Reheat large quantity of Pork with SV -Thoughts?

SirPorkaLot

SirPorkaLot

somebody shut me the fark up.
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John
As some of you might know, we are having a family reunion in Savannah in 2 weeks.
Tradition is for us to have a family dinner on Saturday night. (50-55 people, from too old to be there, to too young to care)

My daughter (who is organizing it this year) has decided to have BBQ catered.
Except she choose Shane’s rib shack to be the caterer. (Eek!!)

Of course being the bbq snob I am, that just wasn’t going to work.

After trying (unsuccessfully) to locate an alternate bbq caterer in the area, I decided I’d just cook it myself.

After a call for a loaner smoker in the area to borrow didn’t turn up anything (I did get a couple of offers from Charleston area Brethren - Thanks!), I have went to plan C (which should’ve probably been plan A)

Plan C:
Smoke 4-5 Pork butts at home (California) before I leave to head east.
Rest and then chop and toss with finishing sauce. Put freshly smoked and chopped pork into vacuum sealed bags and freeze.

Before I fly out, put frozen pork in cooler, tape shut and check as baggage.

Upon arrival in GA, make sure there is enough ice to keep it cool until Saturday morning.
Use same cooler, empty ice, fill with water and put the Sous Vide wand on some temperature (140?) for the day and when it’s time to eat and dump perfectly reheated pork into waiting chafing pan.

Thoughts?
Recommendations?
Prayers?
 
Well, I'll send you my Prayers.

If I was TSA, that cooler would mysteriously vanish.
(Hey, they eat too.)

But Sous Vide would be a brilliant idea to bring the PP back for the Gathering of the Clan's.

I recently (OK, last year) got a portable unit, and use a sawed off 5 gallon food grade bucket as my tank.
But you could get the same thing there. Lowe's sells them as a mixing bucket. But it sez food grade in the fine print.
It does not need to be food grade, but is assuring if there is any leakage.

You could Vacuum bag your PP, reheat it, and keep it ready to cut open and serve.

Of course, this all depends on the PP arriving, the Daughter aquesessing to your intervention :twitch:, And the TSA having been well fed enough to pass on stealing your cooler.
If it arrives, hell yes go with Sous Vide.

If you leave the Sous Vide and bucket with the daughter she might forgive you even. :wink:
 
That will definitely work, Ive done it for larger crowds at my house than that. The other bonus is that you dont have to have it all in the serving tray at once, cooling off and drying out.

My SV is an 800w Anova unit. It has a hard time (long time) bringing that large a volume of water up to temp. I did brisket for about 75 people last summer and used a turkey fryer to heat the water and just used the SV to hold it there.

Even if I didnt face all the challenges you are with logistics, I would probably still cook in advance and reheat that same way...much more enjoyable to me to not have to wake up early, not have a deadline bearing down on me dictating my cook, not having smoke in my face all day before eating said food, etc. I rarely cook large meats for guests day of anymore...at least with the stick burner for large groups.
 
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I don’t know if they will let you fly with that. Check with the airline in advance to avoid surprises.

The SV works great, and I agree, start with hot water and it goes better. Also, pre thaw in a fridge if you can.
 
I like the plan! Have you looked into overnight shipping rather than checked baggage? It might be too costly, but I think it is possible and would save a TSA hassle.

As a side note, you could build a smoker with some cinder blocks, rebar, and plywood from the local hardware store. A bit risky, but it sure would make a statement about your Q'ability. :wink:
 
I have had great luck with reheating vac sealed pulled pork in simmering water, has not impacted the texture, moisture or flavor. Just a thought so you don'r have to lug your SV machine. Also a suitcase packed with lots of newspapers will keep the contents froze for a long time if you don't want to deal with a cooler. My sister hauls frozen beef from her ranch in a large checked suitcase from Tucson to London all the time with no issues, meat is still frozen when they arrive. No ice required just the frozen meat.
 
My fear is that if the meat is frozen, it may not work due to lack of time. Most Sous Vide don't have a lot of power. Will you have access to an oven, grill, turkey fryer? The bags are resilient up to about 275 degrees.

