Is the Pulled Pork Ruined? Can I salvage it?


 
J

John Groove

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Tried to make pulled pork in the oven.

I didn't know that my oven had a 12-hour automatic shut-off setting by default.

I had 7lbs pork butt in the oven over night. When I woke up, the oven had been off for nearly 3 hours.

The meat has cooled down by now. I don't know if it ever reached the necessary temperature.

I was planning to keep it in the oven for 16-18 hours.

Can it be salvaged? Can I bring it back to temperature at this point?

Or should I just pull the meat and reheat it somehow?
 
Hummm, another hour has passed since you posted so you have probably decided what you are going to do.
Depending on weight/oven temp, the internal temperature was probably around 160 after 12 hours, I have no idea what it would fall to after sitting in the oven for 3 hours.
I would probably cook it at 325 till the IT gets >160 and depending on your timeline for completion either stay at 325 or lower it as you see fit.
The germs get killed at 160ish (lower with extended duration) so you should be fine in that regard.
You will probably need 190-210 IT for it to be tender, if it's a bone in butt the blade bone will easily pull out when it's done.
 
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As long as the internal temp did not fall under 140, it should be fine. I sometimes warm up the oven, and turn it off then use it like some use a cooler to allow the meat to rest.
 
The IT did fall below 140.

I put it back in the oven at 225F an hour ago. IT is currently 100F.

I am not sure whether to keep it at 225F or increase to 325F as Charles suggested above.

I am concerned about it drying out.

Bill, what's the concern with falling below 140F?
 
Better safe than sorry. I always err on the side of caution.

I'd prefer to throw it out than be sick. Sucks to throw money away, but a visit to the doctor will cost more.
 
I would turn the heat up, cook to 190 or better, and pull it. I bet that short time with no heat did not cause problems. The exterior, exposed to critters, was probably still warm. But I am a gambler.
 
A sealed oven works just like an insulated cooler for holding , so 12 hrs at what oven temp- is the question?. A 7lb butt for 16-18 hrs is really low & slow for a insulated indoor appliance.

Tim
 
Not knowing, I would check to see how tender it is. I suspect that it can't yet be pulled. So, I would wrap the butt in aluminum foil with a little apple juice and start cooking it until it hit's about 200 degrees internal. After would I would let it rest about 1/2 hour, and then pull it. It should be OK.
 
If it fell well below 140° and bacteria did start to grow, then how is it much different than when you put a raw piece of meat on? It wasn't long enough to go rotten. Just put it back on and cook it like normal. Any bacteria will die well before that butt reaches 190°-200°.
 
Since you do not know how long it went into the "Danger Zone", you should be better to be safe than sorry and toss it.
 
not sure if it's safe or not, but a family friend (Dad's army buddy's wife) died from food poisoning a few years ago. Not a laughing matter. I'd like to hear the science behind the safety of this to be sure, because from my understanding raw meat stays safe due to spoilage bacteria out-competing the pathogens, so maybe if it spends time in the danger zone the pathogens multiply to dangerous levels. Just a WAG on my part butttttttt
 
John Groove said:
Tried to make pulled pork in the oven.
I didn't know that my oven had a 12-hour automatic shut-off setting by default.
I had 7lbs pork butt in the oven over night. When I woke up, the oven had been off for nearly 3 hours.
The meat has cooled down by now. I don't know if it ever reached the necessary temperature.
I was planning to keep it in the oven for 16-18 hours.
Can it be salvaged? Can I bring it back to temperature at this point?
Or should I just pull the meat and reheat it somehow?
Click to expand...

I was wondering how this turned out too.
 
Assuming that the door on the oven was not opened I cant believe the oven or the butt dropped much in temperature meaning that if the IT was 140 when you first checked it that morning I don't believe it ever got much above that. Did you put a fork in it and give it a twist to see if if was fork tender?
 
I'd eat it. I'm no expert, though. It kind of depends on what temp it got up to and I'd have a hard time believing the temp dropped that much while in the oven. You are also cooking it to a pretty high temp to pull.
 
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