Question -- how many days ahead can I smoke a pork butt for company?

Bama BBQ said:

I save leftover pulled pork in vacuum seal bags then drop in boiling water to heat up.  Turns out great.  You don't have to have a bazillion dollar vacuum packer either.  I bought the el cheapo hand pump at the grocery store and it works like a charm.

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geerock said:

I happen to like pp after a couple days of rest. Flavors and smoke seem to meld together nicely.

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Smoke Happens said:

You can easily do it a week in advance, no real need to freeze it either. Like geerock said, I actually prefer the taste after a few days rest.

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Cooknhogz said:

I'm always doing large cooks for people and some times there is pork left over. I also vacuum seal and freeze. To reheat I like a crock pot with some of my finishing sauce.

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GoinForBroke said:

fwiw, I see no reason to pull the pork apart the day you smoke it.  Wrap it up and refrigerate for whatever time and reheat.  Pulling/cutting at serving seems to me the more moist way to go. 

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Stanton said:

This is the method that will keep the quality best of what I have seen.  I have put stuff in the fridge in a ziplock bag, but after a few days the quality is degraded.  If you have the ability to vacuum seal the meat, that is what I would do.  The best way to safely do this is to cook, pull and season and let cool to around 140F.  Then bag and seal and drop in an ice bath.  Botulism likes an anaerobic environment (no air; just what you get with vacuum sealing) so if you are freezing a 3 pound brick of pork, it will not cool very fast if you just drop it in the fridge.  Things like to grow between 41F and 140F, so it is best to get it cooled rapidly below this. 

It is better to package in multiple packages with smaller amounts in each than one big package.  The only problem is getting a seal on the first try.  The fat/juices tend to interfere with the home sealers.  You can see when the bag is sealed.  Fuller bags are harder to seal, less full are easier.

When reheating, plan on about 20 minutes in boiling water for a 2 pound package.  It will be moist and tender when it comes out. 

S.

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Chef JimmyJ said:

I could not have said this better! A whole Butt or anything large, takes way too long to cool down, and a long time to reheat with the risk of drying out the meat. Add 5 days in the refer and anything can go wrong. Additionally, because of the way meat proteins and the gelatin that forms in the meat react when a large piece of meat is refrigerated, it takes a higher temp to soften it to pull as easy as it would have the day it was smoked. Again you risk drying the meat before it gets hot enough to pull and serve...JJ

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Stanton said:

I have a food saver for around the house, as well as a heat sealer from sealers unlimited. The food saver is what I use when I cut my own sirloins/ribeyes. The heat sealer is my tool of choice for bbq. $80 gets a nice heat sealer. It doesn't suck down the bags, so long term storage suffers from freezer burn. But it does leave air in the bags ( good for preventing botulism).

Great heating element for nice seals. We packaged over 1500 lbs this way. We bought boil able bags for the que and alway, always, had the best food at he event. My customers would sample everyone and then come to us to buy the food. Why anyone would spend $12 to decide where to buy a $6 sandwich is confusing to me, but we saw it many times. My philosophy was to sell the best product. To the dismay of my depression era mother, I threw away food when it looked too old to sell. But it had my name on it, so I didn't want to sell the typical crap..

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jarjarchef said:

Looks like your meal was a great success!!!!!

You have received a lot of info on processes for the cooling, reheating and storage. It is very important to be aware of the temperatures and how long you are in them. I use and most people use the range of 40-140 for the TDZ (Temperature Danger Zone)(USDA is 41-135). As pointed out bacteria grows best in the TDZ range. When cooling you want to go from 140 to below 40 in less than 6hrs according to the 2009 USDA Guidelines, I try to go a lot faster than that by placing into smaller amounts as suggested. I will actually place in the freezer if i don't have an ice bath handy. When reheating you again want to go as fast as you can through the TDZ, <40 to >165 in <2hrs. Below are my preferred methods:

• For small amounts: In a saute pan with a little finishing sauce and or BBQ sauce. Very quick and effective.
• For medium to large amounts: In a shallow pan with a small amount of finishing sauce covered with plastic wrap then foil in a 325 degrees oven till it reaches 165 degrees. You can add the BBQ sauce after.
• Crock Pot: not really my first choice due to time in the TDZ can be longer than wanted. I will saute and place into the crock pot for hot holding if needed. Others have and continue to get great success from this, just not my first choice.
• Boiling in the bag: Works very well. Need to make sure you have a towel or something to buffer the plastic bag from the bottom of the pan. This method is used in commercial application a lot. I don't do this at home due to not wanting to wait for water to boil, but at work we do this a lot.

If you are going to store your PP either in the fridge or freezer, do not add a finishing sauce to it with a high acid content. This will cause to meat to break down over time and get a mushy texture. I also will intentionally only cook my meat to 195 and allow to rest before pulling. This way it will maintain a better texture in my opinion. I don't like shredded or mushy pork. I like to see the chunks of the bark and pork.

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brgbassmaster said:

I am doing the same thing. My boss is retiring this friday and i want to smoke on wednesday after work a pork shoulder. Question is after you smoke it and pull it do you add the finishing sauce when you reheat for the dinner or do you add finishing sauce right after pulling then reheat everything? This is the first time doing a smoke in advance.

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jarjarchef said:

Looks like your meal was a great success!!!!!

You have received a lot of info on processes for the cooling, reheating and storage. It is very important to be aware of the temperatures and how long you are in them. I use and most people use the range of 40-140 for the TDZ (Temperature Danger Zone)(USDA is 41-135). As pointed out bacteria grows best in the TDZ range. When cooling you want to go from 140 to below 40 in less than 6hrs according to the 2009 USDA Guidelines, I try to go a lot faster than that by placing into smaller amounts as suggested. I will actually place in the freezer if i don't have an ice bath handy. When reheating you again want to go as fast as you can through the TDZ, <40 to >165 in <2hrs. Below are my preferred methods:

• For small amounts: In a saute pan with a little finishing sauce and or BBQ sauce. Very quick and effective.
• For medium to large amounts: In a shallow pan with a small amount of finishing sauce covered with plastic wrap then foil in a 325 degrees oven till it reaches 165 degrees. You can add the BBQ sauce after.
• Crock Pot: not really my first choice due to time in the TDZ can be longer than wanted. I will saute and place into the crock pot for hot holding if needed. Others have and continue to get great success from this, just not my first choice.
• Boiling in the bag: Works very well. Need to make sure you have a towel or something to buffer the plastic bag from the bottom of the pan. This method is used in commercial application a lot. I don't do this at home due to not wanting to wait for water to boil, but at work we do this a lot.

If you are going to store your PP either in the fridge or freezer, do not add a finishing sauce to it with a high acid content. This will cause to meat to break down over time and get a mushy texture. I also will intentionally only cook my meat to 195 and allow to rest before pulling. This way it will maintain a better texture in my opinion. I don't like shredded or mushy pork. I like to see the chunks of the bark and pork.

Click to expand...