Can My Butt be Saved?

maggiethecat · September 21, 2003

Last night it was decided that we'd try Nigella's recipe for slow-cooked pork butt. The butt in question weighed about eight pounds. After rubbing it with the usual suspects, the meat was seared at 500 for about forty minutes, then (when the smoke in the kitchen cleared) the heat was reduced to 225. The Goddess said we should simply leave it there for twenty-four hours.

We started it at 7:00 pm CDT. Hot damn, dinner would be ready tomorrow before our usual 9:30 mealtime! It was bubbling and smelling wonderful at 1:30 am when I sought my couch, after watching 301/302, a brilliant Korean movie about food --and other stuff--that made me never want to eat again. (For at least four hours.)

I went down to start coffee at 8:00 am. No aroma. The oven had gone out sometime during the night, and it was room temp within. The instant read said 100 degrees. The Handsome One simply turned the oven back on, and it's cooking away again.

Are we going to die? I'll enjoy my pulled pork so much less if I'm afraid that it will be my last meal.

**Dave the Cook** · September 21, 2003

There are far worse last meals, Lily.

You should be fine. The fact that the roast was only down to 100 menas that the oven hadn't been off all night. You'll have several hours above 140 to kill any bugs (and it's unlikely there were any there to begin with; I'd be much more concerned if you were doing a 24-hour meatloaf). Your final temp is going to be in the 200 - 205 range, where very little survives, save the succulence of your shoulder.

But this 550 thing? What's the point of it?

guajolote · September 21, 2003

When's dinner? I'll be Ugo for a day.

I didn't get the 550 thing either.

arjay · September 21, 2003

Mrs. Thecat,

Your butt should be alright. If you put a thermometer into it and it has enough Farenheit degrees in there you may rest easy. However, if you are in the UK, it has to have BTUs. I hope this clears up any concerns.

Al_Dente · September 21, 2003

I'm sure your butt is fine...

maggiethecat · September 21, 2003

I didn't get the 550 thing either.

If it's purpose was to smoke and smear up my kitchen so that I'll have to call in a cleaning crew before your birthday party, the mission is accomplished.

Apart from that, perhaps it was to kill surface bacteria? Give a nice black crust? Or maybe Nigella doesn't get slow-cooked pork butt.

I try to follow recipe directions (almost) to the letter the first time I try it. I'll let you know about the results.

Dinnertime? Er, probably 9:30. :unsure:

**Dave the Cook** · September 21, 2003

Apart from that, perhaps it was to kill surface bacteria? Give a nice black crust? Or maybe Nigella doesn't get slow-cooked pork butt.

The latter, I think. Nigella is not known for her butt.

maggiethecat · September 21, 2003

However, if you are in the UK, it has to have BTUs.

:laugh: How I love an anagram!

tanabutler · September 21, 2003

Mrs. Thecat,
Your butt should be alright. If you put a thermometer into it and it has enough Farenheit degrees in there you may rest easy. However, if you are in the UK, it has to have BTUs. I hope this clears up any concerns.

Maggie, I have a special thermometer. I haven't used it since my teen was a baby. Shall I send it over? :biggrin:

maggiethecat · September 21, 2003

Maggie, I have a special thermometer. I haven't used it since my teen was a baby. Shall I send it over?

S'OK, tana! :biggrin: I own the same one, roughly the same vintage.

arjay · September 21, 2003

Mrs. Thecat,

I am sorry. I didn't mean to put a pentagram into your thread.

Has anyone tried your butt yet?

You remind me of Lana, an old girlfriend of mine.

rj

Edited September 21, 2003 by arjay (log)

Human Bean · September 21, 2003

I agree with everyone else that you're not likely to die from Toxic Butt Syndrome. At least not this time.

I'm also mystified by the 500 degree thing, but have a possible explanation. She probably believes that myth about high temperatures "sealing in the juices." If so, she needs a copy of McGee upside the head to enlighten her.

Please send the cleaning bill for your kitchen directly to Nigella. :smile:

maggiethecat · September 21, 2003

You remind me of Lana, an old girlfriend of mine.

Gee, you say the nicest things!

:biggrin:

arjay · September 21, 2003

ok....i'm done now. good luck. :unsure:

maggiethecat · September 21, 2003

I didn't get the 550 thing either.

After, trust me, much discussion, my husband insists that it's to kill surface germs before the butt cooks for a long time at a very low temp.

