Food safety

[goodysmeat]

I am new to smoking and I have been reading all over the forum after my first smoke and have ran across the food probe and injecting part of these threads and just want to make sure I am reading right so no one gets hurt from my cooking.... I injected my first loin I did and warmed the smoker up with my meat probe and my smoker probe hooked to my maverick so I could test it out for my first run I got the smoker to 250 and let it cycle a few times. The night before I had injected my loin and put some dry seasoning on the outside and set it in the fridge over night... I put the loin on a rack and stuck my meat probe in shut the door and let it go to an IT of 145... I now know I shoulda let it go to 165 from what I was told... Now to my questions how do you monitor a smaller piece of meat before putting your probe in at 140 like I was reading? Seems pointless to even have a probe if your only gonna use it from 140-165 and from what ive read is everybody uses a probe on here and I just don't know what the common practice on this is?? And is injecting even worth it if I have to leave it in their for the extra time where it could possibly dry out?? Thanks in advance for any responses

 

[bama bbq]

Folks here advise against putting the probe in until the surface of the meat is above 140*F (not internal temp). This happens fairly quickly. The thought is pathogens on the surface can be pushed into the meat. Fair enough.

Because I also think that the wait is pointless, I always clean my meat probe with an oxygen cleaner (PBW) and wipe it with a Star San solution (I'm a home brewer) and insert it when I put the meat on. Star San lowers the Ph of cells to kill them. But it doesn't work on all cells. Sodium Hypochloride would probably be better because it ruptures cells but I don't want bleach in my food.

I think the standard for whole muscle pork has been lowered by the Feds. 160*F was the old standard. I can't recall if it was changed to 140 or 145*F. I usually go 150*F on solid muscle and 165*F on ground pork products.

I don't inject but that's because it's messy. No other reason. If I did I would do it with a clear conscience using a cleaned and sanitized needle.

Others may disagree and that's cool, too.

 

[goodysmeat]

What are these sanitizers that you use and where do ya get them?

 

[bama bbq]

What are these sanitizers that you use and where do ya get them?

I buy them at my local home brew store. But only because i am a home brewer if i wasn't i would not make a special purchase. If I was not a home brewer I'd probably just clean the probe with soap and water and wipe with an alcohol swab. If it's good enough to stick a needle in you it ought to be good enough to stick it in a piece of food.

Allied Kenco sells probe wipes. $7.43 gets a tube of 70.

 

[gary s]

  Good afternoon and welcome to the forum, from another cloudy and cool day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.  

Gary

 

[hamrhead1971]

Welcome from Louisiana. You will find a wealth of knowledge here from members who are happy to share it. Don't hesitate to ask questions and take advantage of the search bar.

 

[goodysmeat]

Thanks bama, lots of great and helpful info... Now to decide what I want to do next is the issue.... I'm off work till the 5th of January so I am wanting to try my hand at some CB with some maple flavor added to pops brine and maybe a few other things on the smoker!! Once again thanks for the info

 

[bama bbq]

Thanks bama, lots of great and helpful info... Now to decide what I want to do next is the issue.... I'm off work till the 5th of January so I am wanting to try my hand at some CB with some maple flavor added to pops brine and maybe a few other things on the smoker!! Once again thanks for the info

You can't go wrong with Pop's brine. The CB will be awesome.

 

[goodysmeat]

Just had to order my itsta cure #1 guess they don't sell it at stores bc It can be harmful if not used right... Just picked up two 7.5 lb pork loins on sale at SAMs for 1.99 a lb and will be making one into CB I plan on cutting it into half and brine of 10 days injecting inside once I get my insta cure... Am I on the right track?

I also scored two 2 gallon icing buckets from the bakery with two good sealing lids with a sealing ring inside the lids...

 

[themule69]

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David