Question on keeping pulled pork warm

[Ryan]

I got a friend's daughter's birthday party to smoke for Saturday. Got to be there by 5 plan on coolering around 1. Now I want to pull this at home and it would then take a 20 minute ride. I'm probably over thinking this but I want it right and safe. Will the meat stay warm once pulled, panned, and back in the cooler? What I'm thinking of doing is when taking out to pull, dump some dam near boiling water in the cooler to retain heat. Once done pulling, drain water and get the pan back into the cooler. Like I said probably over thinking this. What do you guys do in this case?

[barkonbutts]

Any way to just show up a few minutes early... like 15 and pull there? Once you start pulling the temps drop pretty fast I have experienced.

Or pull had home and vac pack and reheat there.. I would be a bit worried pulling and taking there without a heat source... but that is me.. we will see what others say...

Everyone likes to see them pulled as well.. I think at least...

[Ryan]

I probably could pull it there, if its the last resort I'll do it. I was just hoping to drop it off and head to my fishing hole or the horse track.

[Richtee]

Heat up some bricks and put them in the cooler, set the pans on them. place a towel in the bottom to avoid scratching cooler.

[Fishawn]

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If it was me, I would pull the butts off when finished & wrap in towels & cooler them. They will stay HOT for a long time. Take them to the party & pull before serving. I have done this a couple times & worked good. While pulling, I add some additional rub & the liquid gold or apple juice & mix in. Just me

[Ryan]

Heat up some bricks and put them in the cooler, set the pans on them. place a towel in the bottom to avoid scratching cooler.

That's a great idea! I keep a couple fire bricks in the smoker anyways so they'll be warm already. Thanks Rich! This smoking for others is nice, but dam I'm gonna use up 3/4 of my last MH order without me getting any of it.

[dsgarner06]

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If it was me, I would pull the butts off when finished & wrap in towels & cooler them. They will stay HOT for a long time. Take them to the party & pull before serving.

I would agree... leave it whole in a cooler wrapped in foil and towels and pull it before serving, it will be less dry and will retain the heat in the cooler for many hours. I have done this overnight with both butts and brisket and the meat stayed warm overnight. Put it in the cooler wrapped at 195/200 overnight and checked the temp in the morning it was still 165. I ended up throwing it in an oven to heat it back up for 30 mins or so. If you only have to hold it for a couple of hours, you won't have to heat it back up as it should hold for a couple of hours easily.

[Fishawn]

Ryan, you didn't mention anything aboot fishing or horse races!

[Ryan]

Ryan, you didn't mention anything aboot fishing or horse races!

it'll be interesting which one we do. The wife wants the horse track. And I want fishing. Came across a nice lake with great carp fishing(which is my favorite).

[Fishawn]

it'll be interesting which one we do. The wife wants the horse track. And I want fishing. Came across a nice lake with great carp fishing(which is my favorite).

Good luck at the track......

[curious aardvark]

as long as you're cooking and eating the same day - there shouldn't be any safety issues.

And I'd go with taking whole and pulling there - hell make an event of it :-)

Just make sure you've got the defatted, reduced juices to mix back in once it's pulled

[gracoman]

Because this is a popular question, here is my preferred method for holding and transporting smoked meats,
pork butts in this example, to another location. I do it this way because I feel it's best to pull just before serving.

Lay tape, sticky side up



Cover tape with butcher or parchment paper. I normally use butcher because I believe parchment has a release additive
but this time only parchment was available.



Place butt directly off of the grill



Wrap the butt in the paper and tape closed. The paper keeps that nasty aluminum foil off of the meat. Place the paper
wrapped meat on heavy duty aluminum foil.



Wrap tightly



Vacuum pack immediately being careful not to let any liquid into the machine. I have never had a problem with this.
No additional liquid is required.



Stack butts in a pre-heated cooler sized to fit. I pre-heat with boiling water.



Cover with towel(s).


At 4 hours the meat will be to hot to hold in your bare hands. As a test, I checked one of the butts at 6.5 hours with my Thermapen and it was registering 156 degrees. I ended the test there.

The heated brick method works great too but you may damage your cooler if not careful.

[solar]

I agree with everyone that suggests pulling it when you arrive at the event. I do the same as Richtee and put a couple hot bricks in the cooler too. I use the bricks that I keep in my smoker to use as heat soaks. I wonder where I got that idea ? hmmmmm....