What to do? What to do? Boston Butt question

[Diane Tavegia]

I ordered a large Smoked Butt from our church fund raiser. Did so last year and it was awesome. HOWEVER, the butts will be ready tomorrow, Saturday 13th, and I want to have it for Easter, 8 days later. It will be very hot when I pick it up.

I don't have a vac seal and wouldn't use one. There's only 2 of us except for holidays. I'll have at least 8 here for Easter dinner.

Should I let this cool on the counter and freeze in the foil? How many days to thaw if I freeze it whole? Should I cool it and pull it, then freeze it? I've read so many websites and they all have different suggestions!

If you can think of other things I should have asked, feel free to share that info! I don't want to ruin $35 worth of meat and a holiday meal!

Diane

 

[pineywoods]

Personally I would go ahead and pull/shred the butt and put it in gallon size Ziplock bags and freeze it. About 3 days before it's to be eaten I'd put it in the fridge to thaw. Then day of put it in a large disposable aluminum pan or something like it and add some finishing sauce (link below) then pull foil tight over the top then into the oven to heat to at least 140 degrees. Don't worry pulled pork freezes very well and you can't tell the difference between it and what you'd have eating day of smoking.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/soflaquers-finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork.51933/

 

[smokinq13]

So just to get things straight, you're just trying to figure out what to do with the meat from now til then, correct?

What I'd do/ have done in the pass is like you said, like the meat "rest" /cool down for a little covered on the counter. And if you can get some gallon or even better 2 gallon freeze bags to put the meat into. The key is letting the meat rest so the juices get reabsorb, also when you put the meat into the bags if at all possible, try and keep the meat as whole as possible. Meaning not breaking it up, or pulling it into the pulled pork. If you look back through my threads i did a Surprise party where i smoked pork butts for about 80 people. And i did it a couple days before and followed what i said... rest, whole/chunked, bagged and froze.

When it comes to warming up, you can go from frozen to warming, or thaw first and then warm but the key is to make sure the mest doesn't dry out. I'd say use the drippings from it but since you didnt cook it you wouldn't have any so i would use some apple juice to help it along!

 

[old sarge]

You could let it cool the butt and then tightly double wrap in plastic wrap like Stretch Tite and freeze then reheat in a crock pot with a little liquid like chicken broth or apple juice. Just enough to help retain moisture. Then pull. Or as stated above pull then freeze. But I prefer plastic wrap then store in zip lock bag to limit air and freezer burn.

 

[Diane Tavegia]

Y'all are awesome! Thank you so much for your help!

Diane

 

[chopsaw]

I'm with Piney . I would pull first .

 

[hardcookin]

I would also pull and use ziplock bag. Reheat in oven with apple juice.

 

[smokerjim]

with the others, pull and freeze

 

[noboundaries]

Yep, you got great advice with the pull and freeze. I've started smoking two butts instead of one because it takes the same amount of time and fuel in my WSM. I freeze it in 1-gallon bags, 2 lbs in each bag.

 

[Diane Tavegia]

Thanks again. We pick up the butt tomorrow around noon and I'll get freezer bags and have hubby pull the meat for us. Thanks also for the recipe for the finishing sauce. Sounds awesome!

 

[bmudd14474]

Personally I would go ahead and pull/shred the butt and put it in gallon size Ziplock bags and freeze it. About 3 days before it's to be eaten I'd put it in the fridge to thaw. Then day of put it in a large disposable aluminum pan or something like it and add some finishing sauce (link below) then pull foil tight over the top then into the oven to heat to at least 140 degrees. Don't worry pulled pork freezes very well and you can't tell the difference between it and what you'd have eating day of smoking.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/soflaquers-finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork.51933/

This is what I would do.