Pit temp dropped overnight while cooking cured brisket point

[Mikey_P]

Hi guys, and Happy New Year!

I’ve been curing a brisket point for pastrami, and just before midnight last night, I started smoking it.

I was using a Signals and Billows to record and maintain temps, and got my WSM up to 267° F before putting the point on. At 12:30AM I went to bed, with the smoker stabilizing around 240°. I set an alarm for 3:30 so that I could check my temps after a few hours.

Well, turns out I accidentally set my alarm for 3:30PM instead of 3:30AM. Checking the temp history on the app, it looks like the pit dropped below 225° at around 1:30AM, below 200° by 2:30AM, and in between 3:30 and 6:30AM, fluctuated between 190° and 165°. Frustratingly, ThermoWorks’ app never alarmed me when the temps dropped. After waking up at 6:30AM, I ran outside, and saw that my Billows stopped running. I had to swap out Signals units, but got the Billows going again. Adjusted the vents and got the temp to 250° by 7AM.

So, I’m a bit concerned about food safety. My pit temp didn’t drop for too long, but, unfortunately, I noticed that the point’s internal temp never rose above 140° until after I woke up, around 7:15AM. Looks like it was at 126° from around 2:30-6:30AM. Should I be worried? I know the surface of the meat most likely hit 140° within 4 hours, but the internal temp was under 140° for over 6 hours total. Still, the meat was intact and should be cured, so I feel like the chances of any bad bugs growing inside the meat are low, even though the meat was proved. Thoughts?

Pic of my readings right after I swapped out units: https://i.imgur.com/Uuhq09c.jpg

 

[thirdeye]

I'm assuming you used either a curing (corning) brine, or a dry cure method.... and you used the proper amount of Cure #1? How did you cure the point?

Cure #1, inhibits multiplication of all common harmful bacteria that can be found on meat. It gives the desired protection to cold smoked meat or cool smoked meat while the internal temps are <130°. Approaching 140° no harmful bacteria will multiply and many start to die. The only thing remaining are some Clostridium Botulinum spores, the Cure #1 does not kill spores, but it sort of keeps them in dormancy while we're smoking our meats. After meats are fully cooked all we need to do is keep the leftovers refrigerated and any spores are not an issue.

In your case, the outer surface was hot enough to kill the surface bacteria. The Cure #1 protected the rest of the meat when the internal temps were <140°, and once you got the internal >140° the heat killed off any survivors.

 

[Sid Post]

A lot of people throw away good meat. Don't be one of them! I should note, I'm not a food safety expert.

You killed off any surface concerns. So, overnight it hung out in the danger zone for a few hours which in and of itself doesn't mean you have a problem, especially with solid muscle groups. Assuming you finished it off at an appropriate internal temperature, there is nothing to worry about and I personally would have zero concerns about eating that meat.

If there are special needs like Cancer treatment, Immunological suppression, etc. then more caution MIGHT be warranted.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

Mike, if you did use the correct amount of cure 1 for the correct time for the size of meat, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

[jimstocks53]

Even apart from the Cure #1 preservative these temps were more than adequate for safety. You were cooking a solid piece of meat not something like hamburger or sausage where the potentially contaminated surface of the meat through grinding had been incorporated into the center of the meat. Even your measured 140 degrees is more than sufficient to sterilize the meat if it spends enough time at that temp. That is the whole concept of sous vide where the water bath for a medium rare steak is kept at around 130 degrees. Again safety is determined by both temp AND time.

 

[thirdeye]

Even your measured 140 degrees is more than sufficient to sterilize the meat if it spends enough time at that temp. That is the whole concept of sous vide where the water bath for a medium rare steak is kept at around 130 degrees. Again safety is determined by both temp AND time

With sous vide you are pasteurizing foods using temperature and time. Sterilizing food requires much higher temperatures