How to Wrap a Brisket with Pink Butchers’ Paper

At the Barbecue Company, we absolutely love brisket and many of our products are made solely to be used for a delicious brisket, to feed the whole family or even just yourself! Part of making a smashing brisket is also letting the meat sit for a bit while it finishes cooking and wrapping it in something is to make sure that the meat doesn’t dry out, it retains the warmth you want when you eventually eat the brisket and it helps to increase the flavour of the juices and seasonings you’ve already put on the meat.

One of the many debates people have in the community is what you should wrap your brisket with and how to do it properly to avoid making a mess or ruining your brisket in the process. We personally recommend using pink butchers paper, as it’s a lot more breathable than other materials such as aluminium foil, but you can learn more about why we think pink butchers paper is perfect for wrapping in our other blog post.

If you’re dead set on using pink butchers paper to wrap your brisket like we always do, then this post is perfect for you! Today, we’ll go through the steps of using pink butchers paper, and how to make sure your brisket turns out perfectly every time you use it.

Ensure You’re Using Pink Butchers’ Paper 

A quick note before we get started: make sure that the butcher’s paper you’re using is not butchers paper for steaks and is definitely pink. Butchers paper can come in different colours and are usually associated with which kind of meat you’re cooking and wrapping. Pink butchers paper is specifically made for wrapping and cooking red meat as the pink paper has a specific layer coating to allow only so much oxygen to escape the paper while maintaining the nice red colour of the meat. Steak paper often doesn’t let any breathing occur and is usually used to display meat at a butcher’s, not for cooking or preparing a brisket.

How To Wrap Your Brisket

Let’s get into how to wrap your brisket perfectly with pink butchers’ paper. This process is super easy and can be altered to suit how tight or loose you’d like your brisket wrapped in the final stages of the cooking process. 

Step 1: You’ll want to have one fresh long sheet of pink butchers paper on your table, lengthwise and pop your brisket horizontally about 15-20 cm from the bottom of the sheet. 

Step 2: Take the first sheet or first layer of the pink butchers’ paper, below where the brisket is sitting, and fold it over the brisket itself. Make sure the sheet is flush against the brisket and moulds to the bottom to avoid any unnecessary space between the brisket and the paper. There should still be another sheet of paper under the brisket at this point, remember to only fold one sheet over the brisket.

Step 3: Using the right side of the paper, take the folded over sheet and fold the right side tightly to the shape of the side of the brisket in an almost perpendicular fashion. The folded paper should be pointing outwards from the brisket, rather than straight.

Step 4: Fold the same way on the left side of the brisket, by folding the sheet tightly to the shape of the brisket, to mirror the other side. 

Step 5: Now that both sides are initially covered, continue tucking and folding in the sides of the paper as you roll the brisket forward until you get to about twice the width of the brisket left of the paper. 

Step 6: Double fold the remaining paper on the end for an extra thick bottom and roll the brisket one last time so that it’s sitting face down, sides all tucked in and tight to fit the shape and lying on the thick double fold at the bottom. 

And that’s a wrapped brisket in pink butchers’ paper, ready for the final stage of cooking and smoking.