Save my butt(s)!


 
J

Jack Henry

TVWBB Member
Put two 7# buttts on last night around 9pm. Settled in between 225-240, so I went to bed. At 3, ET 73 went off telling me the WSM had dropped below 200. Meat was at 170. Stirred the coals, everything appeared to be ok, at least enough left to hold me for a few more hours.

Here's the kicker: forgot to reset the alarm.

At 6:30 one of my kids woke me up (normally I'd be mad, but he may have saved my smoke, I don't know).

Grill was at 120. Meat had dropped to 162. I have no idea how long it had been at those temps, sometime between 3:30 and 6:30.

So, just refilled the chamber, quickly got some new coals going and started over.

Test the meat with the therma just to be sure and, obviously, it was very tough.

Can this be salvaged? A few more hours to done and hopefully it'll start getting tender?

Thanks.
 
Jack,open your vents all the way. Not sure what time you plan to serve,but I'd do the rest of the cook as a high heat. However,if you have time,let it go as low and slow. Let us know how things turn out.
 
thanks fellas. Planning to serve around 3. Hoped to have it ready around noon or 1. I'll give it another couple of hours and then see where I am (at higher heat than normal).

May consider wrapping if it is not getting anywhere....
 
Also, curious if anyone thinks a 10-12 degree dip in temp of the meat (over however long it was) could impact the end product? Assuming of course that I cook it the rest of the way to design.

Bacteria? (don't think so as even when it dipped it was still in "kill" range I believe. Also I'll be taking it to close to 200).

Tenderness? The meat probably always feels tough as **** at 160, I've never checked, but it does have me a bit concerned.

Any thing else?

Happy smoke day to all!
 
On the 10-12 degree dip question: No, no impact, assuming you then cook till tender.

On bacteria: Not an issue. The meat was effectively pasteurized. Though the surface of the meat likely dropped to the point where growth of some pathogens could occur (50?C, B. cereus and C.perfringens, especially) it's not likely that either, if originally present, survived the cooking process before the tenp drop occurred.

Tenderness: The meat at 160? would be tasty thinly sliced, as one might do for a loin roast, but would have substantial fat around the muscles; it would not be pullable.
 
Thanks again all. "best ever" were a few of the comments. Nice warm up session. Looking forward to Smoke Day tomorrow!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">"best ever" were a few of the comments </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

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