Need some suggestions for a pork butt cook.

I use chicken broth when I reheat, that way guests can use the sauce of their choosing, rather than using the sauce to reheat.

If you have a Food Saver, store the PP in that.  Then reheat in simmering water in the sealed bag.  Retains all the moisture.  If not, then yes, I add a little Western Carolina sauce and some BBQ rub to the reheat.

I'll place my pulled/chopped pork in gallon bags.  Then I'll cut my sauce more with apple cider vinegar (like 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 sauce), and I'll put rub in that too and pour over each back.  

Day of service, place in crock pots!  

I do this for my team at work and get rave reviews.  


It's Tarheelmatt approved!  

Gosh, I feel like I'm becoming "that guy" on this forum, a pain in the *** who is unrealistically paranoid about food safety.  I'm thinking of just zipping my lip on the topic of food safety, because even I am getting tired of me talking about this, lately.  <sigh>

But everyone, and I really do mean everyone, the FDA, the USDA, the CDC, everyone who has studied food safety and writes authoritatively about what tends to put people at risk for getting desperately sick and what will greatly reduce that risk, every one of them says DO NOT reheat food in a slow cooker!  It takes too long, the food stays way too long at unsafe temperatures, and people have gotten sick from someone having done this, so "just say no."

FoodSafety.gov:

• Is it safe to reheat food like pork BBQ in a slow cooker?
• We do NOT recommend reheating food or leftovers in a slow cooker. Instead, we advise callers to reheat cooked food to steaming on the stove top or in a microwave oven. Then, you can put it into a preheated slow cooker to keep it hot for serving. Use a food thermometer to be sure the food stays at 140 °F. or above.

Cooked food needs to be chilled quickly, and reheated quickly.  The fact that most folks on this forum have done it differently and have never gotten sick is only because you can do it wrong and be fine most of the time.  It's just that doing it wrong doesn't place you at a small risk for catching a cold, but at a small risk for being desperately, miserably sick.  And making others desperately, miserably sick, too.

FWIW, I'm not just making this stuff up.  I studied microbiology in undergraduate college, studied microbiology again in medical school, where I also studied infectious diseases, etc., and I've specifically studied foodborne illness, reading countless case reports in recent years, especially those related to church dinners and BBQ, which are personal interests of mine.  I've read the standard manual used in culinary schools and the food service industry across the country for food safety, the ServSave Coursebook, from cover to cover.

Hot food needs to stay hot.  Cold food needs to stay cold.  The process of cooling food and reheating food need to be done rapidly to avoid putting yourself and others in danger.

@smokeyw I think what @Theophan is trying to say is if you reheat food slowly, the food, which generally has lots of stuff the bacteria like (carbs, proteins), the time spent at the danger zone is too long and harmful bacteria tend to prosper and make people sick.  When you take raw food, and raise the temp slowly, you will continue the cooking process and actually will kill off the harmful bacteria as you generally will bring the food to a higher temperature for a much longer period of time.  

smokeyw said:

If you raise the reheated food to the same temp as the previous cook wouldn't that kill of any harmful bacteria as well. I'm not arguing, just thinking it through and questioning in my own mind.

I've wondered the same thing, myself, and I'm guessing @Chris8938 had it right, that most of the time, when reheating food, we don't bring it to as high a temperature and we don't keep it there as long.  I would make the same guess you would, that if we bring it to a high enough temperature and keep it there long enough, it seems like it would be the same thing as when you cook something the first time in a slow cooker.

But that's a guess, and as Dennis Miller used to say, "But that's just my opinion, I might be wrong," and the fact is simply this:  All of the people who really have studied what happens to real people in the real world on this issue agree in recommending that we NOT reheat food in slow cookers.  I have no doubt they have the data to prove it, and it involved some really, really sick folks.

When I have had to reheat PP, I used beer.  Because that's what was in my hand.

@Theophan, thanks for the safety reminder.  Many of us on this here forum use fire and / or alcohol to safely render stuff we consume, well, safe.  I'm not saying it's foolproof... and we can use a periodic reminder on doing it right. 

As far as reheating PP, I use 50-50 Coca Cola and BBQ sauce just enough to add some liquid.   Key is to wrap the PP when it's freshly pulled so it doesn't sit out and dry out.  When I have delivered PP to friends hours after pulling off the Egg, I will often take the whole butt wrapped off the grill and pull it at their house.  

OK, now i'm just enjoying the sound of my own typing given that I am under the influence of ETOH.  Please refer to others more smarter and less ETHOH'd than me.  
J

Pulled a 12 pound butt Saturday after 11 hours on the Egg, and put in the big roaster.  BBQ sauced it all lightly.  Put the roaster in the fridge overnight.

Saturday I pulled it out of the fridge and put in oven at 250 (Covered).  Let it heat for 1 hour, and then stirred it w/large fork.  Set the oven at 170, and we all ate in 1 hour.  Everyone ranted and raved how moist it was.  It was all devoured.  Some used extra BBQ sauce, and some did not.  Regardless, it was not dry at all.  I can see adding some Coke if needed.

nolaegghead said:

If you don't understand food safety, follow the recommendations from the FDA, (CDC?  didn't know they made them) and whatever official agencies say.  Those guidelines are for people that don't understand food safety.

There is a wealth of information and guidance about food safety from the CDC.  All you have to do is be interested in the subject and look for it.  

