Temperature Drop

[smokinnewb2009]

At 4am, the temperature in my smoker was 300. I set my alarm to get up and check on it, but it did not go off. At 8am I got up and the internal temparture of the pork butts was 140........are they still ok? Or do I need to toss?

 

[meowey]

Should be fine.

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

 

[smokeguy]

Funny how often people set their alarms and they don't go off, especially if it's a work day.

My wife can hit the snooze button so many times that I've gotten up and done all my "stuff" and then she'll finally wake up and say something about the alarm not going off and I just laugh at her.

You're fine if you put them on at 4'ish. 4 hours is a nice general guideline to hit 140 in as a max time.

 

[teleburst]

And if you haven't inserted a probe, you've got a lot longer, especially if you haven't get it come to room temp before you put it on. from the 4 hour rule. If the surface is unpunctured, you're fine. Someone wrote about this in another thread. You'll find some information here:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fc01-3.html

You'll need to scroll down to see the various charts, and to me, they're not all that clear, but they clearly distinguish between "whole muscle meats" and other foods.

Remember that the main part of the butt isn't exposed to oxygen, which is critical for nasties growth. That is, unless you puncture it with a probe. This is assuming that you're cooking at at least 225-250.