Are we going to get sick and die?

[charlietuna54]

I put on 3  - 7#  Pork Butts at 5:30 this morning. It is now 9:30. The internal on the butts are at 133. I know it is recommended we get to 140 in 4 hours. This is close but not quite there. I know what caused the problem. After I put them on I went back to bed for a couple of hours. The chamber temp had dropped to 195 when I woke up. Got it back up to 245 which is where it is now. I think the 140- in 4 is a guideline and not a drop dead rule. At least I am hoping so. Any suggestions? I would hate to have to throw these out but I also would hate to get sick...

 

[fpnmf]

Originally Posted by charlietuna54

If you got the temp back up you oughta be just fine..I would not consider tossing them...

I have an eleven pound standing rib in the WSM today and it wont make it to 140..it's coming out at 135...

  Craig

 

[daveomak]

charlie, morning....   Like Craig said, you are OK....  "Whole muscle meat" hunks are considered "sterile" in the interior of the muscle...  The outer portion has bacteria on it but becomes "dead" after a bit in the smoker at high temps...  That is why you can cook a roast to rare and it is still safe to eat....   

That condition does not apply when you poke the meat and insert surface bacteria into the center of the muscle...  Inserting a temp probe should be done after a couple of hours into the cook to kill all the surface bacteria....   That is the way we recommend to do things for an added safety measure... Sterilize the therm probe tip also..... You never know what is on the surface of the meat or the temp probe tip....

Dave

 

[charlietuna54]

Thanks Craig and Dave -  I ended up smoking all 3 of the pork butts (Put Jeff's finishing sauce on the pulled pork)... 4 slabs of Ribs and a pre-cooked ham.... We had about 45 people here. I had several telling me I needed to open up a restaraunt... (No way will that ever happen).

I appreciate you guys remoning the fear I was having. This is the greatest WebBoard. I have learned a lot.