And please, give me a reason to suppose that we on this forum understand food safety better than people who've been smoking barbecue in their restaurants for generations and whose reputations and livelihoods depend on it.  Even in these restaurants (notably, one in our famous Lexington, NC, last year), people get foodborne illnesses (see below).  It doesn't happen often!  And THAT's the reason that people who actually don't understand food safety can cook for decades and never make anybody sick, "proving" to themselves that they know what they're doing.

Here are some real-word cases, and some of them sound JUST like things some of US would do: volunteering to cook BBQ for a bunch of people, supposing that WE know what we're doing

•  "Boston butts prepared by a church member were the likely source of illness"
• " The product was then cooled in pans in a residential style refrigerator and reheated at the festival."

Check it out:

2015 Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium at Tarheel Q, North Carolina

In June 2015 Davidson County Health Department and Davie County Health Department staff worked with North Carolina Division of Public Health staff to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella among customers of the Tarheel Q, a barbeque restaurant located in Lexington, North Carolina. As of July 7, 2015 as many as 267 people had been reportedly sickened. One person had died. Illness was reported by persons residing in 6 states and 14 North Carolina counties. The majority of ill persons were residents of Davidson County or Davie County in North Carolina. Twenty percent had seen a health care provider. Twelve percent had visited the emergency department and 9% had been hospitalized. Laboratory testing of a BBQ sample and a sample from a patient who became ill during the outbreak were a genetic match by PFGE.

2014 Outbreak of Salmonella, Living Word Tabernacle, North Carolina

Nearly 70 people got sick after eating potluck meals served at a 4-day church conference sponsored by the Living Word Tabernacle in Bessemer City, North Carolina. More than 400 people attended the conference held between October 1-5, 2014. Health officials isolated Salmonella in specimens submitted by 7 patients. Investigators determined that Boston butts prepared by a church member were the likely source of illness.

Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Linked to BBQ Shack in Toccoa, Georgia, May 2013

The Georgia Department of Public Health, the North Health District, and the Stephens County Health Department investigated an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that occurred in early May 2013. As of May 31, 2013, 18 cases had been identified. Eleven people were confirmed to have E. coli; 7 others were counted as "probable" cases. Seven people were hospitalized. Five had developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). Illness onsets ranged from May 4 to May 8, 2013. Ten of 11 case-patients reported eating at the BBQ Shack in Toccoa, Georgia between May 2-4, 2013. No other common exposures were reported among case patients. The last reported illness occurred on May 8.

Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium at a Church Festival, Ohio 2010

In June 2010 there was an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium associated with consumption of pulled pork served at a church festival in Hamilton County, Ohio. The pork was prepared at a private home and served at the festival held during June 11-13. Sixty four attendees with gasatroenteriditis were identified. Three case patients were laboratory confirmed with S. Typhimurium. No one was hospitalized and there were no deaths. Investigators interviewed the vendor of the pulled pork and learned it was cooked at a private home. The vendor reported cooking the pork to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F. The product was then cooled in pans in a residential style refrigerator and reheated at the festival. The time and temperature parameters of the reheating process were unknown.

Peppa's Korean BBQ 2010

Beginning in March, seven cases of E.coli O157:H7 were linked to eating at the Peppa's Korean BBQ in Honolulu, Hawaii. The restaurant closed temporarily after food handling violations were observed. The exact cause of the outbreak was not available. The restaurant closed permananently in October because the business lost much of its customer base.

Georgia BBQ Restaurant Unknown 2007

An outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo was identified in Statesboro, Georgia, in March. The first cases dated back to January. Only when genetic tests showed multiple cases infected with the same strain of S. Montevideo did an investigation begin in earnest. Investigators performed a case-control study using neighborhood controls. This study showed that those who ate at a local restaurant were 52 times more likely to have been infected. This finding led to an environmental investigation of the restaurant where multiple violations of health codes were noted. The restaurant voluntarily closed to remodel and reassess its policies.

Pennsylvania Fair or Temporary Mobile Servie Barbeque Pork 2006

A confirmed outbreak of Salmonella Muenster occurred among people who had eaten barbequed pork from a temporary mobile service while attending a fair in Pennsylvania.

R BBQ Restaurant Barbeque Ribs, Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese 2005

Reports of illness caused by Salmonella Enteriditis were received by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, in South Carolina. The initial investigation suggested that the illnesses were linked to meals eaten at the R BBQ Restaurant, on April 16. Two critical violations were found during the restaurant inspection, temperature holding of the cooked BBQ and storage of food in improper containers. Although none of the food that was eaten on April 16 remained for analysis, food samples were collected during the investigation. None of these food samples yielded Salmonella. Ultimately there were 16 laboratory confirmed cases linked to the restaurant. Eight of these laboratory isolates matched genetically and were found to be phage type 2.

Salmonella Bredeney Outbreak, Shelby County, Alabama 1998

On August 2, 1998 the Shelby County (Alabama) Health Department was alerted by area physicians and hospitals that an unusual number of people were complaining of gastroenteritis following a meal at a local barbeque restaurant. Approximately 170 persons were identified as being part of the outbreak which was determined to be caused by Salmonella serotype Bredeney. Health department investigators collected food samples from the restaurant and tested all food handlers. One employee was infected with the outbreak strain. S. Bredeney was isolated in a sample of meat. Investigators theorized that a sauce used on the meat was the ultimate vehicle of transmission which explained illness in persons who did not consume BBQ.