Help with Pork Butts Please

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turkey mama

Smoke Blower
Original poster
May 28, 2011
76
11
Eagle River, Wisconsin
Planning on smoking two 8lb butt but worried won't be done in time. I will have 10 hrs but not sure that's enough time: Has anyone pre started them by a couple hrs and pulled and refrigerated over night and re started in. A:m? Would appreciate some input, thanks.
 
I have never done it.  I would think that bringing them back up from 38 degrees (or what ever your fridge temp is) would take a long time for them to resume where they left off.

For safety sake, you want to get them to a minimum of 145.  But that will take hours, leaving them in the danger zone until they reach that.  Then putting them in the fridge will put them back in the danger zone until they chill below 45.  IMHO that is too many hours in the danger zone.

This is what I would try.  I could be wrong here, and if I am someone please correct me.  If you can get them to 165 before you pull them out, the next morning foil them and finish them in the oven to 205.  I think that would be your safest and easiest route.
 
plan on 1.5 hrs per lb.  you also should towel them in a cooler for at least 1 hr.  so juices can redistribute back into the meat.  my best advice would be to set your alarm a little earlier in the A.M.  lol
 
my best advice would be to set your alarm a little earlier in the A.M.  lol
Yeah, that too. 

points.gif
 
  Mine have been taking closer to 2 hours per pound lately. But low and slow is what it is all about! But it is worth the wait! Good luck with your smoke.

Mike
 
starting and takeing them to a certain temp (that is not your desired final temp) cooling and then taking it back up to a final desired temp is not a good practice to do. remember ALL time spent in the danger zone is what is added together as a whole. there is the whole intact muscle rule exception but if you are asking the original question in the first place you simply do not have enough food saftey knowledge to worry about that yet. you do have enough sense to ask questions and that indeed is a good GREAT thing. the best and simplest advice i can give you is to cook your butts early and hold them in a warmer of even a cooler or you can even cook them a day or so before, pull them and cool them. pulled pork reheats very well. i even cook them and after pulling them i freeze them in 1 lb. vaccume sealed bags and i have them on hand all the time. i hope this helps you and i hope i did not offend anyone..........good luck!

btw, i usually get my butts done in 10 hrs but evryone's equipment and butts are different.
 
I have never done it.  I would think that bringing them back up from 38 degrees (or what ever your fridge temp is) would take a long time for them to resume where they left off.

For safety sake, you want to get them to a minimum of 145.  But that will take hours, leaving them in the danger zone until they reach that.  Then putting them in the fridge will put them back in the danger zone until they chill below 45.  IMHO that is too many hours in the danger zone.

This is what I would try.  I could be wrong here, and if I am someone please correct me.  If you can get them to 165 before you pull them out, the next morning foil them and finish them in the oven to 205.  I think that would be your safest and easiest route.
This is what I would do, if starting earlier was out of the question.

And I agree with the whole up & down danger zone thing Scooper explained. That was my first thought.

Bear
 
This is what I would try.  I could be wrong here, and if I am someone please correct me.  If you can get them to 165 before you pull them out, the next morning foil them and finish them in the oven to 205.  I think that would be your safest and easiest route
you could do this but the product will be drier, with the expansion and contraction of the meat moisture will be lost and just putting more liquid in the mix will never bring it to it's original state. the final product will be good but not as good if you gave it a single run, cooled it and then reheated it if you needed to. jmo
 
you could do this but the product will be drier, with the expansion and contraction of the meat moisture will be lost and just putting more liquid in the mix will never bring it to it's original state. the final product will be good but not as good if you gave it a single run, cooled it and then reheated it if you needed to. jmo
True.  Your explanation in your post up above (#10) was excellent too.
 
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