Delayed gratification pork butt

[otis857]

Greetings all,

   I volunteered to smoke a Pork Butt for a dinner party this Saturday nite. Problem is that Im doing the smoke on Friday. Im on the board at our family's summer cabin community and we have a board meeting Saturday afternoon. I'll have to smoke it here and take it up there, about 150 miles away. Question is, How do I keep that clean fresh taste on my butt (HA)

. WHat do you guys think would be the best way to preserve the butt for serving about 24 hours after the smoking is done? Obviously I will have to let it cool, take it up there and reheat it. Any tips for keeping it as good as it would be if I served it on the same day?

 

[SmokinAl]

I would pull it when it's done & reheat it in a steamer pot, or crock pot. Save the drippings, I like to put beef broth & onions in the drip pan, defat and add them to the PP when you pull it, so if you have leftover au jus use that in the steamer pot with water. It should taste like you just pulled it out of the smoker.

 

[otis857]

Would that be better than waiting to pull it after reheating it the next day?

 

[rbranstner]

Would that be better than waiting to pull it after reheating it the next day?

Yea I would suggest doing that. Pull it the day of the cook and reheat it with your juices and it will be great.

 

[otis857]

Ok, I'll go that route. I bought the wife a new high dollar camera, so I'll try to get a Q view up too.

 

[fpnmf]

Ummmmmmmmm...yeah..What Al said...yeah..that's the ticket!!

  Craig

 

[deannc]

I've done a couple parties now and the crock pots have worked out great!  After you've smoke and rested the butt, save the juices if you can so you can add it back the next day.  Put your juice in the fridge and scrap the fat off the top the next morning.  The next day when you load the crock pot mix back in the juices you've saved from the cook or you can use water and/or apple juice.  I haven't really measured but maybe about a 1/2 cup per pound to keep it moist.  I've found during the warm up period ensure you stir the meat to keep it from drying out and to help speed up the warming process.  Good luck!

 

[meateater]

Call in sick!

 

[realtorterry]

I'll wait here for the qview:icon_biggrin:

 

[otis857]

Got a 9 lb butt in the Fridge thawing now. I know most people have said brining isnt necessary for a pork butt, but plenty of people do, so Im gonna give it a try and see how it comes out. The recipe Im using is the one I found on www.Smokingpit.com. SInce Im a relative newb to low & slow, I heard about that site, which has some excellent recipes, tips and techniques for novices like myself (I cant reccomend this site enough

 

). The first ones I did were 2 butts with different recipes from the Smokingpit site for comparison sake at a New years party last month. I did the apple juice injected, rubbed with McCormicks sweet & Smokey rub for one butt and the diet Cherry Dr. Pepper injected, rubbed with Jacks Old South Hickory rub for ther other one. Both turned out great, but the hands down winner was the Diet CHerry Dr Pepper injected butt. It had the same juicyness, but the apple juice injected butt had a more mild or subtle flavor, the Dr Pepper butt had a better, more pronounced flavor to the meat without drawing attention to the Dr. Pepper.

Maybe this is more common knowledge than I knew, but my reaction was Whodathunkit.