# reheating pulled pork



## JohnnyReb (Aug 2, 2007)

whats the best way to reheat Pulled pork the next day ( i dont have a vac sealer)

i will be cooking on saturday and eating sunday

should i use a crock pot, and if so what kind of liquid should i put in with it if any


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## Puff1 (Aug 2, 2007)

What Bryan said and maybe throw a little vinegar in with it too (just a smidge)


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2007)

Vac Seal Warm FRESH pulled pork.
Ice down or cool.
Best way is to simmer bags back up to 160 degrees internal.
Or Take the meat and open vac bags and put in Foil pans and cover and back into the cooker till up to temp. Keep it covered with some vinegar sauce and she'll be fine and FRESH tasting.

Warm it up wrong and the first thing you will lose is color. No more red, white and brown but a Gray lifeless looking tore up stuff.

IMHO

Good luck


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## bigwheel (Aug 2, 2007)

Time you get it cooled down an ready to chill it be time to eat.  Suggest you stagger the proposed cooking schedule here.  Haul your coola outta the sack about 12 hours in advance of the time you got to be ready to rip with it and stick it into the proverbial empty ice chest with a few folded over newspaper pages (not sure who reads them liberal rags anymore but you can go buy one if you want just dont read it. Crown it with tinfoil over the top and bottom and haul it over there fresh and hot.  Now if you wanted to do the chill..freeze and reheat you shoulda done that last month.  If you get sleepy during the blessed event walk out to the highway and flag over a truck driver.  Tell him you need to bum a no-doze tablet.  Works especially well on Bull Haulers. Tell him/her that bigwheel sent ya.  They usually fork it right over.  Hope this helps. 

bigwheel


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## CarolinaQue (Aug 2, 2007)

I'd be carefull reheating any meat slowly, or at to low of a temp for food safety reasons. The faster you get that meat out of the danger zone (40* to 140* internal) the better and safer you are. I've been in this situation before and have done it a couple of different ways. One way is to leave it whole, wrapped in foil. When ready to heat, put it back on a 300* to 350* cooker and bring to 160* internal. Take off, let rest for an hour and pull. Or, pull ahead of time, put in foil pans and cool. When ready to reheat, using prior mentioned temps, add a little sauce (if a thin one) or apple juice and put on the cooker. Heat for about 1 1/2 hours stirring every half hour until warmed through.

Tim


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## boar_d_laze (Aug 2, 2007)

I agree with Tim.  And not only for food safety reasons.  

When pork which is already pulled is reheated too slowly it will get sticky unless handled properly.  My suggestion for storing pulled pork generally is to make sure the pork is moistened with some "Carolina" type (i.e., vinegar based) sauce.  And that more moisture is added before reheating, and still more if the pork seems dry.  

In fact, Carolina sauces are not only successful for the wonderful taste they bring to pork, but for their ability to help hold the product and reheat it.  The vinegar in them works to break down the fattiness.  

Setting aside the "boil in a bag" technique which is excellent -- small amounts are best reheated in the microwave on a medium setting; while  medium and large quantities should be reheated in a tightly covered pan in the oven or cooker run in the 275 - 300 range.   Stir only as necessary to make sure the pork heats evenly.  While it encourages uniformity, it further breaks down the pork's fibers and (again) encourages gumminess.  So, handle with care.

Whether or not you use sauce, the suggestion(s) to use other liquids -- damn near any liquids -- are excellent.   I reheated pulled pork in a spicy Riesling and that worked out damn well. 

Rich


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## Helen_Paradise (Aug 2, 2007)

Bryan S said:
			
		

> So what your telling me that it's OK for me to cook my pork Butt at 225 but not OK to reheat it once it's pulled and in a pan at 225 in a oven? Splain this to me because I DON'T GET IT, IT'S ALREADY COOKED.  But hey I never got sick yet in the 25 years I've been doing it.



Seriously, I was totally wondering the same thing.


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## Puff1 (Aug 2, 2007)

Didn't I mention vinegar too???WTF???
 :?


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## boar_d_laze (Aug 2, 2007)

Helen, the biggest safety reason is that food that has a lot of surface is more susceptible to bio-contaminants than food that's uncut.  It's why hamburger needs to be overcooked but steak doesn't.  There are other reasons too.  The thing about food safety protocols is it doesn't matter how great every thing's been for the past fifty years, it's the next meal that counts.   But screw safety, you're better off with a quicker warm up (275 - 300) from a texture standpoint, IMO.   Heck, 275 - 300 is pretty darn gentle.

Puff, you said it first and your contribution should be acknowledged.  Frankly sir, I am unworthy.


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## Greg Rempe (Aug 3, 2007)

Easy Bryan...no need to yell.


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## Helen_Paradise (Aug 3, 2007)

I keep a bowl in the fridge, take out what I need, throw it in another bowl, nuke the SOB for 1.5 minutes, douse in BBQ sauce, and eat. I am totally fine.  I agree that is it cooked and I don't worry about it.  But, hey...it's just me and I don't run a business.  Besides, I think the oven's temp for keeping warm is 190. I dunno. I'm young and have intestines of steel.


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## bknox (Aug 3, 2007)

In my experience the worse thing you can do is get it to hot as the meat will become tougher and you loose all the succulence fro slow cooking. I do not have any real concerns about food safety with pulled pork as the vinegar is too acidic to really allow anything to wrong to happen in 24 hours.

Just remember to heat it slow and do not allow it to boil, ever. I have heated leftover pulled pork in a double boiler before as well.

I should wait until after lunch to weed through this forum. It always makes me hungry.


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## LarryWolfe (Aug 3, 2007)

I've reheated pork in the crock pot, in the oven (both hot and fast and  low and slow), in the microwave and in vacuum bags.  Any way will work safely.    

