to store a butt in the fridge before smoking (after thawing from the freezer)?
I removed this butt from the freezer last Sat. night, rubbed it yesterday, expecting to smoke it today.
Weather forcast was "clear/47 degrees".
Reality is snow/36 degrees. same for tomarrow
First decent day is coming Friday/Sat.
Will it be OK for that long?
Thanks for any advice.
ummm im thinking that is a bit long , depending on the expatriation date
Did you thaw the butt in the frige or cold water?
I say whats wrong with snow/36 degrees??? I smoke/cook/BBQ in a lot colder weather than that!! A little snow won't hurt your BUTT ;D ;D
I say it depends on the answer to CRG's question and how much salt is in the rub but either way it is getting towards the edge of OK.
I thawed it in the fridge.
Just had it out long enough to rub it.
Not really a lot of salt in the rub, mostly just other spices.
if you thawed it in the fridge it should be okay to freeze again.
I actually wondered about that.
I have refrozen other foodstuffs before, but was a little concerned about doing meat after this long. I think it got completely thawed out.
I don't want to poison my better half.
If it were me I'd smoke it either one of those two days,
but would try to shoot for Friday or start it Thursday nite.
I can't start it Thursday nite. 80 % chance of rain.
With a little luck I might get it smok'en early Friday morning.
That is about the earliest.
What do you think?
Again if it was me, I would smoke it either day. Earlier the better.
Do you feel lucky? But seriously, if the meat has been at temperatures below 40F since you took it out of the freezer, other than when you applied the rub, and I was doing it for my own family consumption where I knew how it would be used, I would be happy to leave it until Friday. If it has been sitting on the counter top at room temperature then it is not fit to feed to the dog.
Quote from: Roget on March 13, 2013, 11:40:08 AM
to store a butt in the fridge before smoking (after thawing from the freezer)?
I don't even thaw mine out before smoking. I smoked a 10 lb butt last weekend. It had been in the freezer for over a month. I took it out, rubbed some molasses on it with a sprinkle of dry rub and set it right into the Bradley at 220*F. 22 hours later it was done.
The only thing I do differently when I'm smoking a frozen butt is I wait until the initial 4 hour smoke session is done before inserting the meat probe.
I think some of mine have been partially frozen when I started the smoke. (the very center of the butt maybe)
It's good to know that I can smoke from completely frozen.
I'm going to put it in first thing tomarrow (Friday)
If I die I'll let you know.
Thanks to everyone for your input.