# * Need Help Please



## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

Long story short, we have a 6 lb pork shoulder on the grill. Unfortunately it's been at a smoker temp of 160 for about 4 hrs (again, long story) Question, is the meat still ok? Just checked IT and its at 140. I'm back and reving up the briquetts now to ramp up to 225 'ish.

Thanks for any help.

Bryce


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## jarjarchef (Jul 20, 2012)

You should be OK if it was fresh and not borderline to start with. Just make sure you get it above 165 as quick as possible.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jul 20, 2012)

Uh, I have to assume the smoke chamber temp dropped long after you started the smoke...

If you're @ 140* I/T, do you know how long it took to get it there?

Did you inject with a marinade?

Sounds like you should be OK to keep rolling, but want a bit info, if you can.

Eric


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## s2k9k (Jul 20, 2012)

Do you mean it's been on the smoker for 4 hours? or it has been at 160* for 4 hours? if the later how long has it been on the smoker?


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

forluvofsmoke said:


> Uh, I have to assume the smoke chamber temp dropped long after you started the smoke...
> 
> _Yes, thats accurate_
> 
> ...


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> Do you mean it's been on the smoker for 4 hours? or it has been at 160* for 4 hours? if the later how long has it been on the smoker?


S2, yes, it's been in the smoker for 4 hours at around 160 smoker temp for the entire time.

Since i've gotten home i've been able to crank it up and have had it at 250 for about an hour now.


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

jarjarchef said:


> You should be OK if it was fresh and not borderline to start with. Just make sure you get it above 165 as quick as possible.


Hi Chef, the meat was very fresh, we purchased it yesterday and had it refrigerated until today.


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## s2k9k (Jul 20, 2012)

Well if it made it to 140* in 4 hours then you should be fine


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## jarjarchef (Jul 20, 2012)

Of course it is not the perfect senerio to have. Good to see you have the temp up again.


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> Well if it made it to 140* in 4 hours then you should be fine


Curveball, after further review and more discussion with my wife, it looks more like 4 hours to 130! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Dang man, this better be ok.

EDIT- just checked and i'm up to 150 IT now at 250 smoker temp.


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## s2k9k (Jul 20, 2012)

Did you inject it in any way?


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> Did you inject it in any way?


Dave, no injeciton at all, just a dry rub the night before. Thats it. I guess my concern is bactiera not so much the meat quality or flavor at this point.


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## s2k9k (Jul 20, 2012)

That's my concern too. I just PM'd our resident meathead and hopefully he will give some professional advice. Right now I would just keep cooking it until you get the correct advice. At the least finish it and then put it in the fridge but don't eat any and tomorrow I'm sure we can come up with a safe answer for you. I know it's not what you want to hear but at this point safety is most important.


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> That's my concern too. I just PM'd our resident meathead and hopefully he will give some professional advice. Right now I would just keep cooking it until you get the correct advice. At the least finish it and then put it in the fridge but don't eat any and tomorrow I'm sure we can come up with a safe answer for you. I know it's not what you want to hear but at this point safety is most important.


Yeah, sound advice. Thanks for the PM as well to our meathead. Hopefully i'm good to go. We're feeding this PP to some family friends of our tomorrow and their kids.

Here's something else, i finally just now got my Maverick thermometer set up. Come to find out, my old therm was wayyyyy off.


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## s2k9k (Jul 20, 2012)

Which way was it wayyyyy off? And was the smoker temp wayyyyy off? and/or the meat temp wayyyyy off?

If this is for friends and kids I think I'd be looking for a backup plan. Getting yourself sick is bad but getting someone else (especially a kid) sick is really bad! Again safety is the top priority right now!


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

Pretty sure it was too low. Old therm read 255 smoker temp, new mav said 270! So, i still dont know what the smoker temp ended up dropping to.

I'm powering through and going to smoke it out. Like you suggested, i won't eat any of it but i'll plan as if we're good.

EDIT, ok i just learned something. My old therm wouldnt't go above 255 for some reason so i'm not sure how it would read in the lower temps but my guess is about 5 degrees less than actual temp.

Basically i'm 8 hours in on a 6lb shoulder with an IT meat temp of 150.


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## jarjarchef (Jul 20, 2012)

So I am on the fence with this. We have a very good guide that I myself try to follow when I do  cooks at home. The 40 - 140 in 4 hrs rule! However at work we follow the rule of HACCP, and they only talk final cook temp. Not how long it takes to get there and a what temp you cook it. For a pork roast it is 145 degrees. We do steamships and prime ribs and we cook them at 225 degrees and only bring them up to 130 degrees.

Now we also have a rule for everything in the kitchen "when in doubt, throw it out!"

So you have to make the choice you feel is going to best serve you and your guest that will ensure you serve safe wholesome food to them. 

I am sorry if i was a bit direct, but you do not have an easy choice to make. If you are this concerned with the safety of the pork. I would decide on the cautious side.


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## s2k9k (Jul 20, 2012)

So I take it you got the Mav working? 

I would finish the cook then rest it (if you were planning on that) then fridge it. I assume you were planning on a reheat anyway? 

I thought Pops was online earlier but I'm sure he will chime in later or tomorrow. What time were you planning on serving tomorrow? 

Normally I would just say pitch it but this one sounds really borderline to me and I would really like someone with a lot more experience to give some advice before I tell you to throw something away that might be just fine, that would be a waste. I think you're OK but I would really like some experience to back me up, I don't want to steer you wrong!

