RE-Heat?

[Andrew]

So a week or two ago I smoked two butts turned out pretty good but a few families backed out and didnt show... well this left us with an entire pork butt untouched... so i shredded it threw it in a food saver bag and then put it in the freezer. well i want to thaw it out and use it tomorrow but im not sure how to go about the reheat... i dont want to dry it out and i want it to retain some flavor... any ideas how to go about it?

[Conumdrum]

Ohh shoulda done 4-8 bags for easier reheating in small OR large amounts.

Anyhoo, easy nuff. Put in the fridge the night before, then in the AM into a bowl with ice cubes to start the thaw for hours. That is a HUGE chunk of pork to thaw. Put the bag in a pot with almost simmering water an hour or so before needing it and reheat till it's warm. Take out, put in a alum pan, if it's dry make some Carolina BBQ vinegar based sauce or some regular BBQ sauce. Mix, keep warm.

Reheating when you have left over liquid buddah from the earlier cook is the best. The fat and juices make it just like fresh pulled. Pulled pork thankfully reheats very very well. Smart that you vacupacked, good job!

[Richtee]

prolly straight cold water would be better, left under the spigot with a small flow running. Don't think you gotta worry too much about it warming up above 40 too quick with 5-6 pounds of frozen meat. It's gonna take a couple hours to defrost.

[SMOKE FREAK]

Or you could thaw it for 2-3 days in the fridge and rewarm it in a crockpot...It'll be fine...Just keep it mixed as the juices will settle to the bottom...

[curious aardvark]

yep just throw the bag into luke warm water - it'll drop the temperature to cold itself.

Then just reheat how you like.
I usually in the microwave for tortillas or sandwiches.

It's is also 100% safe to partially thaw it to the point that you can seperate it into smaller pieces and then refreeze them seperately.

[HawgHeaven]

Here's my gig:
Freeze in vacuum sealed bags, 2 lb each. When it's time to serve, thaw, and into a bath of simmering water for about 10-15 minutes and serve. The flavor is even better than if you had served it the same day of the cook. The meat in the vac sealed bag gets happy with its juices.

In your case, drop the thawed out bag in simmering water (about 190 degrees or so), and reheat... For that much mass, you'll prolly want to let it bathe for about 20-30 minutes.

[treehorses]

Yep on the vac pak. I usually vac pack PP for dinner for 3-4 people then into the freezer. Ribs will be vac packed 4-6 ribs to a bag. That's a couple days lunch or dinner for 2. Need more thaw more bags. I learned to not freeze an entire butt after one time. Same on ribs.

[HawgHeaven]

Yep on the vac pak. I usually vac pack PP for dinner for 3-4 people then into the freezer. Ribs will be vac packed 4-6 ribs to a bag. That's a couple days lunch or dinner for 2. Need more thaw more bags. I learned to not freeze an entire butt after one time. Same on ribs.

Actually, I have vac packed whole racks and froze them. To reheat, I thaw them and place the racks in a disposable aluminum pan, install apple juice in the pan... just enough to cover the bottom. Place the ribs in the pan bone side down, foil the top of the pan and cook at 350 for about 15 minutes.

[Mark R]

This is a perfect spot for an immersion calculator, if have access to one. Very tight temp control at say 115° or 120° overnight. It is already vac packed. Be a lot easier, and better for the product as well.

[PitRow]

at say 115° or 120° overnight.

I still don't understand this whole food safety thing with su vide I guess. How is 120 degrees overnight safe?

[HawgHeaven]

This is a perfect spot for an immersion calculator, if have access to one. Very tight temp control at say 115° or 120° overnight. It is already vac packed. Be a lot easier, and better for the product as well.

So Mark, is that a device to do math underwater?

[tadowdaddy]

I still don't understand this whole food safety thing with su vide I guess. How is 120 degrees overnight safe?

Keeping it at a constant temp like that for a long period of time will kill bacteria. Plus, the meat was already cooked, which already eliminated some if not most of the previous bacteria is my guess.

[Mark R]

So Mark, is that a device to do math underwater?

Damn spell correct, circulator.
The food is already cooked killing all the bugs. Then it vac packed and frozen, again killing anything it picked up on the way to the vac bag. Since the bag is sealed it cannot pick up any new bugs. So it is safe to defrost and warm to serving temp.
It should be 130°, my bad. That is the lethality temp for c bot, salmonella, trichinosis and most all food bugs.
The "log 7(to the 10th) lethality for salmonella is 121 minutes at 130°. That assumes that the core temp is at that temp for that long, So more time is needed for the temp to reach the core.
Since this is a frozen product more time must be added, essentially doubling the time required to rewarm the product.

The chart in the link below is for poultry, chicken and turkey. I have a chart for pork also but it is escaping me, I will find it! Butt it is much the same in time and temp determined by thickness.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/con...df?MOD=AJPERES

This does not mean you can cook chiggen on your grill @130° for two hours and it be safe to eat, it NOT! It requires immersion cooking!

[Bearcarver]

Or you could thaw it for 2-3 days in the fridge and rewarm it in a crockpot...It'll be fine...Just keep it mixed as the juices will settle to the bottom...

Sounds Familiar---Oh yeah, That's what we do!!
But I do it in smaller Bags.

Bear

[Mark R]

Sounds Familiar---Oh yeah, That's what we do!!
But I do it in smaller Bags.

Bear

Yea, smaller bags would help allot!