Reheat Q's

[jmusser]

Hey all, looking for some advice. Doing a meal for homeless encampment this week with already cooked pulled pork and green beans that need to be reheated. Was thinking reheat at home in sous vide. I have school and then serving dinner. Gonna have wife toss in the sous vide. Vac sealed beans and pulled pork(Fridge temp). Also have fruit cups and hot dogs on the Blackstone too.

Thoughts on temp and time for pork or beans? Figured 10# pork and two big cans o great beans.

Thanks in advance,
Jarod

 

[kruizer]

I would warm the food to a comfortable eating temp and then place in a Cambro type carrier for delivery.

 

[Wurstmeister]

Your biggest issue is getting and keeping your food out of the "danger zone", 41°F.-135°F. Safe internal temp for pork, beans, processed foods is 165°F.

Bring your foods to their safe IT (165°F) Then as kruizer said, put it in a Cambro type carrier. This will also help keep the food warm (>135°F) in transit as well.

• Bring either your sous vide machine or a sizeable stove-top pot of water up to 165°F.
• Place the vacuum bags filled with pork (and the beans) into the machine/pot.
• Let the bags sit in the hot water bath for 45 minutes per inch of the thickness of the contents.
• If you are reheating your stored pork from frozen, leave it in there for an additional 30 minutes.
• You don’t need to worry about adding additional moisture because the bag is sealed and sous vide uses indirect heat to reheat your meat.

How to Reheat Pulled Pork - Keeping it Moist and Delicious (foodfirefriends.com)
John

 

[Hamdrew]

JJ said it.

I would simply toss the heated up vac bags and heated water in an igloo cooler. If then wrapped with some towels, it should only lose a couple degrees per hour. That's consistent enough that it is an understood standard in homebrewing.

 

[jmusser]

Thanks everyone for the input. I ended up sous vide @ 165 in my classroom at school for 1.5 hrs. kept in water. Drove home and started sous vide back up. Loaded truck and left in water. Got to camp and fired up generator to turn on sous vide and crockpot while I made the rounds to announce and set up. Worked perfect. Beans in crockpot in batches. Pulled pork in foil pan in foil pan with a little water on one side of the Blackstone. Cooked hot dogs on the other.

Was a lot of work solo but in an hour I served 10# pulled pork, 54 hot dogs, 72 buns, 36 fruit cups, 64 waters and 48 servings of green beans. I was rolling!!! Was told to plan for 40 people. Glad I brought extras and went through every bit of food I had. Could have served more for sure.

Super appreciative people. No one showed the day before so most hadn't eaten in days. When school is over I plan to do a few more lunches. Maybe just sack lunches and such.

Thanks all!

 

[jmusser]

I would warm the food to a comfortable eating temp and then place in a Cambro type carrier for delivery.

Those look really nice. Maybe in the future. Would really make keeping different things warm until serving time.

 

[chopsaw]

Super appreciative people. No one showed the day before so most hadn't eaten in days. When school is over I plan to do a few more lunches. Maybe just sack lunches and such.

Good on you for helping out . Serve and eat is better than give and leave .

 

[Wurstmeister]

Glad it all worked out for you and you took the time to stay and serve the meal. That means a lot to the folks you helped.

Take a look at the insulation bag like the one in the Amazon link below to carry your meal pans. I use my bag to transport foods as well as products from the stores that need to be cooled (packed in a bag of ice). Plus it's good for family picnics/outings and is not overly expensive -~$45/50 and free shipping with Prime. There are different sizes available as well

And since you have a generator or power source, consider adding 1 or 2 inexpensive pressure cooker(s) to your inventory. They are multiuse - cook/reheat, transport, reheat/serve without a lot of fuss, plus usable at home as well. I use my two pressure cookers (one is an Air Fryer/crisper)to carry the bulk of my issues. Saves time and food exposure. Plus you can keep the food pans warm in the carrier and fill the pots as needed.
John

Amazon.com: BlueVoy Insulated Food Delivery Bag – Premium Large Commercial Catering Bag for Food Transport - Hot and Cold Thermal Insulated Food Carrier with YKK No Snag Zippers – Ultra Durable Polyester Material: Kitchen & Dinin

 

[Hamdrew]

Super appreciative people. No one showed the day before so most hadn't eaten in days. When school is over I plan to do a few more lunches. Maybe just sack lunches and such.

Thanks all!

I'm sure they were appreciative, I know I'd have been. Lots of shelters have okay food, but that requires them to be in that setting (and follow rules), and a lot of the free meals like you provided are something like what I call American goulash- a bunch of cans and pasta in a pot, maybe some beef if they're lucky.

Meaning, your BBQ may have gotten people to eat that otherwise wouldn't have, and that is pretty cool. Kudos