EnigmaX Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 I've been up since 4.50am trying to salvage two pulled pork shoulders that were smoking on a Kamado overnight which appears to have extinguished at 1:30am while I was asleep. Moving aside why (I've honestly no idea, it was chugging along nicely) I'm concerned at whether I should continue to cook and serve the pork. I have an Inkbird thermometer that tells me when the fire went out due to the temp drop. Both pork shoulders hit an internal temp of 57c before starting to drop at 2am. When I got up at 5am they'd hit 34c. I've given up on the Kamado for this morning, I couldn't get it lit quickly enough and I was worried about the safety of the pork. I put on the oven in the kitchen and moved them across to continue the cook. Given that the pork didn't manage to escape the danger zone (up to 62c) and with the fire being out from 1.30 - 5am the pork has been in the danger zone more than 4 hours. If I am able to salvage the pulled pork from a taste and texture perspective, would it be safe to eat? The pork is currently sitting in a slow cooker happily at 85c, it looks great, smells great but I'm not sure if it's safe. Any thoughts? Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icefever Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 Sorry to hear about this but quote..... According the UK Food Standards Agency pork needs to reach an internal temperature of 75 C for 2minutes, to kill off any harmful bugs. If it was me??? I would not take any chances with my family... Ice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigmaX Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 IceFever, thanks for taking the time to respond in my hour of need . The pork shoulder is currently sat at an internal temp of 95c in a slow cooker. It's been at this temp for well over 1 hour. I'd love to make this a learning exercise, at this temperature all known pathogens should have died - would you agree? What is the risk in this instance? I'm not disagreeing, just trying to learn more about the process. I can say the shoulder looks, smells and feels spot on. Do you have any insights that could help? Do you have any other thoughts? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripple Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 As Ice has said, @75C all pathogens are killed after 2 minutes, given the internal temperature and the time it has been above 75C I would have no concerns about eating the pork, if you need a test tester drop it round to me and, in a selfless act, I will test it for you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamG Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 About the extinguishing problem... I would guess its possibly an ash build up? I once used some lumpwood that had alot of small bits in and I just poured it in my kamado. It was steady for a few hours but the ash collected on the charcoal grid (instead of falling through to the ash pan), a really good stir and a shake to loosen the ash did the trick and it eventually returned back to temp. Another time i topped up the charcoal, but I just added the charcoal without stirring etc...the same problem and same solution. If i ever do overnight cooks I always put the lumpwood in by hand, leaning big peices against each other at the bottom and smaller bits on top as a precaution. It takes longer and more messy but so far its never extinguished. This is also a good reason to have a charcoal basket since you can give it a really good shake (welding gauntlets on), take the basket out (leaving the lumpwood in the basket) and tip the ash on the grid(using an ash tool) into the ash tray, charcoal basket back in and a top up....as good as a fresh light👍 Hope this is helpful🍻 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigmaX Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Hi Adam, actually this is incredibly helpful thank you - you could be onto something. I have an ash basket, but it never occurred to me to shake it before lighting, I've always used it afterwards to help with clean-up. I did pour charcoal in to fill the basket and there were a lot of smaller lumps. I arranged the coal into a pyramid and ensured that there were large lumps near the top... but of course this would still ultimately choke it out if / when it all collapses down. When I rescued the pork shoulder this morning, I shook the basket to work out what was going on. It looked fine, plenty of coal but I was more concerned with the pork. I left the Kamado entirely and came back an hour later to a Kamado at 300c+. It just didn't make sense, especially given that I have an inkbird temperature control fan which was blowing at 100%. But if the fan wasn't blowing through the charcoal... all my cooks when I'm present have been a success, it's the low and slow's I've struggled with. Thank you all again for the helpful suggestions. What a great forum and resource we have here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chairmaker Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 Fill the firebox up, especially on a long cook, and buy decent charcoal (none of the Wickes/supermarket rubbish). Any that's left over will happily burn again. No need to shake it take it between cooks.....decent charcoal will happily burn again. Once it's all gone, then clean out and reload. I've never had a fire extingush with good charcoal. