed the party on the cooler thing. People are resting their butts in coolers even though they arent trying to hold temp for a later serving? I thought that was the only reason...creating a Faux Cambro holding box to transport to an event or hold for a later event at the location where the smoke happened.

I have never just rested anything in a Faux or real Cambro that doesn't NEED to hold hot for a later serving and never had a butt that didn't finish and pull well as soon as it was cool enough to handle with thermal rubber BBQ gloves.

I think WGXN above has it right.

 

[thirdeye]

I must have missed the party on the cooler thing. People are resting their butts in coolers even though they arent trying to hold temp for a later serving?

Well, for resting (not hot holding for transport) you do let a butt or brisket drop in temp, otherwise it continues to cook. But several hours rest on a brisket or butt really helps them retain moistness and helps with the texture too.

A very nice resting cooler is the 24 can Party Stacker by Coleman. And as a bonus, the lid serves as a handy tray, and if you have the small Cambro, it fits between the handles.

That said, a Cambro is the choice for safely holding any event food... hot or cold. Here is the small one next to a table top roaster for scale.

 

[DougE]

A very nice resting cooler is the 24 can Party Stacker by Coleman.

They still even making them? They seem to be out of stock most places and have been for awhile. I'd like to have one as a vessel for sous vide.

 

[anglingvirginia]

I always figured the towel was to hold in any escaping moisture.. have you ever warmed a towel. There is steam that stays in the towel… that’s what I figured.

 

[wgzn]

"But several hours rest on a brisket or butt really helps them retain moistness"

that's kind of the position i'm arguing with. have you ever tested that theory side by side?
like taken two nearly identical (as reasonably possible) and rested them side by side. one for only a couple of hours. the other for several?

i have. which was the entire point of my post here. once it gets down naturally to about 140ºIT, its really a situation of diminishing returns. the moisture is already redistributed. and the perceivable difference between a 2 hour rest and a 6 hour rest (with or without coolers and towels) is barely distinguishable (if at all) aside from 4 additional hours of your life having passed.

pic is of one of my typical 90-120 minute counter-rested briskets.

 

[wgzn]

I always figured the towel was to hold in any escaping moisture.. have you ever warmed a towel. There is steam that stays in the towel… that’s what I figured.

the towel is simply insulation. like a blanket. it's only value in this situation is slowing the cooling of the food item. if you're not needing to hold a finished item for several hours, they really serve no purpose other than complicating things. (and if you wrap in paper rather than foil, making a godawful mess)

 

[DougE]

When I smoke a butt, it goes straight into the cooler with towels. My aim is to let it remain hot for a few hours to steep in its own juices. Yes, I have done side by side comparisons and the few hours rest always wins both flavor wise and in texture after pulling. Brisket is a little different in that you want it to cool down some before resting in like manner.

 

[thirdeye]

They still even making them? They seem to be out of stock most places and have been for awhile. I'd like to have one as a vessel for sous vide.

You might be right, I could only find them on eBay, other sources said out of stock. BTW, they are good for SV. I have a bag of SV balls so I didn't drill the lid.

 

[thirdeye]

"But several hours rest on a brisket or butt really helps them retain moistness"

that's kind of the position i'm arguing with. have you ever tested that theory side by side?

Yes. The best example is an annual event I help with. We cook 10 to 15 butts and begin serving around 1pm. Some years the butts will not hit the cooler until 11am, but we continue to serve until 4pm or until we're out of meat. The longer rested butts are noticeably better.

 

[tpc74]

I think the towel also does a good job of soaking up any juice that might escape from butcher paper or foil.

 

[DougE]

You might be right, I could only find them on eBay, other sources said out of stock. BTW, they are good for SV. I have a bag of SV balls so I didn't drill the lid.

Same. I found used on fleabay, but no new ones in stock anywhere.

I have a similar size cooler but the walls are too thick for the clamp on my SV circulator. I expect I can find a way to rig it up though.