As for TSA, can't tell you. Might be better to carry it on.


Good luck,


Robert
 
Sous vide is great for reheating pulled pork. I have always sauced after reheat, but I don't think it will matter. 8 butts though, that is going to be 30 lbs of pulled pork plus sauce bags and ice. I would say it is going to cost to check it. Plus that is a lot of extra work and expense vacuum sealing and packaging. Have you considered buying a cheaper smoker like an old country or a pit barrel when get there, using it, then listing it on craigslist before you leave.
 
Joshw said:
Sous vide is great for reheating pulled pork. I have always sauced after reheat, but I don't think it will matter. 8 butts though, that is going to be 30 lbs of pulled pork plus sauce bags and ice. I would say it is going to cost to check it. Plus that is a lot of extra work and expense vacuum sealing and packaging. Have you considered buying a cheaper smoker like an old country or a pit barrel when get there, using it, then listing it on craigslist before you leave.
Click to expand...



Yea, but even that takes a bunch of shenanigans to pull off. I’d rather spend time with the family.
I think 50lbs is weight limit before additional fees. I should be ok..
Maybe
 
Yes you can check it but no ice is allowed. It's too big for carry on so if it's under 50# you won't get hit too hard for baggage. Start with hot water early and I'll bet you'll have no problem getting it up to temp. I'd set your anova to 145° just to be safe.
 
I've flown with frozen meat in a cooler for a total travel time of about 8hrs and was still frozen at the end of that.

I've also done a big round of sous vide in a cooler at a competition. This was like 30lbs. Added some boiling water to get the water up to temp faster, but worked fine.
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I have flown back from TX many times with a soft sided cooler full of frozen meat. Checking it is definitely the way to go. Not sure how long your flight is, if it's direct, etc, but might be worth throwing a little dry ice in there. Check with the airline for what amount of dry ice would be ok - but a little block and you should be fine.

As to re-heating - I've reheated hundreds of #'s of pulled pork - which is a lot like chopped pork to those of us who aren't from NC :twisted: - anyway, not sure about reheating at 140. I always do it in simmering water, and have done it in boiling water when I've gotten behind. It's a great way to reheat. You can do it on a camp stove or something like that if you're not around a regular stove. Probably be good to make sure there's a sizeable pot at your destination. Or - if the sous vide thingee goes up to a higher temp, just use that so as to reduce the need for other gear.

In other words - in my non-expert opinion, your plan looks solid but I'd reheat at a higher temp. If you can get those packs thawed a little, that'll help come reheat time - the frozen ones take a long time. They take even longer when there's a line of people looking at you. Don't ask me how I know this. :oops:
 
Yes, no, yes...a few options to bounce around. I'll let you figure out how to travel with the pork, but your pre-flight scenario sounds perfect. The one suggestion that I will make is to flatten your vac packs as to where they are not too thick or football shaped. This does two things. It makes them easier to cool & freeze, and it allows them to reheat faster. These two things are important for food safety.

Before reheating, be sure everything is in a thawed state. You'll be better off starting with boiling water in your cooler in order to not overwork your sous vide unit. BUT...if you have access to boiling water, you'd be just as well off ditching the sous vide method and just reheating stove top in the pot of boiling water (if you have a pot large enough). I know restaurants that use this method as their primary way of reheating. You could go either way...but if a large pot was available, I would certainly go that route.

Now the biggest food safety issue I see...reheating to 140 "could" be dangerous. It is doubtful that you'll have any issues, and since this is a private function, you don't have any legal authorities to answer to. Technically, in commercial foodservice, you are required to reheat to 165. I can then hold as low as 135, or obtain a variance to hold at a lower temp. None of that really matters in this instance, but I thought I'd toss the info out there. With the vinegar you have mixed in, the pH is probably in a safe range anyway.

The biggest detriment to reheated barbecue is getting it too hot...which is sort of a catch22.

Good luck to you.
 
Please posts results when you are done. Threads like this are great resources in the future when people are searching for the same topic. I've ended up on Suds' previous posts when I did something similar, and it worked great.
 
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