Hi,

Personally, I would continue the cook.

The safety rules are very simplified, and are fairly rough guides.

Here is a clearer explanation. Pathogen growth and death is determined by both time & temperature. At 140F, anything on the surface was dead in just a few seconds. But it started dying at around 126F. And it did not grow again until the meat surface temperature dropped back to that. If recontaminated, it takes about 4 hours to reach a hazardous level if the temp is around body temp, or just below.

So the time the piece was back into hazard seems to be maybe 2 hours from what I can tell from the chart.

The exception would be for meat that was previously cut into, like a de-boned buttm where the internal temp may not have gotten high enough, long enough, to destroy pathogens.

Hope this helps

With a Smobot or any temp control unit, based on results I have had, and what has been shared by those in this forum and other forums for ceramic cooking; never go below 250°F to 275°F. The risk of losing your fire is too great, especially on overnight cooks, even when using a temp control unit.

I tried using one for a while, and found that I could do as good if not better by using the vents and daisy wheel. (Old style vent cap). I think all of the temp controls are helpful, and they definitely have some cool bells and whistles. But the reliance and constant need to order probes became a bit of an issue for me. For whatever reason, I went through those rapidly. Another problem for me was the humidity, where we live, just seems to eat up the CPU. I tried encapsulation, double bagging, you name it, it still oxidized externally and internally within the first year. The only thing left that works on my Smobot, with any measure of reliability is the pit temp probe, and I have not used that in the last 50+ cooks.

To be fair, I bought one of the earliest models, and when it worked, it was pretty dang cool. I am certain they have come a long way since my model, and I will also say the customer service was great, until they got tired of my calls and emails on the issues I had. I get it, maybe I just did everything wrong, or I got one that was not on par with all the others. There is only so much time to invest on one person with one unit. I may have used up my quota the first few months.

225°F is a difficult temp to regulate, at least for me on the XL, but my success has gotten much better due to process changes along the way. I am just guessing I am 90% successful at 225°F with my XL, 95% at 230°-240°F 100% at 250° and above using the daisy wheel and bottom vent.

There are those evenings I want to sit out by the fire pit, having a glass or two of wine, I will go for 225°F, mostly with no issues. I just check the temp whenever I need to stir the fire in my pit. It works out.

Anyway, good luck moving forward.

I’d likely have  soldiered on, and eaten it all... While cooking something else for the guests.