I used my Bradley Smoker for the second time this week end.
I smoked a bone in Boston Butt and a brisket. Because it rained, I moved the smoker on to the porch and smoked away. I did this the day before my birthday dinner. The meat turned out just great.
Question: Is it ok to do this and store the meat in a good ice chest until the next day. That is what I did and nobody got sick. Is this the best way to cook day before or should I put it in a freezer bag and store in refrigerator. In that event, what is the best way to reheat the meat.
God Bless,
Spot the WonderDog
Welcome here houdini. Glad to see all turned out ok for ya.Most people here use a machine called the FOODSAVER.Very nice machine vacuums in the freshness and keeps stuff for a long long time.And reheating is a breeze boil in water or nuke no problems.Hope this helps ;D.
Generally I enjoy smoked food a day or more after the food has been smoked, also if I am smoking for some event I will smoke most, if not all of the food a day or two in advance and keep it refrigerated until I need to reheat it.
It's alright to keep it in a cooler, as long as you maintain the cooler at 40F or lower, it's much safer to store the refrigerator.
As Icerat state, for long term storage I vacuum seal the meat, and reheat it as he stated. If it is one or two days, I just store the meat in freezer bags, then reheat in disposable foil pans, tightly sealed with foil in an oven at 250F.
The danger zone with regards to bacterial contamination of food is generally regarded as 40F - 140F and one of the commonest causes of food poisoning is food remaining in this zone too long when cooling.
After cooking food should be cooled to <40F as soon as possible and ideally within a couple of hours. Like HS said, storage in a refridgerator is probably safest.
Icerat4's comment on vacuum sealing for long term storage is correct, I have a foodsaver vacuum sealer and very good it is too. However if reheating is planned within a couple of days of cooking vacuum sealing is not really necessary.
The Bradley Smoker is not suitable for reheating food, this is best done in a microwave, boiling water in a suitable bag or oven as appropriate.
Thanks everybody, that answers my question.