I'm about to go to sleep so just finish it and we will get you a better answer in the morning.


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## garyt (Jul 20, 2012)

If you didnt inject you didnt put any bacteria into the center of the meat, if it was enhanced, like most are, there is I belive sodium involved that would be a plus in this case, smoke is also a preservative. I would say go for it.


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## jarjarchef (Jul 20, 2012)

Sorry missed an important part for the steamships and prime ribs. They will cook for 12 hrs.


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

jarjarchef said:


> So I am on the fence with this. We have a very good guide that I myself try to follow when I do cooks at home. The 40 - 140 in 4 hrs rule! However at work we follow the rule of HACCP, and they only talk final cook temp. Not how long it takes to get there and a what temp you cook it. For a pork roast it is 145 degrees. We do steamships and prime ribs and we cook them at 225 degrees and only bring them up to 130 degrees.
> Now we also have a rule for everything in the kitchen "when in doubt, throw it out!"
> So you have to make the choice you feel is going to best serve you and your guest that will ensure you serve safe wholesome food to them.
> I am sorry if i was a bit direct, but you do not have an easy choice to make. If you are this concerned with the safety of the pork. I would decide on the cautious side.


Thanks Chef, excellent information. Things went a bit sideways today with this smoke due to some circumstances out of my control. I'm gald you chimed in and offered your opinion and shared your knowledge and the safety measures you take both at work and home.

Bryce


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> So I take it you got the Mav working?
> 
> I would finish the cook then rest it (if you were planning on that) then fridge it. I assume you were planning on a reheat anyway?
> 
> ...


Here's the bummer. I got the smoker probe working very well. Unfortunately i stuck the meat probe into the meat and it instantly read a HHH error which i believe is a bad probe right out of the box. So now i'm sitting here using an old fashioned analog meat therm.

Yes reheat tomorrow.

We are serving tomorrow afternoon so no sweat there. We're all going out and then meeting back up at my place for early dinner.

Thanks a bunch. Much, much appreciated!


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> So I take it you got the Mav working?
> 
> I would finish the cook then rest it (if you were planning on that) then fridge it. I assume you were planning on a reheat anyway?
> 
> ...


Good to know Gary, thank you. This cut came from Western Meats butcher shop. It was an 8 lb'r but he cut it down for 6 lbs for my wife.


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## bryce (Jul 20, 2012)

Bryce said:


> Here's the bummer. I got the smoker probe working very well. Unfortunately i stuck the meat probe into the meat and it instantly read a HHH error which i believe is a bad probe right out of the box. So now i'm sitting here using an old fashioned analog meat therm.
> 
> Yes reheat tomorrow.
> 
> ...


Good news. I got the meat probe to work. Showing an IT of 171 now 9 hrs into it. I'm wrapping with foil now to trying bring the IT up. I think its time.


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## chef jimmyj (Jul 20, 2012)

The Meat was not Injected it was therefore intact muscle. Even at a Low Smoker temp of 160*F the surface Bacteria will have been killed. Get the Pork up to Pulling Temp, pull it and cool it ASAP then reheat to a minimum of 165*F and Enjoy your Party!...JJ


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## bryce (Jul 21, 2012)

Chef JimmyJ said:


> The Meat was not Injected it was therefore intact muscle. Even at a Low Smoker temp of 160*F the surface Bacteria will have been killed. Get the Pork up to Pulling Temp, pull it and cool it ASAP then reheat to a minimum of 165*F and Enjoy your Party!...JJ


Chef Jimmy, thank you for taking time to read this thread. Your advice is highly valued. The shoulder is now foiled and the IT is 181 (very slowly increasing.) I will remove from smoker at 200f, cool (fridge?), pull it, then reheat tomorrow for the party.

I take it you're suggesting no rest time?

Thanks!


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## pops6927 (Jul 21, 2012)

You're good to go.  I concur with Chef Jimmy J.  It will rest overnight as the internal temp comes down via refrigeration;  heat it back up to 165° or greater to serve and enjoy a wonderful meal!


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## austinl (Jul 21, 2012)

Time and time again on here there are posts relating to defective thermometers.  I'm sure everyone would agree it is 110% worth spending the money on some good ones from the get-go.  When I purchased my latest smoker I already had some calibrated Ashcroft brand industrial thermometers purchased and ready to replace the factory ones before one piece of wood went in it.  I check them frequently against an electronic one that is much easier to verify it's accuracy and they have been instrumental in making the cooking process more pleasant by eliminating the guess-work but also in getting to know how to regulate the fire in a new smoker to maintain the cooking temperature I intended.


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## bryce (Jul 21, 2012)

Pops6927 said:


> You're good to go.  I concur with Chef Jimmy J.  It will rest overnight as the internal temp comes down via refrigeration;  heat it back up to 165° or greater to serve and enjoy a wonderful meal!



Thank you Pops, much appreciate. We let it sit in the fridge for a while last night, then pulled it. It was definitley a late night!

Have a good day.

Bryce


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## bryce (Jul 23, 2012)

For what it's worth, we did end up eating this and it was pretty good. Not the best butt we've done however it was still pretty good. It was the largest one we've smoked. We had several things not going for us during this smoke but dropping it straight from the fridge to the smoker was the root cause of low temp in addition to way too much water in the pan. Was a good learning lesson for my wife as she was manning this while i was a work. She did great!

Overall i definitely prefer smaller sized butts...4 to 5 lbs is perfect.

Thank you for everyones help and comments. We really appreciate it.

Bryce


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