my fire went out, is the food still safe?

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hi all - thanks for all your help yesterday. i put 6 game hens & 1 31/2 lb pork butt on around 1pm, thinking the hens would be done around 5 and the butt around 10. we went to a concert & when we came home around 10, the internal temps had gone down from 120 to 97. we put on some coals and relit, & went to bed. this am, the internal temps are 71, the coals cold. i am trying to salvage the meat, heating up some more coals. is it too late for that? how does one keep the fire going, so to speak? what is the minion method? this was my first try on my new bullet. thanks.
 
I'm afraid your meat is no longer safe for consumption. The general rule of thumb is 4 or more hours in a range of 40 - 140 drgrees will cause foodborne bacteria to rise to unsafe levels.

As for your fire, where were your vents? were they open or closed? The Minion Method is here on the site.

It's difficult to tell what went wrong, we need more details of everything you did.
 
Lisa-- I would be afraid of the food and would pitch it--not worth taking a chance, as you have no way of knowing what temp it ever got to.

When I got my WSM, I read the posts on this site for a week or so before trying my first cook. You can learn just about everything about the WSM right here, as well as other aspects of cooking such as food safety.

I started out just going into each of the tabs above and more or less studying them, as they cover the basics and much more.

I would suggest you chalk this cook up to experience and try again with a small amount of meat. Probably just something small that caused the whole thing to go awry--I still mess up sometimes myself and have to hustle back to do something I omitted--have even considered making a checklist.

Don't give up. You'll get it.

Tom
 
Lisa

I agree that you should not try to salvage your meat. It was clearly in the danger zone too long. Reheating will not cure the problem, toxins, that have been created.

I strongly suggest you spend some time on the homepage of this site. Read about the different methods of "firing up" including Minion. You'll never really feel comfortable and enjoy your WSM until you understand and then practice these techniques. You'll get some specific pointers on the forum but you really need that basic, overall understanding and you can't get it on the board unless you've had a lot of other experience.


Paul
 
Sorry about your first cook going awry. /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif If you take the time to check out all the fantastic advice posted on this site, your next cook is bound to go alot more smoothly.

I devoured every word on this site for a few weeks while I was waiting for my birthday to finally roll around so I could get my hands on my WSM, and it really helped (even tho some of my smokes have been pretty wild cuz I was fighting wind and freezing temps).

Fire her up again with the beloved minion method and you'll be smoking like a champ....! Good luck.
 
thanks, guys - you all are awesome. i'm really upset! my vents were partly open. is it normal for the charcoal to burn down or go out?

i do need to study more on this site. one question that has come up since trying my first cook yesterday...if you've got both grills going, and you want to get to the lower grill, to move things around or because it gets done before the above grill meat, you have to take the thing apart to get to it, and lose all your heat. is this correct, and ifc so, how do folks deal with that?

thanks for the link to the minion method, too. i'm gonna check it out. you guys are really the best. i can't believe this web site exists. actually, it was from reading it that made me decide to buy the bullet. i was looking for a way to smoke trout. i'll get the hang of this!

btw, i'm still grilling that food. if i bring up the temps high enough, won't it kill any foodbourne bacteria? i know this is a really dumb question, but what would/could happen if one were to eat it - is it like the runs from hell, vomiting, etc? just wondering if anyone knows. lisa
 
thanks everyone - i just got the replies after i posted my last - so i guess i really need to toss all that food. it looks & smells soooo good! i'll keep you posted on my next try. AFTER i do some serious reading!

tom - we skipped the pizza - just had appetizers and basically drank the rest of our dinner.eek! went to a fantastic celtic fest last night, and i was actually invited to get up on stage & dance the moment we arrived! what a blast!
 
Bacteria does not cause food poisoning-- the toxins they produce as waste do. You can't destroy the toxins with heat.
 
Lisa, now we can't let these guys think that we ladies can't get the best of them on this lil' ol WSM! I do hope, though, that you didn't go ahead with grilling the meats.

You may have found this forum first - this is only a small part of the Virtual Weber Bullet site, though. Just look here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html

These are all step-by-step processes for smoking various meats on the WSM. It's an outstanding resource. I had been smoking for a long time before I got the WSM, but I printed the entire section on the overnight brisket cook that Chris shows there, and had it on a table next to the smoker for reference just to be sure that I took advantage of all the capabilities of this little jewel.

Your waterpan wasn't sitting down on top of the charcoal, was it, rather than on the brackets?

Take the time to study through this website, especially the Minion and the Cooking sections, and I think you'll be pleased. Real barbecue can't be a rushed job, and, though the basics are easy, there is still a learning curve. This site and the WSM make the learning curve much shorter, but the curve is still there, nevertheless.

Give it another shot following one of the step-by-step processes here, and give us back a report.

Keri C, still smokin on Tulsa Time (spares today)
 
you betcha, keri! i'm on my way to those sites! you sound like my kida' gal - i'll make that learning curve & report back! keep smokin'!

a girlie - girl to beat the boys! (but i love ya!)

lisa
 
Lisa, as hard as it was to toss out all that meat, you did the right thing. I (along with most of the other kids in my school) was the victim of food poisoning once.
/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif That was in, I believe, 1959 and I still remember it. (It took place in Marion, NC, not too far from Boone.) You don't want to make that kind of lasting impression on yourself or your family.
 
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