• Enter the TVWB 27th Anniversary Prize Drawing for a chance to win a Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill! Click here to enter!

Resting Your Meat


 

Bob E

TVWBB Member
How long should a foil-wrapped pork butt be allowed to rest after placing it in a cooler? Will the meat stay hot and juicy for a long time? When would be the typical serving time after wrapping the butt with foil? I plan to pull the pork apart with a fork and serve with sauce on the side.
 
at least 30 minutes.
i have left it in the dry cooler for over 3 hours and it was as if only 30 minutes.
 
I usually wrap in foil and then in a bath towel and place in a cooler for 1-2hrs. I've been busy had had in wrapped for as long at 4hrs before and it was still hot and dripping with moisture.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BradP "p-nut":
I usually wrap in foil and then in a bath towel and place in a cooler for 1-2hrs. I've been busy had had in wrapped for as long at 4hrs before and it was still hot and dripping with moisture. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I recently left one sit for 3.5 hours with no problem. I double wrapped it in foil and placed in a preheated cooler (poured in and dumped out scolding hot water), wrapped in towels as well. I left a probe in it to ensure it didn't drop too much prior to pulling.

After the entire exercise, I found that I was stressing over nothing.....probably could've gone another hour or two with no worries. The pork was still almost too hot to pull by hand and it was still quite juicy and flavorful.
 
I second all the above. Another great trick is to heat up some BRICKS in your oven at 500, wrap 'em in foil, wrap the foil in a damp towel (to avoid damaging your cooler) and line the cooler bottom with those. Yeah, adds a lot of carry weight, but I've kept meat in the acceptable range for many, many hours that way...
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> be allowed to rest...? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Is your question being answered?

A steak, after being cooked, should rest for 5-10 minutes. A Prime Rib roast should rest for 20-30 minutes. This allows the liquid to pull back into the meat. Cutting a steak or roast earlier than this and the juices will be running.

Pulled pork is similar in size to a roast, I would wait at least 20 minutes before pulling.

Since pulled pork doesn't have a fixed cooking time, plan to have it finish early and you can put the pork on "hold" until it is time to pull.
 
I usually use an electric heating pad to preheat my cooler. I have held pork buts and briskets for up to 5 hours and they were still so hot I couldn't handle them bare handed.
 

 

Back
Top