Freezing cooked shoulder

[bardsleyque]

If I want to freeze cooked shoulder is it better to pull it first, or freeze the whole thing?

[rickgregory]

Pull, portion into (ideally) vacseal bags, vacseal, freeze. If you don't have the capabilty to vacuum seal, portion into ziploc bags, get as much air as you can out, freeze.

[Andrrr]

Yep.

[bbqLuv]

Ditto, we use zip lock bags.

[Draznnl]

+1

[Spinaker]

+1^

[tbob4]

I agree with everyone. The thing I will add is that you don't have to pull exactly to how you will eat it later. I like to do rough pulls for what I am freezing. It seems to reheat just a bit better.

[Andrrr]

So if I can hijack a thread here, how do you reheat the PP after it has thawed?

I will reheat the laziest way possible… in a microwave. I throw it in a bowl but add a little bit of water, the amount depending on the portion. Heat for a little bit, stir the mixture, repeat until hot enough. This seems to do a great job in keeping everything moist. Again, I don’t have a vac seal but if I did my method would probably be very different.

[tbob4]

It depends on what I’m doing. I do microwave with a damp towel on top. I reheat in a pan. I also SV. If I am repurposing for enchiladas I simply thaw and it goes into tortillas. For carnitas I fry it.

[radshop]

Leftovers (sorry - just keeping it real) are pretty forgiving. I agree with the consensus of pulling first, but in reality the difference between that and freezing first is minimal,

[rickgregory]

The reason I pull and portion is that if I've cooked more pork than I want atm, I can portion it out and then, when I do want it, grab just as much as I want for a meal or two, not the entire frozen shoulder. Also, it's already pulled. I just need to reheat. I don't need to reheat, then pull etc.

QUality-wise you're 100% though.

[jfmorris]

As others have already said, pulled pork freezes and reheats very well. If I have leftover pulled pork I vacuum seal it in 1 pound portions, and freeze it for future reheating. While I've reheated by dropping the vacuum seal bag into a pot of hot water, more often than not, I reheat in the microwave due to sheer laziness. Just don't overdo it in the microwave to avoid drying the meat out. I will moisten with a ltitle sauce if needed on the reheat as well.

The problem with freezing an entire butt prior to pulling the pork would be the several days of thawing it would take. Plus COLD pork simply doesn't pull. You really need to pull pork while its still hot from the grill, or after a rest in cambro. Don't refrigerate and try to pull later, as it will be one hard mass again, with all the fat recongealed. If you refrigerate before pulling, in my mind you will end up slicing that butt rather than shredding.

[Stuey1515]

I'll smoke it to 150deg so it's safe, then cut into serving sizes, freeze it and finish it off in the oven wrapped until pulling temp.
Zero leftovers every time

[Starsky]

I always vacuum seal pork shoulder after shredding it. There's never been a problem

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

On the rare occasion I freeze, I do pull it first, but I also add a splash of apple juice to the ziploc. Works perfect if microwaving to reheat.

[radshop]

Great suggestion!

[captainlee]

Either method is perfect, vacuum seal and either reheat in the sealed bag or out of the bag in the microwave.

[bardsleyque]

Thanks everyone.
To clarify a bit, I'm cooking for about 75 people and would kind of like to precook.
I do have a vac seal and will pull and freeze.

[jfmorris]

This is the approach I had decided on when I was going to be serving pulled pork and pulled chicken for 200 guests at a wedding, at my daughter's request. I was going to setup a couple of Anova's with a couple of large coolers modified to put the Anova through the lid, and drop the food saver bags into the coolers at 140F or so, and instruct the volunteers in the venue kitchen to dump the bags into steam table trays as needed, and carry out to the buffet.

[jfmorris]

Wedding got canceled though and became a backyard reception for 15 folks (immediate family only on both sides). So I never smoked all that meat that was going to fill up my deep freeze.