some help with pork butt
 

I spent the day smoking 8 butts for a church event. On @ 7 am but rained all day. I pulled them off the heat at 10:30 because I need some sleep for work tomorrow. Most were @ around 180. I wrapped them in foil - whole - and put them in the fridge. What is the best way to deal with them tomorrow? Can I ever expect to get them to pull?
I will be serving them on Sunday morning. Should I freeze or keep in the fridge?

Thanks all - I'm going to bed :redface:

Fridge will work until sunday. Make sure your fridge is 40 or below.

My guess since you didn't rest them in a cooler before going into the refrigerator, is that the internal temperature didn't go up much beyond 180 so pulling will not work.

You are probably going to need to slice them.

But then, this is just a guess since I have never done it the way you did.

If they wont pull then slice and chop them up. Tastes just as good.

If you reheat in the oven at 400+ unitl the meat hits 200 they will pull. Use a meat thermometer when cooking.

Yeah that's the ticket. Foil with apple juice and in oven. When you want good Q sleep is over rated.

My advice also. The oven is your friend. Once you foil them, it doesn't matter where the heat comes from.

Monty
I saw your post on this cook on another forum, you said the butts were at 180 internal, you foiled and placed them in the refrigerator. The problem is a refrigerator can not cool 8 hot butts safely that are wrapped.

Then you posted that over 8 hours later the refrigerator was at 42 degrees but did not state the meat temp.

This meat is not safe to serve to a crowd at a church with members that maybe very young or older with health problems you may not have information on.

The only safe thing to do is toss the meat.

Jim

Yeah, I threw it all out and started over. A bonehead move on my part that cost me $100 + ... a hard lesson to learn, but I have no intention of serving bad product.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Monty
$100 is a cheap lesson compared to a friend at your church becoming ill..

You asked the right questions and responded to your answers in the most responsible way.. Good on you.

Jim, no offense but I do not understand your advice. "The problem is a refrigerator can not cool 8 hot butts safely that are wrapped. The only safe thing to do is toss the meat."

I can't grasp that concept. I think the food would have been fine. I understand "Better safe than sorry" But I do not think this situation called for throwing away $100.00 of meat. JMHO

Food health guidelines are if your going to cool meat or hot sides, you have two hours to get the food temp to 70 degrees. Then you have four hours to get it below 40 degrees. The normal refrigerator have tough time doing this and if the food is covered it will not happen. When you add 8 butts to the equation then the refrigerator temp may not get below 40 degrees in 8 hours.

If you want to cool that kind of weight commercial equipment is needed.

If you choose to not follow those guidelines that's a choice you can make for yourself and your family but when you are going to feed a crowd you have to factor in their safety.

I do follow these guidelines using commercial refrigeration. I understand that most will not spend the money for commercial equipment so cooling using a ice bath would be the method of choice.

I agree 100% with Jim.

You have to let the butts cool to room temp before wrapping and putting in a fridge (especially a home fridge vs. commercial fridge). The meat will be in the danger zone far too long.

Cool to room temp on a cooling rack > ice bath > wrap and refrig is the safest approach.

I guess my comment was after the fact, I understand what you are saying. For a backyard cook, I think what should have happened was to place the Butts into the freezer first for some time prior to the fridge. This would have dropped the temps quickly to maintain the safe zone. For future reference, do you think that would have been a solution?

Pork Smoker
One or two butts in a freezer could work much more than that even a home freezer will warm up. The key to cooling in a refrigerator is the frig needs to be able to blow cold air same for freezers when you have a large number of butts.