Another foil thread

[SuperDave]

On the subject of debate on how grease gets under our bottom foil, I may have stumbled onto something tonight.  I took some ribs out of the freezer that I had previously smoked and warmed them in the crock pot.  After they were warm, I decided to re-glaze them on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet in the oven.  After dinner, the foil was stuck to the cookie sheet.  Now the foil was larger than the cookie sheet and there was no pooling of fat on the top of the foil.  It is almost as if the foil is porous where the meat was.  So, rather than leaking around the edges, is it possible it leaks through the top? 

 

[jcboxlot]

+1 to follow, I have wondered the same, love to put a go cam in there to follow the process. 

 

[DivotMaker]

If it does, that's a game-changer, Dave! ???

 

[BedouinBob]

I am betting that the salt, moisture, and possibly some acid (depending on the glaze) had a chemical reaction with the foil and made some pinhole size holes in the foil..... and presto, you have a grease leak with the resulting sticking.

 

[SuperDave]

I am betting that the salt, moisture, and possibly some acid (depending on the glaze) had a chemical reaction with the foil and made some pinhole size holes in the foil..... and presto, you have a grease leak with the resulting sticking.

All the same elements the bottom foil of our smokers are exposed to. 

 

[jcboxlot]

The only thing I can guess is it comes down the walls? Think of the wall and door buildup.  Maybe thats the culprit.

 

[DivotMaker]

The only thing I can guess is it comes down the walls? Think of the wall and door buildup.  Maybe thats the culprit.

That's what I've always thought.  I know moisture collects on the sides, and since the foil doesn't make a seal against it, it seems the only way the greasy moisture gets under the foil.

 

[TorontoPete]

So here's my guess.  Fat, oil vapourize.  Look at you fan above your stove.  And upon cooling, from opening door, air intake underneath, heater coil shutting off etc it goes back to liquid... Falls to bottom of smoker....  Goes under foil... Heater coil on again, and now the liquid vapourize's again.  But caught under the foil and builds then cools for whatever reason.  In the oven, the meat and cookie sheet would be the coolest thing in the oven so as vapour occurs  it would surround the meat and could get caught under the foil  Etc. 

 

[DivotMaker]

Yeah, Peter, I agree that it's actually that simple.   Sometimes, we get caught up trying to over-analyze some really simple stuff, around here! LOL!!

 

[SuperDave]

You lost me how the liquid gets under the foil on a cookie sheet in the oven. 

 

[TorontoPete]

Same as a cold glass of water.  It's the coldest thing in the room. And moisture collects.  The meat is cooler than the over and will be most of the time in the oven.... (You cook meat to 140 F but the oven may be 350) and air with moisture would condense on the underside of the foil and get trapped.  It does on the meat too... You just don't notice it.  Imagine instead of meat you had and ice cube on the foil... And imagine the the moisture also has grease...  Condensation under the foil.  My guess.