Holding Pork in Cooler - effect of many butts

This came up a couple of days ago. If you double wrap the butts in foil, then a good thick towel and place in a cooler you should be able to get 5 to 6 hours with no problem.

If you pre-heat your cooler you can probably get 2 to 3 more.

Here's my butt-hold'n contraption and I've had butts and briskets in there for 5 hours and it was still so hot I needed heavy gloves to pull.



Spring "Headed To Chim-Chimney's" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Preheat your cooler with boiling water for 20 minutes.
Dump out the water, wipe out the cooler bottom.
Put a bath towel in the bottom, place your double wrapped butts in.
Cover with another towel until there is very little air space at the top.
Close top and you can hold your butts for 8 hours easily.

Please be carefull opening the cooler cover as you will probably get scalded by the steam thats inside.

Ive done this several times, with temps below freezing and still got scaled by the steam when opening the cooler.

careful with preheated bricks in a cooler. i took out one of my firebricks once, wrapped it in a towel, and it still melted a nice brick shaped cloth pattern into the bottom of the cooler. hahaha


so. i'm usually the one least-panicked about holding times of cooked foods and all that similar jazz. but i think you are pushing it.

my brain says that you have cooked, sterile chunks of meat, wrapped in clean food-safe foil, right? so where's the bacteria that's going to harm you even if it drops into the "danger zone" for four hours? seriously? what bacteria are gonna grow?

the other thing is a bit of a question about the whole logic of the internal temp anyway. the internal temp is irrelevant. there are no bacteria IN the meat (even at the beginning of the cook). so if someone is persnickity about monitoring temps in a cooler, they really ought to be worried about the surface temp of the meat. and there's no way the surface temp lasts as long above 140 than the interior does. that thinking (to monitor internal temps) is as counter to the safety-zone "rules" as some of the other so-called iffy practices.

long way to go to get to this... but my BRAIN still says you'd be fine, technically. but my gut says it's just not a good habit to get into, leaving warm meat in a cooler for 8 hours.

i advocate pulling it all now, when it's at it's prime, and keeping it in foil trays or big tupperware bowls. 8, 9 hours is just a little much

whenever i have a porkbutt cook that threatens to end early, i will often decide to clamp down the vents and let the things ride til they are 205 internal. that sometimes gives you another hour or two of cook time over the fire. stretches out the cook and cuts some time off the "how long can i hold it" conversation

if that's the case, you could let it plunge under 140 for as long as four hours...

but the internal temp isn't relevant. he needs to worry about the temp where the bacteria are, and whether there are bacteria there in the first place. there shouldn't be, but the whole idea of holding meat in acoolr for 8-9 hours is a little hincky, even to me.

hahaha

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Keep practicing Doug! You will get there.. :P :P

I agree on the extended cook idea. I also have been six hours or so from serving and have shut down the vents on the egg and let em ride on up to 205 or even 208 before pulling. This has bought me a couple hours at times. Great advice on the outside surface temps. I never have thought of it like that.