Saving cooked Pulled Pork


 
PeterD

PeterD

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi all,
I'm planning to do my first butt smoke next weekend and I have a number of questions on storing the cooked product. This smoke will just be for my wife and me, and while we both enjoy barbecue, we're not *quite* prepared to devour an entire butt between ourselves in one, two or even three sittings.

Assuming an average butt (which is, what, around 9 pounds?), and a 50% yield, that's still a lot of leftover oinkybits after a typical adult-portion gets et for dinner by each of us.

How would you tackle this situation (short of inviting others over to devour the whole thing)? Should I pull the whole butt and food-saver it as one large quantity, food-saver it in 6-ounce servings (this was my original thought), slice off about 2 servings'-worth from the cooked butt, pull it for supper and food-saver the entire un-pulled section whole or maybe something else?

How long will food-savered pulled pork stay fresh (and safe) in the fridge before it needs to be frozen? How long can it stay in the freezer (I doubt this will be an issue) and if frozen, can the food-saver bag go directly into boiling water for re-heating or would it have to go back to fridge-temperatures for a day or so before?

Finally, what is the best practice for re-heating? When I food saver ribs they go in the refrigerator for a few days, then I bring a dutch oven full of water to a rolling boil, drop the stove down to about 40% of full and immerse the bag containing the stored half-rack of ribs for about 20 minutes. They always seem sorta mushy when i do this and I'm trying to avoid this in future leftover-reheats.

Thanks to all in advance.
 
I would freeze it into portion sized servings, rather than in one big bag. I prefer to let the bag thaw in the fridge, boil water, take it off the burner, drop the bag in, cover and let it warm to serving temperature.
 
I agree w/Dave. I smoked about 12 lbs. of Boston butt at the end of last summer. Pulled it all and froze 1/2 for when we had company and then froze the rest into serving size portions for 5, my wife and I and a 16 yr. old boy! Worked great and truthfully just had the last pkg. about 3 weeks ago and except for the bark there was no difference in terms of texture or flavor. The Foodsaver is great in this situation.
 
First off, inviting others over to share in your BBQ is a great way to handle the "problem". However, assuming it's just you and the wife, pull it all and after it cools, pack it in food saver bags. I pack in one pound and 1/2 pound packages.

When it's time to eat, I boil it until hot. Just drop the sealed bag into cold water and bring the pan to a boil. It will be done in about 10 minutes.

It terms of how long it will last - it will last easily a year. You should have eaten it all by then.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Eric Michaud:
Just make sure the pork you put in bags is spread thinly, not 1 big clump. 1 gallon bags work well. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We use roll-fed "bags" that we cut to whatever size is necessary, but yeah, spread thinly would make sense.
 
I break mine up into quart freezer bags (with the plan of eating them within a month or less)........for winter storage, I vacuum seal into small portions.

Lately, I've been stir frying left over PP with Vidalia onions (sometimes carrots, sometimes broccoli) with a little BBQ sauce and a dash of mustard....YUM!! I get the onions and veggies about 3/4 done before adding the PP since I'm just reheating the pork........creates a tasty meal in less than 10 minutes.
 
Another trick is to add a packet of taco mix, those onions and maybe some green peppers and anything else you have around. Works great with taco shells or tortillas.
 
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