 

[SmokinEdge]

towels are like mustard binder and fat cap direction. old myths that for some reason, people hold dear, and get really cranky when you propose they're just "mythunderstandings"

i bbq part-time professionally. and i can tell you from experience that towels are not by definition, a necessity. all towels do is slow down the cooling process. which CAN be a good thing. but if you already have a good insulated cooler / cambro, and you're not needing to hold for exceptionally long (6+ hours) durations, i'm not sure how valuable they are AT ALL.

i used to use towels (simply because thats what everyone said to do). but i started to wonder what they actually achieved. so i did some very un-scientific testing. and found that unless i needed to hold a cooked brisket for more than about 4-6 hours. using towels had no beneficial effect on finished product.

when im cooking for family meals i just rest my briskets (still paper-wrapped) on the kitchen counter or cool oven, to an internal temp of 140ºF (that's usually about 90-120 minutes for the average "full packer" brisket) then slice and serve

i'm going to shoot a video test of this in the next couple of weeks, tracking the resting temps and sliced results of 3 methods to see what (if any) real benefit towels are for typical home cooking.

Pigeon hole questions (gotcha) are just silly in general and are pervasive on the internet.

Instead of asking the question or reposting about a previous question, how about posting your own results, rather than just questioning an old post?

What works for you is fine, what works for me is fine. Those who agree either way will follow either way. Keep it real and bring your own receipts. Questioning a technique is fine, but criticizing that technique requires you to provide an alternative. It’s all silly.

 

[flatbroke]

towels are like mustard binder and fat cap direction. old myths that for some reason, people hold dear, and get really cranky when you propose they're just "mythunderstandings"

i bbq part-time professionally. and i can tell you from experience that towels are not by definition, a necessity. all towels do is slow down the cooling process. which CAN be a good thing. but if you already have a good insulated cooler / cambro, and you're not needing to hold for exceptionally long (6+ hours) durations, i'm not sure how valuable they are AT ALL.

i used to use towels (simply because thats what everyone said to do). but i started to wonder what they actually achieved. so i did some very un-scientific testing. and found that unless i needed to hold a cooked brisket for more than about 4-6 hours. using towels had no beneficial effect on finished product.

when im cooking for family meals i just rest my briskets (still paper-wrapped) on the kitchen counter or cool oven, to an internal temp of 140ºF (that's usually about 90-120 minutes for the average "full packer" brisket) then slice and serve

i'm going to shoot a video test of this in the next couple of weeks, tracking the resting temps and sliced results of 3 methods to see what (if any) real benefit towels are for typical home cooking.

Y

towels are like mustard binder and fat cap direction. old myths that for some reason, people hold dear, and get really cranky when you propose they're just "mythunderstandings"

i bbq part-time professionally. and i can tell you from experience that towels are not by definition, a necessity. all towels do is slow down the cooling process. which CAN be a good thing. but if you already have a good insulated cooler / cambro, and you're not needing to hold for exceptionally long (6+ hours) durations, i'm not sure how valuable they are AT ALL.

i used to use towels (simply because thats what everyone said to do). but i started to wonder what they actually achieved. so i did some very un-scientific testing. and found that unless i needed to hold a cooked brisket for more than about 4-6 hours. using towels had no beneficial effect on finished product.

when im cooking for family meals i just rest my briskets (still paper-wrapped) on the kitchen counter or cool oven, to an internal temp of 140ºF (that's usually about 90-120 minutes for the average "full packer" brisket) then slice and serve

i'm going to shoot a video test of this in the next couple of weeks, tracking the resting temps and sliced results of 3 methods to see what (if any) real benefit towels are for typical home cooking.

LOL that’s a 2 year old thread

 

[DougE]

Y

LOL that’s a 2 year old thread

Sometimes an old thread is worth reviving. Not so much this time though.

 

[flatbroke]

Sometimes an old thread is worth reviving. Not so much this time though.

Yup. I was laughing cause he replied in stride as if part of the conversation.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Y

LOL that’s a 2 year old thread

Pretty much exactly my point.

 

[thirdeye]

"mythunderstandings"

fleabay

Oh Boy.... my vocabulary is improving...

 

[DougE]

Fleabay is an old one since it's always been considered as an online flea market lol.

 

[wgzn]

Pretty much exactly my point.

and yet, you three numbnuts keep commenting. pretty much validating my original comment...
"for some reason, people hold dear, and get really cranky when you propose they're just "mythunderstandings"