reheating pulled pork in large quantity

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markeli

Smoke Blower
Original poster
OTBS Member
Feb 5, 2006
98
10
Magna, UT
I am doing 140 pounds of pulled pork for a family renunion and the camp ground will not let me set up my smoker in the camp ground so I will have to smoke it ahead of time and then reheat it at the reunion. does anyone have any good ideas on the best way to reheat that much meat?

Mark
 
I would smoke it, pull it, season it (sauce if desired) and put into Cryovac bags.

Fill turkey fryer half filled with water and boil. load up with cryovacced pork and heat. Reserve a small amount of boiling water into cooler. Add heated bags, close cooler. Repeat with more bags of pulled pork until finished. Keep adding to cooler until done.

Have a helper with you to start slicing open bags of pork, adding to big aluminum tray/chafing dish. Cover, light bunsons.

Repeat.

I have not done this, but I'm throwing this out there to forward the discussion.
 
sound better than any idea I have come up with. thats why I am asking for suggestions

Mark
 
Had problems sending it-got an "Invalid Session" message- had to resend so you should have it. Dumb 'puters anyhoo! :P
 
All I can say is WOW, 140 lbs of pulled pork. I did the seal bag in hot water trick, works well and the meat won't dry out.. I did add the finishing sauce and then seal them up .. I take it you have one huge smoker or doing in batches?

Joe
 
Joe, I've seen Mark's unit-and it will hold the full 140 pounds. :shock:
 
I have a home made smoker that is made out of an old fridge and I can cook about 150 pounds of meat ( pork butts ) it is a little tight but there is still room for air and smoke circulation. It is propane fired and thermostaticly controlled I think it works quite well.

Mark
 
I think I seen a pic of it here online... is it a big browm fridge? Kinda wood grain looking? If so I have seen it .. My smoker is all wood or charcoal.. I told my wife we could convert it and add a propane tank and keep the heat more constant but she said no, this is more work and wants to keep it all charcoal or wood. Funny thing, I'm the guy who's doing the smoking and controling the heat so it's more work for me<laugh> Maybe that's her point keeping me busy and out of the house .. laugh ..
 
I have a very related question, and maybe you guys can help me out.

I'm doing 80 lbs of pulled pork next week. It's for a party 2 weeks later, so I was planning on freezing it after I make it, and thawing it out again for the party. I've always had good luck with frozen pulled pork, it seems to freeze and thaw very well.

I was planning on doing one with a homemade bbq sauce, and the other with the finishing sauce I got from this website.

1. Do you guys ever notice a drop in taste, texture, etc after it's frozen (I do like the cryovac idea, for re-heating it, that's brilliant)?

2. Would there be any difference in adding the sauce now and freezing it, compared to thawing it and adding the sauce later?

I'm just looking for oppinions on the subject.

Thanks,
Brett
 
Brett, the use of a FoodSaver for bagging and freezing Pulled Pork is the only way to go as it removes most of the air from the product and reduces the chance for freezer burn. I haven't noticed any drop in the quality or taste of the pork because of freezing.

As for adding the sauce before or after is a personal preference. I like to mix the pork with the sauce before freezing it; that way everything is done and you only have to clean up after yourself just once. That's my plan anyways, but I find myself making more sauce on the day of the get together 'cuz I know folks will want more on their sammiches or they'll want some sauce to take home.
 
Well this is the week of the reunion and I am going to cook the butts in two batches about 70 pounds per batch that way I can handle the shelves to rotate them so I get an even cook on the butts. Wish me luck this is the biggest cook I have tried so far. I will probably put the first batch in tue. night followed right after by batch #2.
 
For our family reunion last year, I was in a similar prediciment. I was asked to cook pulled pork, but I would not be able to attend the actual event due to business travel and the only time I had to cook was 2 weeks prior.. I cooked up 2 cases of pork butts. Pulled and sauced and added more of my rub for a bit more flavor (just like I always do) and placed the pork into several of the aluminium "half pans". I then sealed each pan with foil and then wrapped in commercial plastic cling wrap and placed in the chest freezer.

For the reunion, My Dad picked up the frozen pans and transported them in coolers to the site. They thawed them over night and re-heated a few pans at a time in an oven that was available to them, mixing the pork a few times during the re-heat. After warming through, he put the pork into a roaster with a tad bit more sauce and served out of that. Got rave reviews and nobody had any idea that it was not freshly cooked... Pork butt is very forgiving that way...

While I agree that for long term storage you can't beat vac packing, but for just a week or two, this method has worked for me several times and I didn't end up using roll after roll of Food Saver bags...

James.
 
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