Pulled pork Cook on Friday (daytime) for eating on Saturday (evening)

[joeg]

Hello all,

It has been a while since I fired up my Gatorpit as the summer here in AZ was grueling this year. BUT, we are cooling down finally.

I have 2 pork shoulder/butts from Costco I will be serving Saturday at 5pm. I do have a full schedule Friday night and Saturday morning. My thoughts are to put the pork on my smoker early Friday have them off and in my insulated ice chest by 430pm Friday. My question is, can I keep them in the ice chest until just about serving (almost 24 hours) then shred and place on warming pans or should I shred and refrigerate then bring out early for warming?

Any recommendations or advise is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[JckDanls 07]

I think 24 hrs is asking a bit much of the cooler... How low will your oven go ? It can be held there if it gets down to 170 or lower... Lower being preferred...

Otherwise, I beleive you'll need to fridge and reheat...

 

[civilsmoker]

12-14 hours is my personal holding duration in a warming oven (many do more). If it were me, I would pull the bone and some of the excessive fat out once it comes out of the smoker, then I would vac seal them with a little finishing sauce (ie leave them in larger pieces) then just water warm them in the vac bag on Saturday and pull/shred right before serving. You can also warm the pieces in a covered foil boat with the finishing sauce an hour before dinner and then pull and eat.

ps edit. I do this for my daughter but I vac pack them in smaller portions (larger pieces) that she freezes them and then just drops a bag in boiling water when she wants pulled pork.

 

[DougE]

You aren't going to hold them that long in a cooler. A better plan would be to do the cook a day ahead, pull when done, vac seal and reheat in SV or in a pot of water on the stove the day of the event.

 

[jcam222]

I usually do mine the day before, pull and into fridge in pans. Next day I heat up in a turkey roaster and mix in a little liquid gold. People always love it. I've used that method with a couple butts right on up to 28 butts.

 

[coltranem]

I did something similar two weekends ago. I cooked the pork until about 165 F. Then put it in a pan to finish.

Once finished I broke it up slightly making sure there was plenty of meat juice and wrapped in foil.

I reheated it in the oven still wrapped in foil the next day and pulled. It worked out great.