Reheating a Butt


 
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Doug Walker

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My Butts (one 6 and one 5 lb'er) finished last night at 10:20. Total cooking time 14 1/2 hours to an internat temp of 201. I ran into a little bit of trouble in the end when I had to leave the WSM unattended for an hour and ran out of coal. That probably added about an hour and 1/2 to the smoking time. I pulled the meat on half of one and mixed in a little bit of a North Carolina Vinager Based sause(mostly Apple Vinager water and some spices.) I haved the other but and wrapped all three pieces in foil then vacumn sealed them. I refridgerated the Pulled Pork as well as the whole pieces. I am reheating the pulled pork in a Crock Pot and have the three halves in the oven at 250. The idea is to see which method of storing yeilds a better tasting reheated meal.

Now for my question. How long should I leave the halves in the oven? Is there an internal temp I should be shooting for? The meat is in the oven, so any responces are welcomed.
 
Interesting experiment. Of course, you're still comparing apples to oranges since you not only stored them differently, but you are reheating them differently, too.

I always just nuke my pulled pork to reheat it, so I have no idea what temp you're shooting for in the oven. I'd hate to see the halves dry out in the oven, that's for sure! Tho if they do, you can always make green chili out of 'em, and that's darn tasty.

Good luck!
 
I would recommend pulling pork before storage, and vacuum-sealing in 2-4 serving pouches. It can be reheated easily by boiling-in-bag or gently microwaving. I would avoid putting any vinegar-based sauce in with the meat before storage, as it will probably make the meat mushy-- a little rub doesn't hurt, of course.
 
Thanks for the Feedback. Reheated, both tasted about the same. The pre-pulled Pork was easier to reheat and didn't dry out at all. I'll be pulling the meat fresh from hear forward. Thanks to everyone on this board, My first Butts were a great success.
 
I cooked 3 seven + lb butts overnight at my hunting camp this weekend and pulled them before dinner. Point #1, after you cook for 19 hrs and then pull 3 butts, you've almost lost your appetite for pulled pork ! The pork does cool down quickly after being pulled so I put it in a large pan, sprayed some apple juice, covered it with foil and let it warm some in a 350 oven. Is there a better way ?

I'm going to freeze some with my FS 800 and plan to reheat by putting the bags in boiling water as suggested. Any thoughts about how long to leave them in the water to heat. Sounds like a simple question, but I've always found those easier to answer.

Paul
 
I ended up using a crockpot to reheat my Pulled Pork. It worked well. I wish I had put a few more Butts on. I didn't get any left overs after this weekend's smoke. Sure could go for some today.
 
I've had great luck with these semi-disposable containers some of the local Chinese take-outs are using. I'll spray some applejuice in one and add some meat, then spray, then more meat. Gently place the cover on but don't seal. Nuke at 50% power for a couple of minutes. Meat is moist, tender and full of sweet smokey flavor! And cleanup is a breezer to boot!!
 
Doug W
Health Dept's require you to reheated food to 160? internal before serving and they give you an hour to do this.
Jim
 
Paul G -
This is what I do to reheat in boiling water:
Put cold water in a pan. Put the frozen
bag in the water and turn on the stove heat. Once
the water is boiling for a few minutes, it's ready!
Works every time.
 
Thanks RD - my reheating project will be pretty large. I'll be smoking, pulling and freezing 2 to 3 butts for a get together at a hunting camp so I'll have quite a few packages. I guess I'll use the same process but larger containers for boiling ?

Paul
 
Hmmmm....most everything I've done (in boiling water) has been small scale (a pound or two). Could be a little different with a huge package
(would the center meat be cold?).

I had 7lbs. in a freezer bag for a
Super Bowl party. I defrosted the bag
in cold water first. Then dumped the whole
package in a slow-cooker and added a 1/2 cup
of water. I heated it up real slow and added
more water occasionally and it turned out great.
Tasted like I just pulled it off the smoker.
 
The trick with vacuum-bagging quantities larger than a few servings worth is to use more bag material to increase surface area to keep the overall thickness of the sealed product to about an inch. This will facilitate faster defrosting, and the only downside is the need for a larger pot if you want to boil-in-bag reheat-- I use a 12" chicken fryer pan.
 
Thanks for the info, it is helpful. As we all know FS bags are not cheap. I'll be cooking one weekend, feezing and then it will be eaten the next weeked. I wonder if there would be a loss in flavor by just freezing in zip lock bags for that week ?

Thanks,

Paul
 
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