I put a very large 12.5 pound boston butt out to thaw from the deep freeze to the fridge a couple of days ago, planning to smoke overnight, putting it on the SNSK at bedtime, running the cook at 225, since I don't need it until dinner this evening, and can hold in cambro if it gets done early.
The meat was still partially frozen, with the core at 25F when I inserted my 6 inch probe into the center of this very large butt. In fact, it was very hard to insert the probe - it was still pretty frozen all the way through!
I got up this morning to a low temperature alarm from my Smoke because the temperature of the grill had dropped below 200F. I want out in slippers and bathrobe into the 28F cold, raked the coals in the SNS, filled it with more lump, threw a couple chunks of cherry wood on top, and went back inside.
Now to the observations and questions.
Looking at the graph on the Thermoworks app, the meat stayed (at its core) below freezing for 2 to 3 hours, then ramped in about 2 hours from freezing temps to about 140F. It had dropped to 138F at the core when the alarm went off and I stoked the fire. The grill temp dropped at its lowest to 175F before I got out there. I also used my thermopen and confirmed the outer layers of the huge butt were over 140F - just the core was at or below 140F this morning when I got up.
So the question is:
1. In the food safety and temperature articles I can find on the free side, Meathead tells us to cook at an air temperature of 175F or higher. So I did that.
2. Conventional wisdom for HOLDING food says to hold it at 140F or higher, or refrigerate within 2 hours. In this case, the cooking meat took about 5 hours to go from 25F to 140F internal temperature. During most of that time the EXTERIOR of the butt was exposed to a steady grill temp of 225F, until that hour before I woke, when the charcoal depleted and it started dropping, tripping an alarm when it got below 200F.
So, are there any food safety concerns here, and in general, when we have a huge hunk of meat we are smoking, and it takes more than 2 hours to reach a core temperature of 140F? Or is that 140F holding temp only for food that is not sitting in the ambient air temp of 175+ inside the smoker? Am I going to poison my son and two son-in-laws when I feed them this pork tonight?
Or do I need to go drink a cup of coffee and stop thinking about this?
I am really only thinking about this because in a NORMAL cook, of a more typical 8 pound butt, I see it go from fridge temp to 140 IT in about 2 hours.
Thanks!
The meat was still partially frozen, with the core at 25F when I inserted my 6 inch probe into the center of this very large butt. In fact, it was very hard to insert the probe - it was still pretty frozen all the way through!
I got up this morning to a low temperature alarm from my Smoke because the temperature of the grill had dropped below 200F. I want out in slippers and bathrobe into the 28F cold, raked the coals in the SNS, filled it with more lump, threw a couple chunks of cherry wood on top, and went back inside.
Now to the observations and questions.
Looking at the graph on the Thermoworks app, the meat stayed (at its core) below freezing for 2 to 3 hours, then ramped in about 2 hours from freezing temps to about 140F. It had dropped to 138F at the core when the alarm went off and I stoked the fire. The grill temp dropped at its lowest to 175F before I got out there. I also used my thermopen and confirmed the outer layers of the huge butt were over 140F - just the core was at or below 140F this morning when I got up.
So the question is:
1. In the food safety and temperature articles I can find on the free side, Meathead tells us to cook at an air temperature of 175F or higher. So I did that.
2. Conventional wisdom for HOLDING food says to hold it at 140F or higher, or refrigerate within 2 hours. In this case, the cooking meat took about 5 hours to go from 25F to 140F internal temperature. During most of that time the EXTERIOR of the butt was exposed to a steady grill temp of 225F, until that hour before I woke, when the charcoal depleted and it started dropping, tripping an alarm when it got below 200F.
So, are there any food safety concerns here, and in general, when we have a huge hunk of meat we are smoking, and it takes more than 2 hours to reach a core temperature of 140F? Or is that 140F holding temp only for food that is not sitting in the ambient air temp of 175+ inside the smoker? Am I going to poison my son and two son-in-laws when I feed them this pork tonight?
Or do I need to go drink a cup of coffee and stop thinking about this?I am really only thinking about this because in a NORMAL cook, of a more typical 8 pound butt, I see it go from fridge temp to 140 IT in about 2 hours.
Thanks!
Comment