Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

[jsfinn]

Happy Holidays, everyone!

I set up the smoker yesterday and planned to run it all day and all night smoking a bunch of different meat for friends and us to store in the freezer.

For whatever reason, I just couldn't get things to work right with the smoker and it was running cool all day and night.

I put a pork shoulder on yesterday around noon. Around 4 PM yesterday, the meat temperature was about 140 degrees. I checked again around 8 PM and it was still 140 so I added more charcoal and got the meat temperature up to about 165 by 10 PM or so. By midnight it was still 165 so I added more charcoal again and left it to cook overnight.

At 7 AM it was back to about 140 degrees.

I'm aiming for 190-200 degrees. I gave up on the smoker and put the shoulder in the oven. It just hit 200 degrees but now I'm worried that the meat sat at 140 degrees for too long. It's been cooking for almost 24 full hours and most of time was at or about 140.

Should I throw my pork shoulder away or is it safe? I don't want to get anyone sick but it sure does smell good!

 

[UnregisteredUser]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

I wouldn't throw it away...

The danger zone, as you might know, is 40-160 degrees. While 140 is not above that, the smoking helps prevent bacteria growth.

When I smoke meats, I do as you have done, but, I only use wood smoke for about two hours, then wrap tightly in aluminum foil and move to the oven to bring it to 200 degrees to tenderize the meat.

I would think that your meats will be very tasty, and fine for serving and cold storage.

 

[UnregisteredUser]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

I might also mention, when smoking during the winter months, I cover the food portion of my smoker with a blanket or two to help maintain higher temps but, it still rarely gets over 140-150 degrees.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

alot tof people use the oven after smokin all day, to finish it off.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

First, don't tend the fire based on meat temp. Monitor meat temp, but tend the fire based on grate temp.

I maintain 250?-255? at the grate throughout the cook.

Meat temp goes from refrigerator temp up to 195?-200? over 12-14 hrs.

It normally plateaus around 170?-185? for 2-3 hrs. while the colagen breaks down. At 195?-200?, I pull it off.

This process is for a pork shoulder or Boston butt. Chicken is different. Only those strange folks in Texas smoke beef.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

The folk in Texas may be strange but smoked beef sure does tastes good!

For what it's worth, I felt horrible doing it, but I threw the pork away. It probably was fine but I just couldn't take a chance with it being too low of a temp for too long. I would have felt much worse if someone got sick, or if I ended up in the emergency room with food poisoning making someone work harder at the ER on Christmas because I took a chance.

I've never had a problem getting the temp up in the smoker before so I'm really not sure what went wrong. It was windy, but I've smoked in the wind before... Maybe the charcoal had moisture in it or something...???

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

Probably too bad that you had to toss it, but if it made you feel better, than good for you.

We are comfortable in eating smoked pork that only made it to 160.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

It was still good. Cold smoked meats go for days at a time with the air temp only getting to 140-150 and the meat much less than that. Of course these tend to have quite a bit of salt curing so that helps them too. Wrapping the meat in foil when it platues will help bring the temp up.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

Should have asked Gus Trichinosis http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872809/

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Smoked BBQ Pork Food Safety Question

Should have asked Gus Trichinosis http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872809/