First big cook...Did I screw up?

[wingwalker]

This is embarassing, but here goes. I fired up my DPP Fat 50 yesterday for the first time and smoked 24 butts. I got started at 5:30 am and the cook took A LOT longer than expected. It was just after midnight when I pulled them off and since I had to be at work early this morning, I decided I would pull them off the smoker, wrap them in foil and put them in the fridge. My plan was to re-heat them this evening and pull the meat after they were re-heated. I know that's not the ideal procedure, but it was my only option as I couldn't stay up 24 hours and then go in to work. Here's the problem. I checked on the meat when I got up this morning and apparently they were putting off so much heat last night that they heated my fridge up. They were luke warm this morning. I cranked the fridge up on the coldest setting and came to work. Is this meat ruined, or can I reheat it to temperature (190) and pull it?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[reptileink]

First off, NEVER put hot meat in a cold refrigerator. You are just asking for trouble. Not only will they heat up your refrigerator(as you have experienced), they become prime breeding grounds for bacteria.

Food safety states that you have 4 hours at 40 degrees before you get into a danger zone!

"Bacteria grows most rapidly in the "Danger Zone" temperature range. This zone is between 40 F and 140 F. The idea is to refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures keep most harmful bacteria from multiplying. "

You might be ok, but the rest of your items in the fridge are probably in harm's way.
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[CrazyChef]

I'm not sure if this is according to the federal HD or just our county HD, but their guidelines state that food must be brought down to 70* within 2 hours of removal from heat source, then down to 40* or below within 4 more hours.
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[Teleking]

Sorry to say, I say ruined. Tough bill to swallow with lessons learned.
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[CrazyChef]

[Jeff_From_VA]

That's a lot of butts to stick in a fridge. I am guessing this isn't a home type refrigerator?

[istock74]

[JimmieOhio]

I agree with throwing 'em out.

What no one HAS suggested is how to prevent this in the future. I would have placed each butt in a plastic bag, plunged it in ice water to cool it quickly, THEN put it in the fridge. Am I right?

Every cloud has a silver lining... You did find a good, albeit expensive way to defrost your refrigerator.
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[lantern]

To my calculations that was AT LEAST $200 worth of meat and 15 hours of your time.

It's a jagged pill, but I'd say error on the side of safety and trash them.



If I had to guess I'd say you stacked those butts in the fridge as well, right? Whole butts are tough to get down in temp as it is but when you stack them they turn into a GIANT block of meat. Your poor fridge had no chance at all to ever get that much mass cooled down in time.


Cooling down that much meat is a pretty big undertaking for a last minute decision. Sorry to hear about that. I couldn't start that kind of cook knowing I had to go to work early the next day. I'd be SPAZZING out all day watching my temps.

[Kansasboy]

Matbe you could donate them to a homeless shelter.......I mean really...if they get sick as hell...it isn't like they will miss work or anything...lol

[Jeff_From_VA]

[Jeff_From_VA]

BTW if this were just for me, I would take a chance and eat it, but there is no way in hell I would serve it to someone else.

My personal food safety standards are fairly low, as I know that the guidelines build in a large margin of error. When it comes to giving food to someone else, it better be tip top.

[jess]

[Doc1680]

[BlowinSmoke]

[quote="Kansasboy"]Matbe you could donate them to a homeless shelter.......I mean really...if they get sick as hell...it isn't like they will miss work or anything...lol[/quote

If that was a joke, that is hilarious!
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[Bad Santa]

I agree with JimmieO and lantern, toss them...they were in the danger zone temp way too long. Lawsuits for food poisoning is probably a very bad thing to go through.

To keep large quantities and bigger cuts of meat chilled, place them in large ice chests wrapped well in heavy foil then well in plastic along with some water and bags of ice in amongst them and not all the meats stacked together. Stagger them so that the ice water can have as many sides of exposure to the wrapped meats as possible. Plenty of ice too...
Trying to cool down meats in just a regular fridge that has other usual items in it, is hard at best. Even walk-ins get a temp rise when there are large quantities added to them.
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[Canadian Bacon]

After i was done crying,this is where you find the butts......sorry


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[OddThomas]

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