Long heated hold for pork butts?

[JeffShoaf]

The current trend for beef brisket is to do a long (20+ hours) hold at 150°-160°. It seems that several of the highly-rated brisket joints on Texas are doing this. Anyone tried it with pork butts?

 

[chilerelleno]

Not I.
Neither my family nor myself could wait that long.
If I tried to hold one for dinner the next night it'd get slowly picked apart by greedy hands.

 

[normanaj]

I'm with chile on this one.Just can't wait that long.

 

[jcam222]

Pork butt is a much more fatty meat overall and different than brisket. I do about 1-2 hour hold but see no reason to hold longer for butt.

 

[JLeonard]

Ive held for a few hours due to travel time and it was still plenty hot towel wrapped and in a cooler. But there is no way one would last that long just hanging out at the house! Hard enough just getting through a rest on the meat.

Jim

 

[JeffShoaf]

Thanks for the replies so far - even tho they don't help me! :-)

I'm looking for a way to hold 3 or 4 butts overnight for larger gatherings; when I've done it in the past, I smoked the butts overnight and held in a cooler until meal time. I usually run at 200° in case I get a turbo butt that doesn't stall and to limit fuel consumption, and then adjust the temp up when I get up in the morning based on butt temp.

My insulated gravity feed will run all night with the Thermoworks Signals and Bellows but I don't sleep well since I'm keeping an ear out for an alert. I've had to get up at 2 AM to unclog a charcoal bridge. I usually grill some chicken and do other prep work that can't be done ahead of time so I'm exhausted by dinner time and don't enjoy the company as much as I'd like. If I could smoke a night earlier and hold for 24+ hours until meal time, I could get a good night's sleep and hopefully be ready to socialize.

 

[TNJAKE]

Why not pull it when it's finished the put in fridge overnight. Reheat before the get together

 

[DougE]

This doesn't answer your question either, but when I have a planned event where pork BBQ is on the menu, I smoke and pull ahead of time. Then vac seal and reheat in sous vide or boiling water the day of the event. Pork BBQ does well with this method and nobody will know it isn't fresh off the smoker. I haven't done an all nighter in a lot of years. I just do the smoking ahead of time when it's convenient. Less stress on me and no real difference in the outcome.

 

[chopsaw]

Why not pull it when it's finished the put in fridge overnight. Reheat before the get together

I did just that , then drove them to TN . in vac sealed bags . Reheated on the stove in a pot of water .

 

[JeffShoaf]

Then I have to figure out a way to reheat and figure out that timing. I'm manning the big grill flipping chicken during the time I assume would be the time for reheating. I have a couple of attendees I trust to pull the butts while I grill, although last year my niece's fiance with food service experience did it and I didn't really like the result - he chunked 2 and sliced 2 when I really wanted 2 pulled and 2 chopped. It was still tasty tho.

I considered the pulling, packing, and reheating via sous vide but that's adding a bunch of work to the process and I'm doing all that by myself - one butt wouldn't be bad but four?

 

[TNJAKE]

I wouldn't recommend trying something you've never done before, wrecking the butts then not having any at all lol. That's me though

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

I'm with others who favor vac sealing, and reheating later in a pot of hot water. Could you not do the pork butt ahead of time, vac seal, throw it in the reefer/freezer, and warm it up on serving day? Pork butt is wonderful in that you can freeze it, and re-heat and it still tastes just like the day you smoked it. Also, and I may be in the minority here, but I have absolutely no problem with cold pulled pork sammies!

 

[JeffShoaf]

I wouldn't recommend trying something you've never done before, wrecking the butts then not having any at all lol. That's me though

it's months before the gathering - just doing research. I'm hunting for a cheap electric smoker to use for holds and a few other ideas and will definitely test any new methods ahead of time.

 

[JeffShoaf]

I'm with others who favor vac sealing, and reheating later in a pot of hot water. Could you not do the pork butt ahead of time, vac seal, throw it in the reefer/freezer, and warm it up on serving day? Pork butt is wonderful in that you can freeze it, and re-heat and it still tastes just like the day you smoked it. Also, and I may be in the minority here, but I have absolutely no problem with cold pulled pork sammies!

If it was only one butt, I'd consider this method but I'm looking at either 3 - 4 butts or 2 butts and a brisket or 2. Plus I'll be grilling chicken when I'd need to be reheating butts.

 

[Hockeydudde]

My last 4 pork bits have been smoked the day before and help in the oven set to 150 (our oven has a warm setting that can be set between 145 and 190). Usually held till lunch or dinner, so 16 to 22 hour hold.
They come out great for me and it's so much lower stress than trying to get it done in time for dinner.

When you wake up to the smell of pulled pork in the oven, it's VERY hard not to chow down for breakfast.

 

[gmc2003]

it's months before the gathering - just doing research. I'm hunting for a cheap electric smoker to use for holds and a few other ideas and will definitely test any new methods ahead of time.

Murphy's law says that that cheap electric smoker will fail at the most inopportune time.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I put shoulder butts in a cooler with a towel overnight all the time. Usually it’s in a foil tray covered with foil. I let it cool about 20 minutes before the cooler treatment. It’s always the perfect temp for pulling in the morning. I find if I pull it too soon the meat is much drier than if I let it rest. I’ve not done the heated rest because this method has been foolproof for me.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I've only ever held a brisket that long. I used an electric turkey roaster to do it. I've never tried it with a pork butt. I think it would work fine, but probably not for 4. The issue you might run into is that pork is supposedly more susceptible to oxidizing than beef during that long hold but wrapped up tightly it might be fine.

 

[JeffShoaf]

Yeah, I tested my oven and it hits over 200° when using the warm mode - it doesn't let me adjust the temp. The lowest it'll go on bake and roast modes is 170° with less temp swing than the warm mode. I considered doing a long hold butt test using it but the oven isn't conveniently located to use for the big events and, regardless of the result, wouldn't tell me what to expect with a long hold at 150°.

My last 4 pork bits have been smoked the day before and help in the oven set to 150 (our oven has a warm setting that can be set between 145 and 190). Usually held till lunch or dinner, so 16 to 22 hour hold.
They come out great for me and it's so much lower stress than trying to get it done in time for dinner.

When you wake up to the smell of pulled pork in the oven, it's VERY hard not to chow down for breakfast.

 

[JeffShoaf]

I put shoulder butts in a cooler with a towel overnight all the time. Usually it’s in a foil tray covered with foil. I let it cool about 20 minutes before the cooler treatment. It’s always the perfect temp for pulling in the morning. I find if I pull it too soon the meat is much drier than if I let it rest. I’ve not done the heated rest because this method has been foolproof for me.

Have you monitored the temp to make sure you stay above 140°? Depending on when the butts are done, I'm looking at 24+ hours. I know you can drop below 140° for 4 hours and still be safe but it'll be out for an hour or so for the meal. If I use an electric smoker as a holding oven, if also be able to put 1/2 of the pig back into hold after pulling while the 1st 1/2 is out on the serving line.