Need input on how to freeze butt & brisket

Ron Burgundy

We are going to the beach in a few weeks and I thought it would be fun to do some Cue on the Egg at home, freeze it and take it on our trip. Doing both pork butt and brisket

However, I've never gone straight from BGE to freezer (only fridge to be eaten in next day or two) and I want to be sure I do this right from a food safety perspective. Here are my questions:

1. Once I pull the pork, can I put it in the freezer while it's still warm? Or do I need to do the "frozen water bottles in the pork" thing to bring it down colder before I freeze it? I know there's a concern that you can stay in the danger zone a long time when you put warm pork in the fridge, but I figured it's not a concern in the freezer. Am I right?

2. If I freeze a whole cooked brisket using the Foodsaver, will it hold up after being thawed, reheated and sliced? Or am I better off slicing it now and freezing the sliced brisket?

Many thanks for all feedback!

AZRP

Once you've pulled the pork an vac sealed it the temp will be down enough to freeze it. Don't know about the brisket, I'm guessing to freeze it whole. -RP

thirdeye

It's good that you have thought this out, food safety, especially with guests is important. In a nutshell, You are trying to go from 165° or so, to 40° (or lower) as fast as possible.

It sounds like you are not doing mass quantities so here is my take on it. For pulled pork, I put a couple of metal pans in the fridge or freezer to chill them. Following the rest and pulling, the meat goes into the pans (they stay in the fridge) which chill it out really fast. Don't put a cover on them, to avoid condensation. Then I go to the FoodSaver bags and freeze. Add some liquid to the bags. You can freeze the liquid too in a shallow pan, then break it up.

For brisket, I like to keep it whole and slice after reheating. So I take the entire foil pouch used for resting and slip it into a vacuum seal bag and use the seal only button, no vacuum. In fact, I do double seals about 1/2" apart. Then I dump a bag of ice into the cooler and add water, then wait about 15 minutes. I submerge the briskets in their waterproof bags for about 30 or 40 minutes. Once chilled, I freeze them. (I do this same routine when pre-cooking for the next day, only store in the fridge after the cool down.)

For the survey results on favorite reheating liquids for barbecue, check out the Reheating Liquids page on my site. Link is below.

Ron Burgundy

the reheating liquid. Are you recommeding that I pour, for example, apple juice on top of the pulled pork and then foodsave it all together? Why wouldn't I just use my vinegar-based sauce on the back end when it is thawed to add some liquid to it? Not arguing with you, just trying to understand the idea.

Thanks again -- your web page is a tremendous resource!

RB

AZRP

Like the chilling in ice water for the brisket, why no vac, will it dry it out? -RP

thirdeye

Sometimes a neutral liquid, like apple juice, Coke or some de-fatted juice from the foil just adds some additional moisture for insurance when reheating. It's not really going to add flavor like you get from a sauce.

I personally like to have at least 2 sauces to serve at the table.

thirdeye

No, the vaccum sucks the hot juice out of the foil and is a real mess.

Ron Burgundy

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