food safety

[preacherman1]

I know about the 4/140 rule but I still have question.  I started thawing a 13 lb boston butt Thursday let it sit in fridge Friday afternoon put it in water for about 5 hrs started it at 2:45 am this morning and the IT after 2 hours is 37 degrees  will it be safe to eat if it takes 5 hours to get to 140 what do you all think

 

[jarjarchef]

I know about the 4/140 rule but I still have question.  I started thawing a 13 lb boston butt Thursday let it sit in fridge Friday afternoon put it in water for about 5 hrs started it at 2:45 am this morning and the IT after 2 hours is 37 degrees  will it be safe to eat if it takes 5 hours to get to 140 what do you all think

Ok so lets start with the "4/140 rule". It is not a USDA guideline. It is a guideline that was created by a professional on this forum years ago to help new cooks. It provided them a tool to gage their cooks by. People got lazy and replaced guidline with rule, because it is easier to type. I actually feel it is a great guideline and use it to get a feel for how mine are going.

Thawing, assuming you had it in water that had light running water going at all times.

Cook temp, assuming you are above 225 and the meat was still frozen on the inside.

Assuming you did not inject the meat. The only time you probed the meat was for temp and you sanitized the probe.

You should be ok. However if it was me, I would turn the heat up to get it going faster. Then back off the heat after you get more on track. If you don't want a lot of color, wrap the meat when it gets to 150-160 and leave the heat up. Most will remove their meat from the smoker when it hits 205, I actually remove mine at 190 or even less if it is going to be more than an hour or so before serving. You dont need to go to 205 to have clean bones and carry over cooking will take it the rest of the way.

 

[gary s]

Good Info