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23 hours into 1st Butt - nedd advice please

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Unknown
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edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Hey Gang,[p]See previous post for details but the short version goes like this:[p]4pm yesterday put rubbed 6 1/2 lb shoulder on stable 240 dome temp small egg.[p]12:30am today, went to bed with dome still at 240 and meat at 155[p]5:15am today - cool egg... internal temp 120[p]5:35am today - more fire, wood chuncks etc. Meet back on at 240.[p]3:15pm today (23 hours in but there was some down time in the wee hours when the fire died.) - dome at 250-260. Internal temp 185.[p]So, it seems I am moving in the right direction. However, I have to leave the house at 5:30pm CST and I will not be home until roughly 10pm CST.[p]Should I pull it off in two hours and rap it up, or try to take the temp in the egg down to 200 and let it go until 10pm or take it off and wrap it now?[p]From all my reading it seems like I am not the first to have a fire go out so I am guessing I am not the first to run into a timing issue. Please advise on what to do given the time constraints of my evening.[p]Thanks!
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    Pace Yourself,
    I think I would toss the meat, not knowing what temps it was at and for how long. There is no pork butt on this earth worth food poisoning.[p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    Pace Yourself,[p] I have to agree with TNW. Toss it.
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  • Midnight Smoker
    Midnight Smoker Posts: 273
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    The Naked Whiz,[p]even if it was in the "danger zone" for a while (between 40 degrees and 140 degrees), wouldn't it be safe to eat once he got it back up to around 195 degrees for pulling? [p]i don't think there are many kinds of bacteria that can survive past 195 degrees...but then again, i'm no scientician!
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  • Unknown
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    The Naked Whiz,[p]Well, that is an option I hadn't thought of :(. I thought I had read about a few other folks who had fires go out in the middle of the night and were able to save the pork.[p]What temp would it of needed to hit before the fire went out to be safe at?[p]Also, thanks for the quick response! The user group for this forum is great.
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    Midnight Smoker,[p] Bacteria yes, the crap they leave behind no!![p]
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    Midnight Smoker,
    It depends. The problem is that some forms of bacteria produce toxins. The 195 degree heat will kill the bacteria, but it will not destroy the toxins. Unfortunately, I don't know the specifics that would help us figure out how likely it is, but for me it just wouldn't be worth the risk.
    TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    Pace Yourself,
    You can't guarantee that food that has been in the "danger zone" for too long will be safe if you heat it up again. Some bacteria produce toxins. If you heat the food back up, you can kill the bacteria, but you won't destroy the toxins. Personally, I take conservative route.[p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • Egg-N-Tino
    Egg-N-Tino Posts: 157
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    The Naked Whiz,

    Not worth it. Toss the butt, make mental notes on how you did it this time, and do another one. Why take the risk of getting sick. Yes, it took time to cook, butt there is always the next one.[p]Egg-N-Tino
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  • egret
    egret Posts: 4,170
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    Very scientific, Pete!!
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  • EGGOMANIAC
    EGGOMANIAC Posts: 141
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    Pace Yourself,[p]
    Toss it. You were up to temp at one time but that was a long time ago.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Well, I just read everything I could find about the danger zone and the one thing that didn't jump out at me was if the 40-140 refers to uncooked or cooked meat.[p]If it refers to cooked meat then I think I will dump it (so sad) but I am confident the shoulder got 160 before the fire went out so the pork should of been "cooked".[p]Does the danger zone refer to uncooked meat only or all meat?[p]THANKS
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  • EGGOMANIAC
    EGGOMANIAC Posts: 141
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    Pace Yourself,

    We'd rather have ya toss $12 rather than coming back here ranting after staring at the bathroom floor tiles for 2 days straight (a smart egg'r once said that):-) Sometimes I can cook a small (4.5 pounds) butt and have it up to 195 in 6 hours. If you want to go super low n slow for the marathon check into a BBQ Guru. Shoulders are cheap and good for experimenting with. You don't want any chance of toxins believe me.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Pace Yourself,
    the 40-140 range applies to all perishable food, cooked or uncooked, including meat...as one who very barely survived e coli ten years ago--don't risk it!
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  • Michael B
    Michael B Posts: 986
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    The bacteria multiply between 40 and 140 degrees.
    What they leave behind when they die is toxic.
    They grow faster on warm meat than cold. Therefore, 40 to 140 is a straight line and a calculable amount of bacteria.
    40 to 130 to 110 to 140 = a disproportionately long time in the max growth range = LOTS of those little buggers making *LOTS* of nasty, make you really sick kind of stuff when they die.[p]Toss the butt and serve steaks.

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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Pace Yourself,
    it's any food. make up some cold potato salad and let it sit out on the picnic table for four hours.[p]you'll be counting tiles in the crapper for sure.[p]i don't get my underpants in a knot when the temp of the meat is in the danger zone even for four hours, like say when it goes on cold and takes time to hit 140 internal. but that is only when the fire is GOING and the smoker is itself above 140 (like, 180 at least).[p]the reason is that if the environment it is in is hostile (above 140), the smoke, salt, heat are more than enough to keep you safe. you said your fire was out (cool egg). that unfortunately means the surface of the meat (where the bacteria are for whole primals) may have been hanging out in the unsafe zone for a few hours.[p]there IS a difference between the surface of the meat being in the danger zone and the internal being in the same zone, but in a hot cooking environment. [p]even i would have tossed it.[p]here's the kicker, though. if you ate it, chances (meaning the odds) you'd be fine. pork is much more safe than beef in the US. you likely salted the meat, and rubbed it, and those things do more than flavor. liberal salt protects the meat from microbial ne'er do wells. people used salt primarily for that reason during cooking and preserving food "way back", not necessarily for flavor.[p]still, a DEAD fire, with no idea how long it was dead? gotta toss it.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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