would this work...

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rons

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Mar 15, 2009
549
51
Hey, would it work to 'post cold smoke' already cooked pulled meat to really get it smokey all the way through?
Like cook a pork butt all the way, pull it into shreds, put on a perferated dish/pan then cold smoke the shreds for a while?
 
It 'sounds' like a good idea , but i thought of it so I'm biased haha
 
So cook a butt in the oven then smoke the pp after?
 
That would work to, i was thinking on the smoker then tear apart
 
I think you've come up with a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Are you saying you don't get enough smoke flavor in your pulled pork? If so, use more wood or stronger wood. I can't see any reason why what you suggest wouldn't work if it's kept at a safe temperature, I just can't see any real reason it would be necessary.
I would worry slightly about the meat drying out due to the natural convection inside the smoker. Even at temps below 40f, the small amount of heat generated by a cold smoker is going to move the air around pretty well.
 
Depending on how long you intended smoking it, unless the "while" was quite short, you are likely to have a food safety issue by cold smoking the meat for any length of time after it is cooked.

When smoking the meat while cooking the meat is effectively in a sterile (hot) environment and the heat continues to increasingly prevent bacterial growth. If you have previously cooked the meat, the sheer act of pulling it (unless you do this in sterile conditions) is going to potentially introduce bacteria throughout the meat mass from your hands, the air, implements, plates etc which are not going to be subsequently killed by the application of cold smoke. You could mitigate this risk by subsequently reheating it to the correct temperature - but again it depends how long your "while" was.

It would not be a problem if the "while" was just for a few minutes just before it was served, or if the cooked meat was kept below 4 C (-40 F) for longer smokes. It does seem a lot of trouble to go to though. Following on from a previous thread. Maybe this would be the perfect situation for using Liquid Smoke.
 
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I think you've come up with a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Are you saying you don't get enough smoke flavor in your pulled pork? If so, use more wood or stronger wood. I can't see any reason why what you suggest wouldn't work if it's kept at a safe temperature, I just can't see any real reason it would be necessary.
I would worry slightly about the meat drying out due to the natural convection inside the smoker. Even at temps below 40f, the small amount of heat generated by a cold smoker is going to move the air around pretty well.

I just love that outer inch, where it's really smokey, thought maybe this would get the inner stuff like that

Depending on how long you intended smoking it you are likely to have a food safety issue by cold smoking the meat for any length of time after it is cooked. When smoking the meat while cooking the meat is effectively in a sterile (hot) environment and the heat continues to increasingly prevent bacterial growth. If you have previously cooked the meat the sheer act of pulling it (unless you do this in sterile conditions) is going to introduce bacteria throughout the meat mass from your hands, the air, implements, plates etc which are not going to be subsequently killed by the application of cold smoke. Some will argue that the smoke itself is antibacterial, which may be true to a point, however even if it is you would not be able to guarantee that sufficient concentrations of it will come in contact with all of the surfaces of the meat.

It would be less of an issue if you were to keep the cooked meat cold below 4 C (-40 F) while it was being smoked however smoking at anything approaching room temperature for more than a short period would not be advisable.

Following on from a previous thread. Maybe this would be the perfect situation for using Liquid Smoke.

Maybe just an hour in a warm smoker than, like at 205, just to get some more good on it.
 
Sorry Ron - you were too quick. I slightly updated my post before you replied.
 
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