Need a little assurance from the pros

[E190DRVR]

I’m smoking 3 - 8lb butts today that will be consumed on Sunday at our family vacation. My plan is to smoke ‘em, rest them in the foil for an hour. Pull them. Bag them and vacuum seal them. Put them on ice to quick cool and then freeze them for the trip. I’ll sous vide the packages to warm the meat back up for tacos and sandwiches. Will that work? What temperature do you suggest for sous vide? Any other ideas? Trying to make it as painless as possible on vacation. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mike Twangzer]

Wouldn't you want to cool before vacuum sealing ? I dunno ?????

 

[Big N Hot]

This is a solid plan in my opinion. You'd want to get the meat temp back over 140 F. Sous vide is a great way to do it. I'd go 150 F for 90 minutes.

 

[sudsandswine]

Not a "pro" but....when doing bigger cooks I get a big cooler full of ice and water, portion the meat into vacuum sealed bags while still warm, then throw them in the ice water bath to quick chill them. If you put that much hot/warm meat into a residential fridge it will take a long time to cool it down and raise the overall temp of the fridge, the meat might stay in the "danger zone" for too long and also affect the other things you have in there. I keep a logging thermometer on my meat fridge and have watched it happen. I cooled 200lbs of cooked meat that way one time. Then I reheat with sous vide or a hot water bath...works great.

 

[robertm]

That should work great. Try to get as flat as possible in the vacuum bag just so they can reheat more easily. Since it's going to be a large volume to reheat I'd plan on a few hrs in the sous vide. 140 is safe but I've found the meat isn't very warm by the time it's served. I'd do 150 deg for 2 hrs. Obviously the meat needs to be thawed before reheating at that time. Personally, I wouldn't freeze. 3 days will be fine at fridge temps. We reheated some pulled pork butt Tuesday night that I smoked Saturday. If you prefer to freeze just get it thawed first or plan on longer time in sous vide bath.

 

[thirdeye]

I do a somewhat coarse separation of the muscle groups, I think it retains more of the fatty juices during the reheat, and I add foil juices or small frozen cubes of apple juice or Coca-Cola to the bags.

A really good method for chilling the bags quickly is an icy slurry in a large (80 oe 100 qt cooler). A little kosher salt will make the slurry even colder.

USDA recommended "reheated temp" for serving is 165°.

 

[keeperofsecrets]

Once shredded, bag in small amounts (1# or so per bag), on ice to chill, then freeze. On the other end, just boil a big pot of water and drop in as many as you need and boil them for 10 minutes, remove and redistribute the contents in each bag without opening them, then 10 more mins dans l'eau bouillante should do the trick.

Bagging in smaller amounts may seem a waste, bu it lets you chill and then freeze faster. Also lets you re-thermalize faster on Sunday.

 

[Fire and Ice]

That should work great. Try to get as flat as possible in the vacuum bag just so they can reheat more easily. Since it's going to be a large volume to reheat I'd plan on a few hrs in the sous vide. 140 is safe but I've found the meat isn't very warm by the time it's served. I'd do 150 deg for 2 hrs. Obviously the meat needs to be thawed before reheating at that time. Personally, I wouldn't freeze. 3 days will be fine at fridge temps. We reheated some pulled pork butt Tuesday night that I smoked Saturday. If you prefer to freeze just get it thawed first or plan on longer time in sous vide bath.

This is a solid plan. Below 40 .. Above 140 for food safety and at 150 for a couple hours ample temps and time to heat thoroughly

 

[E190DRVR]

Thank you for all the great suggestions.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

When I take mine off the Egg I vent them to let out the steam to stop the cooking process Then 1-2 hours later I pull it, put in fridge and vac seal the next day When time to eat I put a vac sealed bag in boiling water for about 30 min- its still frozen and then eat works great

 

[keeperofsecrets]

I’m smoking 3 - 8lb butts today that will be consumed on Sunday at our family vacation. My plan is to smoke ‘em, rest them in the foil for an hour. Pull them. Bag them and vacuum seal them. Put them on ice to quick cool and then freeze them for the trip. I’ll sous vide the packages to warm the meat back up for tacos and sandwiches. Will that work? What temperature do you suggest for sous vide? Any other ideas? Trying to make it as painless as possible on vacation. Thanks in advance.

Let us know what plan you worked out. Hope everyone enjoyed!

 

[shares]

I'd suggest upping your rest time. 1 hour is nowhere near enough time. Your plan sounds well thought out though.