I think people are trying to be way way way too politically correct about food safety when all they really need to do is use common sense.  Yes it's an important issue, but use your noggin.  Getting it above 140* isn't anymore important than *reheating the meat thoroughly to 160* and holding it there.  *Sure you don't want it to sit between 40*-140* all day, but a couple of hours will not hurt a thing as long as you *heat it thoroughly to 160** and proper care was taking during the initial cook.


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## boar_d_laze (Aug 3, 2007)

Dude, 

No need to yell is right.

In the first place, the basic rules of food handling safety aren't mine.  I didn't make them up, I just wrote about them.  *It's not a personal attack *on you or anyone else.  No one is calling you dirty or unsafe.  No one is saying your food is unwholesome.  If that's what I wanted to say, I'd say it.  

Tim brought the issue of food safety up, I explained it a little.  If you want to yell at someone yell at Tim.   He's tough.  On the other hand, I'm sensitive.  In tears at this very moment, actually. [snuffle]

Personally, I find all of this stuff interesting from a "science" standpoint.  You may have noticed I like science.  Admittedly "food safety" can get a little overboard but the things we're discussing here are all very main-stream.  

The idea that cooked meat will not spoil is wrong.  More precisely the idea that cooked meat canl not spoil during a slow re-heat is also wrong.  Because all (or most ot the endogenous bacteria was killed, does not mean exogenous bacteria won't arrive on any one of a number of vectors.  The most likely of which is cross-contamination.  

Any time you create a lot of surface area, as in "pulling" pork, you increase the risk of later contamination.   The "ground meat" model may not be entirely accurate, but it's just a model, isn't it?    

The vinegar in a "Carolina" type sauce won't slow many bacteria for the sort of processes under discussion.  Overall pH is way to neutral.  From the micro-organism standpoint the sauce is mostly just another set of food supplies.    

My personal opinion is that unless you're dealing with people in the "very group," or cooking for the general public, or suspect that the food has previously been handled or will soon be handled in an iffy sort of way (left out on a buffet table, for instance), there's a lot of latitude.  The better the food safety handling along the rest of the chain, the more freedom you have at any given link.  I certainly wouldn't hesitate to eat pulled pork that was reheated at 200.  However I wouldn't want my mother who is both very old and very sick eating it.  Would she get sick?  Hell, I don't know!  Would her risk increase?  Yes.  Greatly.  

If you ever have the chance to take a food safety class, it's an interesting few hours.    

Chill,
Rich[/i]


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## LarryWolfe (Aug 3, 2007)

boar_d_laze said:
			
		

> *I certainly wouldn't hesitate to eat pulled pork that was reheated at 200.  However I wouldn't want my mother who is both very old and very sick eating it.  Would she get sick?  Hell, I don't know!  Would her risk increase?  Yes.  Greatly*.
> 
> 
> 
> Rich[/i]



Very very good and valid point Rich!  The same goes for young children and anyone suffering from an immune system problem as well!


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## boar_d_laze (Aug 3, 2007)

Larry,

Exactly.  Anyone who's a member of one of the "very groups" is especially susceptible.  So, if you've got a guest or are serving the general public you're extra careful.  

Very groups = very young, very old, very sick, very sensitive.  

Your crock pot post raised another interesting point which is that some cooking methods get different rules.  For instance, the "boil in the bag" method aka "_sous vide_" (for all you snobs and Canucks out there), crock pot, and plain old stove top don't need the same temperatures.  Why?  Contact heat is more efficient than convection (hot air).  Radiant is too.  

Crock pot has to be one of the best ways to reheat -- especially if you get a little liquid in there.  Oh yes.  And in yourself too.


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## JohnnyReb (Aug 4, 2007)

now im more confused than before


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## LarryWolfe (Aug 4, 2007)

wdroller said:
			
		

> "Very groups = very young, very old, very sick, very sensitive."
> 
> Hell, those people shouldn't be eating pulled pork.  They should be eating oatmeal!



 :damnfunny


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## Nick Prochilo (Aug 5, 2007)

Now this may come as a shocker to some of you.......I take pulled pork from the fridge, put it on bread with some sauce, put it in my lunch box and take it to work where I'll eat it 6 hours later without re-heating. Never killed me yet or got me sick!


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## wittdog (Aug 5, 2007)

Nick Prochilo said:
			
		

> Now this may come as a shocker to some of you.......I take pulled pork from the fridge, put it on bread with some sauce, put it in my lunch box and take it to work where I'll eat it 6 hours later without re-heating. Never killed me yet or got me sick!


WoW and you are in the very old and very sensitve group :P


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## Nick Prochilo (Aug 5, 2007)

wittdog said:
			
		

> Nick Prochilo said:
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Well, very sensitive ay least!


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## JohnnyReb (Aug 5, 2007)

Nick Prochilo said:
			
		

> Now this may come as a shocker to some of you.......I take pulled pork from the fridge, put it on bread with some sauce, put it in my lunch box and take it to work where I'll eat it 6 hours later without re-heating. Never killed me yet or got me sick!



i see people at work leaving their sandwiches on the table all morning and then eat it at lunch  :roll:   

they do this everyday...... crazy,  just crazy


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## Captain Morgan (Aug 5, 2007)

wittdog said:
			
		

> Nick Prochilo said:
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 [smilie=a_rolling.gif] 


 [smilie=a_rolling.gif]  [smilie=a_rolling.gif]


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## LarryWolfe (Aug 5, 2007)

wittdog said:
			
		

> Nick Prochilo said:
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He's also in the "Very Romano" group!


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## Nick Prochilo (Aug 5, 2007)

Mean.......plain old mean!


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## Cliff H. (Aug 10, 2007)

How do you check the temp when boiling in the bag ? 

I am assuming that you are boiling a big bag.


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