Timing Question with Boston Butts

[Fletch711]

This is more a timing question than a cooking time question.

As the 4th is approaching, my wife wants me to cook the usual Boston Butt on my smoker. That I can do, but I have always timed the final product within a few hours of the desired serving time.

My question is:

Can I prepare my Boston Butts as usual and foil wrap and towel into a cooler until serving time? If so what's the max amount of time to let them rest in a cooler and/or would I be better off leaving them in an oven on the lowest setting and wrapped in foil?


thanks for any answers.

-- Fletch

 

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

If you pre-warm the cooler, wrap properly and fill in all the voids within the cooler. Up to six hours works. The more meat you have in there the better.

 

[Wampus]

I've seen 24 butts hold in a packed cooler for 7 hours and the last two we pulled out were still around 165 IT and too hot to touch.

As said, prewarm the cooler with some hot water, then double wrap your butts with foil, put in a cooler just big enough (if you have different sizes). I've used a 6-pack cooler for a single butt, a 12-pack cooler for 2-3 and a "regular" sized cooler for a couple of briskets, 3-4 butts and chickens. If your cooler is bigger than the butts, just fill the extra space with blankets or towels to help with insulation.

HOURS later, the steam that comes out when you lift the lid will fog your eyeballs!

 

[LM600]

Hey Fletch,

When time is of the essence, I always cook the pork the day previous, pull it, cool it and then re heat when needed...maybe a slight cheat but it works!

 

[kcmike]

Ditto on what everyone else said about the cooler. Only thing I'd add would be to be sure to only take the butts to around 190º before putting them in a warmed cooler. With carry-over heat, they'll easily continue cooking and raise an additional 7-10º. So, if you cook them to 200º before the cooler, you'll be left with mushy, overcooked pork after they set for a few hours in the cooler.

 

[Fletch711]

Thank you all. I'm only cooking 3 8lbers, but have a various coolers and blankets. That combined with typical New Orleans heat should help them keep overnight.

I was less worried about keeping them warm and toasty and more worried about going bad or God forbid having someone get sick from my BBQ.

Thanks.

 

[caliking]

How long is "overnight"? Sounds a bit on the long side. Different brands of coolers vary in their insulating capacity. Maybe you can stick a remote thermo in one of them, set to alarm if the temp falls below the safe zone?

 

[Mitch]

My Cambrio will hold above 140 for 8 hours if preheated and filled.

 

[bigabyte]

I had two butts in a cooler that had three 2-liter bottles on the bottom filled with water heated to about 200 degrees. I wrapped the butts in foil, then in towels a couple layers thick and laid them on top of the 2-liters and filled the empty space with towels (you could use newspaper too). I had those in there for 8 hours and when I pulled them out they were still burning my hands hot when I opened them.