Holding whole Pork Butts for around 7-9 hours


 
N

Nathan FA

TVWBB Member
I am smoking 2 butts and 2 briskets for a family get together tomorrow. I can't cook them all at the same time so my plan is to start pork around noon today with the goal to have it done sometime around 5-6 am tomorrow, at that point I plan to do the briskets using a high heat method. The plan would be for them to be done around Noon. I have an hour and a half drive and diner is served at 3pm. My question is what is the best way to keep the pork while the brisket cooks and for the trip to the get together. I have a cooler for transporting everything, I know the briskets will be fine for the 2-3 hours in the cooler but was not sure on the Pork shoulder. How should I store them for the 7-9 hours they will be off the cooker?

Any tips would be appreciated
 
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Have you considered starting the pork around midnight and finishing in the oven so the brisket can go on?
I think 7-9 hours will be pushing it for hot holding.
 
Why not pull the BB's off the heat, hold for an hour or so, pull them apart and cool quickly. Then reheat?
 
Wrap tightly after pulling and put in a Coleman electric cooler set on heat,pull when you arrive at the party,if no Coleman,wrap in foil and set oven as low as it will go and keep it 140 or so,throw in cooler with brisket and pull when you arrive,hope it turns out great no matter what method you choose
 
Greg Powers said:
Have you considered starting the pork around midnight and finishing in the oven so the brisket can go on?
I think 7-9 hours will be pushing it for hot holding.
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That's a good idea......however they are already on the smoker. I should have started the Butts around 9 tonight then woke up around 6 and transferred them to the oven and started the briskets.

I have had them take as long as 15 hours in the past cooking at 225, they ended up going on around 1:30pm so they "should" be done around 4-5am. I will probably just let them cool for an hour like Jeff said and pull and refrigerate the meat. We can heat in a crock pot when it's time to serve. The briskets should be done around Noon so they can simply go in the cooler to rest until we eat around 3.

Would it be okay to wrap the pork when its at like 185 and put them in the oven that's set to say 200 to let it finish really slowly or would dry them out? I normally cook butts to 195
 
MikeCantell said:
Wrap tightly after pulling and put in a Coleman electric cooler set on heat,pull when you arrive at the party,if no Coleman,wrap in foil and set oven as low as it will go and keep it 140 or so,throw in cooler with brisket and pull when you arrive,hope it turns out great no matter what method you choose
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I thought about this but was not sure if it would dry it out. If I did keep it at temp in the oven then stuck it in the cooler how long is BBQ normally safe in the cooler, If everything goes as planned the brisket and maybe pork will be in the cooler for 3 hours. If needed I could transfer them to an oven when I arrive at the get together, they would be in the cooler for around 2 hours during the drive that way.
 
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JeffB said:
Why not pull the BB's off the heat, hold for an hour or so, pull them apart and cool quickly. Then reheat?
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I would agree.
And yes you can pull them early and finish in the oven ( foiled)
Best of luck and hope everything comes out perfect!

Tim
 
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So at 5:30 when I woke up this morning the pork was still at 180(I think I ran it a bit cool, probably spent most of the night around 220-230). I finished trimming the brisket then pulled the pork off and wrapped it tight and stuck it in the oven at 235 that was maybe 6:30. The pork hit temp of 195 around 9am so I moved it to a warming drawer that's set to 140. At 9:30 the brisket hit 170 so I wrapped it and it's finishing in the oven, should take 2-3 hours. My goal is to leave by 12:30 so hopefully its done by 12. At Noon everything will go in the cooler, it will be in there for 3 hours until we eat at 3. Crossing fingers everything turns out.
 
That works out! I wish I had a warming drawer. The Colman Cooler thing sounds interesting but it seems like it would get too hot. I wonder if you could put a PHD controller on it.
 
Everything came out well, people were happy with both the pork and brisket. Everything was still to hot to handle with bare hands at around 3:30. The second brisket didn't get sliced until around 5 and it was still over 150 at that point just setting in the cooler.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and tips

BBQ1.jpg


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