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamG Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, The Chairmaker said: Fill the firebox up, especially on a long cook, and buy decent charcoal (none of the Wickes/supermarket rubbish). Any that's left over will happily burn again. No need to shake it take it between cooks.....decent charcoal will happily burn again. Once it's all gone, then clean out and reload. I've never had a fire extingush with good charcoal. Exactly this. If your using good quality then its never a problem. But with cheaper brands (im looking at you supagrill, which is the brand that I had to do these extra steps) a good stir might be needed since the average size are smaller. Edited June 13, 2021 by AdamG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamG Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 48 minutes ago, EnigmaX said: Hi Adam, actually this is incredibly helpful thank you - you could be onto something. I have an ash basket, but it never occurred to me to shake it before lighting, I've always used it afterwards to help with clean-up. I did pour charcoal in to fill the basket and there were a lot of smaller lumps. I arranged the coal into a pyramid and ensured that there were large lumps near the top... but of course this would still ultimately choke it out if / when it all collapses down. When I rescued the pork shoulder this morning, I shook the basket to work out what was going on. It looked fine, plenty of coal but I was more concerned with the pork. I left the Kamado entirely and came back an hour later to a Kamado at 300c+. It just didn't make sense, especially given that I have an inkbird temperature control fan which was blowing at 100%. But if the fan wasn't blowing through the charcoal... all my cooks when I'm present have been a success, it's the low and slow's I've struggled with. Thank you all again for the helpful suggestions. What a great forum and resource we have here! I wouldn't shake before lighting since its not needed.... only if it starts to extinguish mid cook. I have only ever needed to do this with 1 particular brand and that was Supagrill when I first started (and was trying alot of brands to find one I was happy with)👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigmaX Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) Hi all. I wanted to follow up and let you know that, as of today, I've not died of food poisoning. Not sure if that's a benchmark anyone else would like to use to gauge success, but it's good for me. I can also say that I did a second pork shoulder in the slow cooker (for the kids) to avoid the "risk part", but interestingly it wasn't a patch on the one from the Kamado. It ended up being an interesting comparison between pork done on the Kamado low and slow (with a massive mid-cook failure), versus a seven-hour slow cooked pork shoulder in a crockpot. The moisture difference was incredible, and the taste wasn't close. Regarding the charcoal, what does everyone use? I've been using this https://www.coals2u.co.uk/restaurant-charcoal.html and other than the lumps being small and the end of the bag being "bitty", it seems to have been ok. I think my mistake here was that I tipped the end of a bag in to get sufficient volume for an overnight, and that's choked it out. I'll try again in a couple of weeks and see if there is a difference using only big lumps. What charcoal do you folks use for low and slow? I don't want to go off-topic I'm curious given the comments from you on this thread. Thanks! Edited June 15, 2021 by EnigmaX Adding picture 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamG Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Glad to hear it (and you😉) turned out well in the end. I have never tried doing pulled pork in the slow cooker before. Once I get to the end of a bag I always take the last decent chunks out by hand and bin the dust/tiny pieces if any. Probably not needed but I prefer to do that just in case there is alot more dust than anticipated👍 Some brands that I have tried and happy with are: EBC lumpwood (my 2nd favourite overall): https://everburningcharcoal.co.uk/ CPL lumpwood: (the blue bags are the good ones, dont be tempted with the Supagrill lumpwood) https://staffordshire.cpldistribution.co.uk/restaurant_charcoal_bundle.html LogDelivery lumpwood (my current favourite overall are the blue ones, they also come double bagged. Not tried the orange ones though): https://www.log-delivery.co.uk/product/charcoal These are some alternatives but if your happy with what you have then just stick with them👍😁 I use the same lumpwood for all cooks. Although any massive lumps I find while loading I will keep in an old charcoal bag and save them for pizza or any cooks that require a high temp🔥 What is in the dish that you served with the pulled pork? 😋(top left corner of your pic) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigmaX Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 I'll start doing the same myself - saving the large chunks is a great idea! The bag I've got is the large CPL blue one, I think coals2u is the same company as CPL distribution - we are using the same stuff, I'm glad you approve of it! The bag on the website has recently changed, no idea if the quality has, I've got another order for next week. > What is in the dish that you served with the pulled pork? 😋(top left corner of your pic) Ah, that's my macaroni cheese with Red Leicester and bacon bits as a crunchy topping. I intended to smoke it on the bbq but after the Sunday morning I had I couldn't be bothered . I did loads of cheese sauce, the kids love it and that's the yellow sauce on the side. It was done with red leicester, cheddar and double gloucester. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamG Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 yeah im gonna need a recipe for that macaroni cheese as it looks really good👍...and a free sample while your at it😜 Sorry I didnt realise they were the same company lol🤦♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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