need to travel with smoked pork butts

[blnowlin]

Hi Guys,
Sure am glad you're all still smoking'!   Haven't done much myself lately but we need to smoke a couple
of good sized butts and then pack them up and take them to the folks for Father's Day lunch.   
The problem comes in with needing to be there the day before Father's Day......not sure of the best way
to do it!    If we were going to eat as soon as we got there, no problem.   
But we're going down the day before..........any recommendations on how to get the best results?
Smoke one day, ftc, cool then pack em up....reheat?  (how?)  Serve cold?   Take it pulled or UN-pulled?
I'd surely appreciate some help!   Thanks!
Barb

[Ka Honu]

If I understand your problem correctly, I'd pull, freeze, and transport in an ice chest.  Thaw and reheat at the other end (in a crockpot or foiled in a slow oven).

[BAM1]

If transporting and eating the next day or two after smoking I pull them, vac seal, and keep them cold.  Just put the vac sealed packs in a pot of boiling water and they taste just as fresh as taking them out of FTC.

[Wildcat]

Either of the above ways work just fine. Less prep time involved if you do not freeze.

[blnowlin]

Thanks for the info guys! 

One question comes to mind........when you say "pull" do you mean to actually pull the pork?
or just take it out of the smoker?
I'd thought it would be "fresher" if we left the butts intact until we got there and pull it all
before serving........
B

[beefmann]

id smoke a day or two ahead , shred the pork ( pulled pork ) then put into fridge and into  a  cooler for the ride to your gathering... then reheat in crock pots for the  meal

[FLBentRider]

I shred before, because it is easier to re-heat evenly.

If you chill or freeze a whole butt, it will take longer to re-heat and you may dry out the outside by the time the center is warm.

[Wildcat]

I shred before, because it is easier to re-heat evenly.

If you chill or freeze a whole butt, it will take longer to re-heat and you may dry out the outside by the time the center is warm.

Ditto

Also, if you vac seal and reheat in hot water, I recommend that you do not let the water boil. I have found that if the water temp gets too hot, sometimes the seal will break and you will have soggy meat. Keep a close eye on it. If one breaks keep the unsealed area out of the water.

Since you are doing a couple of good sized butts, you may find it easier to simply put the butts in a crock with just a little apple juice to reheat.

[Habanero Smoker]

Another benefited of pulling the pork while it is still warm and serving it later; the smoke flavor and seasonings from the bark has time to infuse all the meat with flavor.

[blnowlin]

Thanks for the help people!   
I can't wait........opened the smoker to make sure everything was in good working order
and it smelled so good!
B

[terry08]

I to would shred so the flavors can meld together. For transporting whole I use a butt bucket. I have a couple of home depot, five gallon buckets with water heater blankets wrapped around and secured with duct tape. I place two butts wrapped in foil in each one with a towel on top, seal the lid and your good to go. The longest I have traveled was three hours and they were still hot.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[blnowlin]

More questions....
Going to inject the pork butts and have some meat safety concerns.    I'd like to do the rub and injection work on Wed evening,
hold it in the fridge overnight and throughout Thursday to about 5pm to put it in a preheated smoker.

The first question is:    that's about 22 hours with rub and the injected mix.......is that safe or do I need to do the rub/injection Thursday morning and
shorten that time to 8-10 hours?????

Next question:   how long is it safe to hold the meat in ftc?   4, 6, 8 hours?

Barb

[Wildcat]

I am no expert, but here is my opinion.

Regarding the raw meat - I am fairly confident that as long as you keep in refrigerated it will be fine. Not sure what all your rub and injection contains but if it has salt it will probably make it more safe and not less.

For the FTC, it really depends on just how insulated it is. It is the meat temp (especially at the surface) that determines its safety.

Here is a link to the recipe site. Within that site there are sections regarding food safety: http://www.susanminor.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?180-Our-Time-Tested-and-Proven-Recipes

[KyNola]

My friend WC nailed it.  22 hours with the Rub and injection won't be a safety issue as long as you keep them refrigerated.  I have held butts up to 6 hours in FTC with no problems but as WC said, there are a couple variables that can have a bearing on that.  The temp of the meat going into the FTC and the container(C part) will determine how long they will stay safely hot.  Just be sure to keep the top closed.