Hello!
This past weekend I was asked to make pork butt for a family gathering. I have made many pork butts but not for the situation this called for. I needed to make my pork butt two days in advance due to some things in my calendar, then I had to reheat the pork butt the day of the gathering, followed by traveling 90 minutes to the gathering. While the pork butt was cooking I spent quite a bit of time reading other reheating pork butt posts and am so thankful for all of the information everyone has placed out here in the club. But I also feel the need to give back, so here is what I did for my reheating, in case anyone is looking for ideas. Nearly all of this written below regarding the reheating was taken from other posts from club members. (I wish I could remember exactly what I took from whom, but I read so many posts, I can't remember.)
I had an 11lb pork butt to make. Due to needing to speed up the cooking, I split the butt in half. The bone-in half was between 6-7 pounds and the boneless side was 4-5 pounds and I tied it up with string to make sure it wouldn't fall apart. Since the boneless half would cook faster, I started it two hours later than the bone-in. I wrapped them when they reached 170 after the stall and pulled them off at 200 degrees and put them into my cooler. The bone-in took just over 7 hours and the boneless took 5.5 hours. (The bone-in was cooked on a 22" Weber Kettle, the boneless on a WSM 14 and they finished only 20 minutes apart from one another.)
Now is when all of the club posts were so helpful.
After over 6 hours in the cooler, the pork butt temp was still around 150. Several posts talked about letting it go lower before taking it out and putting it into the refrigerator but my schedule did not allow it. So, I took the pork butt out, left them wrapped and whole in the same pan that I put them into the cooler in, wrapped the pan with heavy duty foil and into the fridge it went. I read posts discussing not to put it into the refrigerator this warm as it may increase the temperature in the fridge and may cause food to spoil. I have a second fridge that had room with no food in it, so I put it in there.
Two days later it was time to reheat and travel. I heated the oven to 275, unwrapped the two pieces of butt and took the string off the boneless half. I replaced the two pieces into the pan, added a 1/2 cup of water, wrapped the pan in heavy duty foil and put the pork into the oven. It took just under two hours for the pork to reach 170.
At the gathering I was going to use my crock pot to keep the pork warm, so I also placed the ceramic crock into the oven at the same time as I put the pork in. I figured that between the warm crock pot and my faux cambro cooler, the pork would have a good chance to stay above 140 while traveling and the ceramic crock pot would already be warm when I started the crock pot up at the gathering. (This was the only thing I did that I didn't read in the posts.)
When the pork was reheated to 170, I took the pork out keeping it as whole as possible, placed it into the ceramic crock, poured all of the juices into the crock, put foil over and around the crock, placed it into my already warm cooler with 5 towels to hold things in place & to help keep it warm and off I went to the gathering.
Once I arrived at the gathering, I took the ceramic crock out of the cooler and started up the crock pot warmer. The ceramic crock was still plenty warm and luck was on my side as no juice spilled out on the trip! I pulled the pork in the crock followed by cutting up about 2/3 of a stick of butter into pads and placed them on top of the pork and put the lid on. After the butter melted, I stirred the meat up a couple of times before it was served to help keep the meat moist.
There wasn't any pork left when the gathering was over. It was moist, juicy and flavorful.
Thank you so much to everyone who commented on others posts! My experience would not have been this successful without you!
This past weekend I was asked to make pork butt for a family gathering. I have made many pork butts but not for the situation this called for. I needed to make my pork butt two days in advance due to some things in my calendar, then I had to reheat the pork butt the day of the gathering, followed by traveling 90 minutes to the gathering. While the pork butt was cooking I spent quite a bit of time reading other reheating pork butt posts and am so thankful for all of the information everyone has placed out here in the club. But I also feel the need to give back, so here is what I did for my reheating, in case anyone is looking for ideas. Nearly all of this written below regarding the reheating was taken from other posts from club members. (I wish I could remember exactly what I took from whom, but I read so many posts, I can't remember.)
I had an 11lb pork butt to make. Due to needing to speed up the cooking, I split the butt in half. The bone-in half was between 6-7 pounds and the boneless side was 4-5 pounds and I tied it up with string to make sure it wouldn't fall apart. Since the boneless half would cook faster, I started it two hours later than the bone-in. I wrapped them when they reached 170 after the stall and pulled them off at 200 degrees and put them into my cooler. The bone-in took just over 7 hours and the boneless took 5.5 hours. (The bone-in was cooked on a 22" Weber Kettle, the boneless on a WSM 14 and they finished only 20 minutes apart from one another.)
Now is when all of the club posts were so helpful.
After over 6 hours in the cooler, the pork butt temp was still around 150. Several posts talked about letting it go lower before taking it out and putting it into the refrigerator but my schedule did not allow it. So, I took the pork butt out, left them wrapped and whole in the same pan that I put them into the cooler in, wrapped the pan with heavy duty foil and into the fridge it went. I read posts discussing not to put it into the refrigerator this warm as it may increase the temperature in the fridge and may cause food to spoil. I have a second fridge that had room with no food in it, so I put it in there.
Two days later it was time to reheat and travel. I heated the oven to 275, unwrapped the two pieces of butt and took the string off the boneless half. I replaced the two pieces into the pan, added a 1/2 cup of water, wrapped the pan in heavy duty foil and put the pork into the oven. It took just under two hours for the pork to reach 170.
At the gathering I was going to use my crock pot to keep the pork warm, so I also placed the ceramic crock into the oven at the same time as I put the pork in. I figured that between the warm crock pot and my faux cambro cooler, the pork would have a good chance to stay above 140 while traveling and the ceramic crock pot would already be warm when I started the crock pot up at the gathering. (This was the only thing I did that I didn't read in the posts.)
When the pork was reheated to 170, I took the pork out keeping it as whole as possible, placed it into the ceramic crock, poured all of the juices into the crock, put foil over and around the crock, placed it into my already warm cooler with 5 towels to hold things in place & to help keep it warm and off I went to the gathering.
Once I arrived at the gathering, I took the ceramic crock out of the cooler and started up the crock pot warmer. The ceramic crock was still plenty warm and luck was on my side as no juice spilled out on the trip! I pulled the pork in the crock followed by cutting up about 2/3 of a stick of butter into pads and placed them on top of the pork and put the lid on. After the butter melted, I stirred the meat up a couple of times before it was served to help keep the meat moist.
There wasn't any pork left when the gathering was over. It was moist, juicy and flavorful.
Thank you so much to everyone who commented on others posts! My experience would not have been this successful without you!
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