Ok to eat this butt?

[jackmonroe]

Yesterday I was going to smoke a butt to bring with me to a gathering and decided to go ahead and throw two on my uds and pull and freeze one for later. Although they were the same size, the one butt lagged significantly behind the other in internal temp. Eventually time was running short and I decided the one butt wasn't going to be done by the time I had to leave. So, when it hit 175 I took it out of the smoker, wrapped it in foil, put it in a waterproof bag and put it in a cooler with 30 pounds of ice. This was about 6 pm. I figured I'd get it cooled down, put it in the fridge and finish cooking it the next day. The only problem was when I got home about midnight I temped the butt and it was only down to 50 degrees. I went ahead and put it in the fridge. Is it safe to cook this for a few hours at say 250 until it gets to 200? I'm not thrilled that the butt didn't cool faster, but I really don't want to throw away a whole butt. Thoughts?

 

[joeski]

Depending on site, smell and touch...I'd give it a go.  Only six hours and it was sealed. Plus USDA min cook temp is 145 and you were over that.  

 

[jackmonroe]

Looks and smells fine. Here's the thing though when we put a butt in the smoker at 225 the internal temp gets above 40 quickly and doesnt hit 140 for way more than two hours! So it just doesn't seem that big of a deal if the center didn't cool down to 40 quite quickly enough. By the time it finishes cooking it will have spent multiple hours above the 165 mark. Shouldn't that take care of anything bad assuming it grew in the first place?

 

[joeski]

If it was in the cooler no bacteria would be able to grow, and cooking over 145 degrees kills everything else.  Sounds like you did both so give it a try.   

 

[chef jimmyj]

If it has a bone, is not injected or punched full of holes, there is no bacteria below the surface. You fully cooked it killing all bacteria so if it takes 10-12 hours to cool below 40, it does not really matter, still bacteria free and safe to finish the cook the next day.

YES...Getting the finished IT above 140 will kill bacteria in Injected Meat. The problem is if it takes more than about 6 hours, some bacteria can make Toxins that are not necessarily affected by heating, even after the bacteria die. The Toxin can make you sick...JJ

 

[redoctobyr]

 
If it has a bone, is not injected or punched full of holes, there is no bacteria below the surface.

For my own curiosity, can you help me better understand this? I get that if it hasn't been blade-tenderized, for instance, then the bacteria would still be on the surface, rather than being carried below the surface by the penetration of the blades.

But how does the presence of a bone mean that the bacteria would just be on the surface?

 

[chopsaw]

Bone still in , have not been cut into .

 

[chef jimmyj]

Bone in as opposed to Boned-Rolled and Tied where the butcher cut the bone out and through handling spread bacteria to the internal surfaces that held the bone. Once rolled and tied, this bacteria is near dead center...JJ

 

[redoctobyr]

Thank you both, I understand now.

 

[jackmonroe]

So, an update. Just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Put it in the oven and cooked it till it hit 200, a little higher than I normally go, but given the circumstances. .. Let it rest, pulled it. It was juicy and delicious. Ate it Sunday and Monday night for diner and froze the rest for later. 48 hours later, no difficulties, so it appears all is well!