Best way to re-heat smoked meat??

I'm new to smoking and got a couple basic questions.

First what is the best way to re-heat meat after it is finished smoking? We are having a little party this coming Saturday and I would like to do pulled pork but have it finished before people show up. What is the best way to re-heat the pork without drying it out? Slow cooker with sauce? Oven?

Also, I'm assuming the answer is going to be yes but is it possible to over smoke something and dry it out??

I usually reheat by tossing some pulled pork into a saucepan, add the sauce and turn the heat on. But, I don't think that gets the best results, just quick (and better than a microwave which makes reheated meat rubbery IMO). A slow cooker with sauce would probably be an excellent idea.

When you oversmoke meat it doesn't dry it out, just makes the smoke character way too strong. When you overcook (and undercook inbetween normal done temps and normal done for BBQ so you don't render the tissues fully) the meat gets dry.

What Bensiff said. I usually smoke meat every weekend and have people over for dinner, on the rare occasion that there is leftover meat, I either deli slice it thin for sandwiches, or put it in a crock-pot with some sauce, and let it heat up very slowly. The microwave will heat up small portions, but they will dry out and be rubbery like Bensiff said. You can reheat in the oven with a container of water, but it still dries it out a good bit more. Heating up in a skillet with sauce slowly, or a crockpot is the best way to preserve flavor profile, but it usually does make great sandwich meat. Whether its sliced pork loin, butt, sirloin tip, roast, flank, beef loin, or what have you. I use my food processor to cut the slices deli thin and wrap it up.

Sounds good.

Well let me ask this, what would you guys do if you were me. Planning on doing a 10lb butt and eating around 4pm on Saturday. Should I start Friday finish it place in slow cooker until we are ready to eat, or should I start Friday night and let it on smoker right up until we eat? Smoking it for 12-16 hrs.

Good rule of thumb for butts I do (and it varies), but basically is about 70 minutes per pound, You want to let it rest before cooking. I would start Saturday morning at 3 am ha. Then when you pull it wrap in aluminum foil so it finishes and the meat rests, then serve.

Got ya sounds good, well sounds like I'll do one of two things then either stay up and start it at midnight or just wake up at 3 and get it going and then go back to bed for a couple hours, ha. If I wake up at 3 and stay up I'll be dead before the party even begins!

How do BBQ joints do it? Don't they usually smoke their meat ahead of time and then re-heat and serve later that day or the next day??

msh227 said:

Sounds good.

Well let me ask this, what would you guys do if you were me. Planning on doing a 10lb butt and eating around 4pm on Saturday. Should I start Friday finish it place in slow cooker until we are ready to eat, or should I start Friday night and let it on smoker right up until we eat? Smoking it for 12-16 hrs.

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I'm an old hand at tackling this situation as enough screwups has taught me better. I think pulled pork is superior off the BBQ, not reheated; but, how do we get that to our guests? The problem is the a pork butt is done when it is done, not when you predict it should be done and tell everyone dinner will be ready...the second you plan on that it will take three hours too long and everyone will be calling for your head on a pike. My solution is to plan on it being done around 2-3 hours before dinner is planned. This means an overnight cook. When I do this I cook it on my "V" rack so when it is done I place it in an aluminum pan to catch drippings, wrap the whole thing in foil, set that into a cooler, put dish towels over it, and shut the cooler. The meat is always nice and hot when its time to serve. Better yet, it has cooled down some so it doesn't burn the crap out of my hands when I pull it.

Makes a lot of sense guys. Thanks for the input.

I usually vacuum seal in 1 pound portions before freezing. When I want to eat some, I fill a deep frying pan with water and heat it to simmer and I drop the bag in. The moisture has nowhere to go. Obviously you don't want this to boil, but it works out well.

Bobby_M said:

I usually vacuum seal in 1 pound portions before freezing. When I want to eat some, I fill a deep frying pan with water and heat it to simmer and I drop the bag in. The moisture has nowhere to go. Obviously you don't want this to boil, but it works out well.

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That is exactly what we do - I usally do enough for about 4 sanwiches in each bag, and keeping it sealed and reheating like this is the way to go!

Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but... smoked ribs soup!

Last night I tossed a couple of racks of smoked ribs into a crock pot with some water and let it go overnight. (I smoked a ton of ribs and they had been in the fridge for over a week).

This morning I stripped the meat and put it back into the pot with some carrots, celery, onions, and a cup of pearled barley. Hmmmm. Actually the whole house just smells like smoked ribs now. Delish. I've got a couple of loafs of homemade rosemary bread to eat with it. Yowsa.

Pulled pork reheats greatcin a crock pot with a little chicken broth.

I have had awesome success with vacuum sealed bags of pulled pork tossed in a pot of water and treated like a boil-in bag. The main difference is that the bark is all soft, but no real way to avoid it. The flavor is all there and the aroma fills the kitchen as soon as the bag is cut open. This method keeps it from burning or drying out, good stuff!

I usually do my pork and take it out of my smoker at least an hour before serving time and put it in a table top roaster oven where I pull it apart and put apple cider vinegar and perhaps some some left over (clean) rub into the mix and let it rest at low heat for a while (180-200) I heard this called rendering? I like what the cider does to the meat it gives it a kick.

If you're smoking the same day you are serving, you can wrap the butt in foil then wrap it in heavy towels then put it in an ice chest. The foil, towels and ice chest will insulate and keep it warm for several hours.

Bobby_M said:

I usually vacuum seal in 1 pound portions before freezing. When I want to eat some, I fill a deep frying pan with water and heat it to simmer and I drop the bag in. The moisture has nowhere to go. Obviously you don't want this to boil, but it works out well.

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I do this too but sometimes add in a small ice cube of apple juice, hot sauce, and AC vinegar into to bag before vacu sealing it.

I normally add that mixture to pulled pork before serving anyway and this just makes it easier.

msh227 said:

I'm new to smoking and got a couple basic questions.

First what is the best way to re-heat meat after it is finished smoking? We are having a little party this coming Saturday and I would like to do pulled pork but have it finished before people show up. What is the best way to re-heat the pork without drying it out? Slow cooker with sauce? Oven?

Also, I'm assuming the answer is going to be yes but is it possible to over smoke something and dry it out??

Click to expand...

This may have already been mentioned but this best way I have found to reheat BBQ is a bit of steam. I add a bit of water and the meat to a plate or bowel, cover with some plastic wrap and nuke it for a bit (it doesn't take that much time).

When ever we reheat pulled pork, we put it a pan with just a little beer, cover it with foil and heat it through in the oven. Turns out great every time.