Cooking too fast Part II

Stuart · March 2003

7:30 AM, what a difference a night makes. Musta closed the vents a bit too much last night before falling asleep. Woke to find the egg at 100 and the pork at 125! Now I'm left to stress over the meat being done by 3 PM. The egg is back to temp now, I'll give the pork some time to start gettting to temp again and will likely wrap them in foil to help things along.

Unknown · March 2003

stuart,
The real Question is How long was the pit below 140º?
You are working with an 8 hours.
Jim

Stuart · March 2003

Jim Minion,
I wish I knew, I'd like to think not long. We had a chilly night here in Dallas (40) and an egg with no fire shouldn't take too long to cool from 250 to 100. [p]I usually sleep like a newborn while cooking a butt. I wake every 2-3 hours. I'm using my new remote thermometer and had a false sense of security I guess. That last margarita probably didn't help either!

Unknown · March 2003

stuart,
The part that would worry me is the fact that the internal temp fell 50º during this time. The pit had to be under 140º quite a while to get the internal temp to drop that much.
A 100º pit is the perfect condition for the growth of bacteria.
Jim

Citizen Q · March 2003

stuart,
just a thought but, make sure that your probe is straight into the center of the meat, not hitting any bone. If you've got it going down at a slight angle with the tip close to the underside of the meat (closer to the fire), it could explain such a fast high internal temp, while the 125 reading with a 100 degree dome temp this morning would indicate that the temp loss may have been fairly short lived and you may have only lost less that 10 or 15 degrees actual internal meat temp. I find in my neck of the woods that the hour before and after sunrise is the most volatile period for fluctuations during an overnight cook, could be what hapened to you too.[p]Cheers,
C~Q

Stuart · March 2003

Jim Minion,[p]Your concerns are valid Jim. Most savy cooks are aware of the "danger zone" as far as food temps are concerned. The meat is back up to temp and I'm doing my best to drag out the rest of the cook by keeping my dome temp under 200. Given that 145 is the bottom threshold of the upper safe zone and the pork has been 35 degrees hotter for well over an hour this morning I'm feeling pretty good about avoiding bacterial problems. [p]A note about internal temps of meat for all that care to listen. The greatest incident of food poisoning when dealing with meats occurs with processed meats such as ground beef etc. Solid muscle type meat such as a cut of beef or pork rarely become food poisoning prone meat. The flesh is too dense for bacteria to penetrate more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch in any reasonable amount of time. As long as the meat is cooked above 165 throughout this outer layer infection should not be a concern. Think in terms of a rare steak.[p]Once the pork is pulled the adherance to safe zone temps becomes a greater issue. Given my pork will be done much sooner than I desire I'm faced with either wrapping it whole and storing in a cooler to keep warm or pulling it ahead of time and cooling then reheating before serving. [p]Ah the challenges of the Boston Butt! Wouldn't trade em for all the gas grills in the world![p]Thanks for your help all!

Unknown · March 2003

stuart,
One other thing to consider is if the butt was bone-in or out. If it was bone-out then the in and closed back up then bacteria was introduced to the interior.
Jim

Cooking too fast Part II

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