Reheating pulled pork for a party

[Helms77]

Hi all! Im looking for some expert advice and no better place to ask than here. I will be cooking 7 pork butts tomorrow for a party on Saturday. Cooking Saturday is not an option unfortunately.
I was thinking of shredding then vacuum sealing the pork in bags. Then Saturday drop in boiling water before party time to reheat, then add to a nesco to serve.
Does this sound like a good idea? Other suggestions?
Also, I will crutch with Apple juice, squirt butter and brown sugar. Should I add those juices when I shred and bag or save it for the time it goes into the nesco? Maybe both?
When I typically make 1 butt this way for friends I shred and add juices at that time then vacuum seal in a bag.
Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

[rodkeary]

I've only reheated pulled pork from frozen vacuum bags. SV at 160 for 90 minutes and I've been very happy with the results.

[Steve R.]

Sounds like a good plan. I think the sooner you bag it up, the better your chances of success. And we're only talking about meat that was cooked 1 day ahead of time, not several days.

[HorseDoctor]

Agree! I think you've got your bases covered! Cooked, shredded, juiced, bagged, reheat & serve. Leftovers my a$$, It'll be great! I'll take a sammich!

[carolts]

I did something similar two months ago with 6 boneless butts. I wrapped each in foil to store overnight. For reheating I put two each in foil catering pans, poured in some apple juice, covered with foil, then into the convection oven @ 250 for three hours. Pulled them in their foil pans and served. I would have put them back into the KBQ but it was full of tandoori chicken.

I liked the results this way slightly better than when I had shredded and put into vacuum bags, but my technique on the bagging may be lacking.

Your mileage may vary...

[Helms77]

Thanks guys. Hopefully it all turns out OK. I've never cooked for this many people before. My biggest concern is reheating and keeping warm and moist without drying out. Plan to add apple juice as needed. Or should I reintroduce saved juices?

[carolts]

Always reintroduce saved juices and add apple juice as needed or for flavor. Good alternative liquid is hard cider. I had a ginger-flavored cider once that made great pulled pork.

[Spinaker]

Keep the shoulders in tact until I have them in the crock pot. That is, I leave them in the foil I wrapped them in after cooking. After the hold, I shock them, then put them in the fridge. Them I pull them in the crock pot, and add about a 1/2 cup of HOT water. Then I add a few tablespoons of butter and let it heat in the crock, on high, until the meat reaches 165 F. I flip and mix the meat every 20 mins or so to ensure even heating. Sometimes I add a little bit of rub to the pulled pork, for good measure. Make sure people put the cover back on the crock after they are done serving themselves. This will help with keeping the meat moist in the crock.

[carolts]

Also, consider those disposable chafing trays from places like Costco, etc. When doing my annual company bbq I use those with sterno, a pan of pre-heated water, and the above-mentioned foil pans on top. Foil over it all to keep the heat in and help not drying out. You can see the setup at the very back of the attached pic. I was freaking out my first big party, but the folks in the pit pulled me through. It'll be great!

[Helms77]

carolts thanks for the great ideas! I will certainly keep them in mind for next time. Spinnaker you both have great options. Unfortunately neither will work for me tomorrow.
​​​​​​​Unique situation. But valuable info for the future nonetheless. Thanks!

[choffert]

I package it 1 to 1.5 lb vacuum bags with a tbsp. of butter (secret trick) and have never had it be dry...SV to 145 or so or use crock pot

[sdr7057]

I package it 1 to 1.5 lb vacuum bags with a tbsp. of butter (secret trick) and have never had it be dry...SV to 145 or so or use crock pot

I use the butter trick too , works like a charm .

[Rjbachtold]

Attempting this myself but at a much smaller scale. Smoking a butt for family but we’re eating Friday night. I need to do it tomorrow (Thursday). Do I pull it tomorrow night and put it in a foil pan to be reheated or leave it intact, reheat it, then pull it before we eat Friday night?

[EdF]

I'd keep it whole and pull it after reheating. Keeps it moister, in my experience.

[RustyHaines]

I followed Spinaker's advise on Mother's Day Weekend and kept them whole, in foil, faux cambro 2 hours, shocked in ice bath, refrigerate overnight. Next afternoon I kept them whole in foil and reheated at 175 for 2 hours then pulled. Meat was great but lost a little crunch to the bark. Eaters were all real happy though and that is what counts, eh?

[PaulstheRibList]

Pork butts are so good and so versitle! I just put this response on another post, so I thought I'd chime in here, too:

All good advise.

We end up with a fair amount of Pork extra from time to time. We've tried a few techniques, and here's what we found works best for us so far:

1.) Leave them whole.
2.) Keep all the juice you can. If you have room, put the butt in a half pan for the end of the cook, and collect that precious au juis. You may want to store every drop of this in a separate container than how you store the butt, so none is spilled or wasted.
3.) Vacuum seal is great. Ziplock is alternative.
4.) You have 2 hours to get that butt to below 70 degrees, and 4 hours total, from whence it got below 140 degrees, to the safe zone, 40 degrees or below. You'll need to judge if your fridge is robust enough to cool the butts fast enough. Alternatives are to put it in your freezer for couple hours, then the fridge. Or, you could bag it in a sealed bag and submerge it in an ice bath to knock that temp down quickly.
5.) If it's in the vacuum bags, reheat in boiling water, or in an oven, 250 or so. Water is great if possible, works faster.
6.) Pull and sauce per your tastebuds delight. Oh, and put in that precious juis!!!!

Pulling ahead of time, before the storage, makes it simpler on the day of eating, but we've found the quality of texture is not as good. When you reheat whole, it's very near to original quality. Hard to tell the difference.

[Frozen Smoke]

I smoker 8 pork butts a couple weeks ago for grad parties coming in June and will be doing 8 more next weekend. After they have reached a internal temp of 165 to 170 I pan them but don't cover. I pour 8 to 12 ounces of berr preferably a darker beer into the bottom of the pan to go with the juices. Cook until i hit the desired 205 or so. Remove from the smoker and cover the pan with foil. Usually it's in the late evening after these have been cooking all day.

I then put them in my Carlisle and leave overnight to pull the next day. Then I vacuum seal in 3 to 4lb bags and in the freezer they go. The butts are still warm the next day and melt apart. Because they are sealed in the Carlisle and covered in the foil they are held in a pretty much sterile environment ans they are not getting air.

To reheat you can do it in a oven or a roasting pan, SV or any of the above mentioned methods that works for you.