Is he wack?

fifi · September 21, 2003

yes

guajolote · September 21, 2003

I didn't get the 550 thing either.
After, trust me, much discussion, my husband insists that it's to kill surface germs before the butt cooks for a long time at a very low temp.
Is he wack?

Everyone knows that Lou is wack :laugh: .

My theory is that she wants to "maillardize" (brown) the outside so that you get the tasty crunchy bits..

BettyK · September 21, 2003

Last night it was decided that we'd try Nigella's recipe for slow-cooked pork butt. The butt in question weighed about eight pounds. After rubbing it with the usual suspects, the meat was seared at 500 for about forty minutes, then (when the smoke in the kitchen cleared) the heat was reduced to 225. The Goddess said we should simply leave it there for twenty-four hours.

Twenty-four hours? Wow that sounds like a long time to me. I've made pulled pork and it took 8 hours at 225. Maybe your butt is bigger than mine so it might take 12 hours but 24? :unsure:

**Dave the Cook** · September 21, 2003

Yes. Once the surface temperature hits 137, trichinosis (the worst of the potential nasties) is killed. By 160, pretty much everything else is, too. Assuming your butt was at room temperature to begin with, all of this will happen well within the first 60 minutes at an oven temperature of 225.

I'm with HB and G as to the thinking behind this. But I'm pretty sure the moisture shed by the meat over the following 23 hours will soften any crunch. It would make more sense to cook it slow at first, then drain any accumulated fat, and raise the temp at the end.

Edit to add: trichinosis is vanishingly rare in commercially available pork; no cases have been reported in at least ten years. If you were slow-cooking bear butt, perhaps I'd be more cautious.

Edited September 21, 2003 by Dave the Cook (log)

ronnie_suburban · September 21, 2003

A similar recipe in The Martha Stewart Cookbook prescribes the same 'very hot-oven-first' method...when we skipped it, the end product (pun somewhat intended) turned out marvelously. Could it have been better? Perhaps, but I'm not sure how. We had to force ourselves to stop eating it long after we were full--and then bickered over the leftovers--how much better could it have been?

=R=

fifi · September 21, 2003

I just noticed the 24 hour bit. :wacko: When I do a pork butt in the oven, and I do it at 225, it develops really nice mallards (quack) without cranking up the temp. This happens even if I do it in an oven bag, which is my favorite way. But... 24 hours? I don't think so. About the longest I have ever left it is about 12 hours. That will reliably produce pulled pork.

Arey · September 21, 2003

May I ask what the name of the Korean movie was. I'm assuming it wasn't Chunhyang, or The Way Home.

Arey

Human Bean · September 22, 2003

After, trust me, much discussion, my husband insists that it's to kill surface germs before the butt cooks for a long time at a very low temp.
Is he wack?

(Again agreeing with everyone else, except Mr. maggie). People have been cooking meat low and slow for hundreds of years (historically; they don't cook the meat itself that long :smile: ) without dying of Toxic Butt Syndrome. Even if Mr. maggie were correct (which he isn't), there are far worse ways to go than eating a fabulous slow-cooked pork butt.

And the 24 hour cooking time likewise seems a bit long; DtC gave a suggested final temperature (200-205 F) for the meat; that is probably right; I don't really know. You want the bone to feel loose in the meat (some useful information here; scroll down to DtC's post).

Nigella might be a good southern girl, but if so, from the south of England; not an inherently trustworthy source for BBQ (or low, slow cooking in this case) info. Similarly, Martha Stewart may be able to hire competent researchers, but I'd never take her advice about BBQ as gospel, unless it agreed with people that really know what they're talking about.

BTW, I have no idea what I'm talking about here.

ronnie_suburban · September 22, 2003

Similarly, Martha Stewart may be able to hire competent researchers, but I'd never take her advice about BBQ as gospel, unless it agreed with people that really know what they're talking about.

A slight digression...

I whole-heartedly agree. I did the project with a friend at his house. Martha's recipe was the recipe that looked best to him and we used it. It actually was quite good and I was surprised. Since then I've learned that her recipes--at least the dozen or so I've tried--are both excellent and reliable. From my perspective, whoever comes up with them, whether it's Martha herself or the 'help', knows what they are doing.

=R=

maggiethecat · September 22, 2003

May I ask what the name of the Korean movie was. I'm assuming it wasn't Chunhyang, or The Way Home.
Arey

It was 301/302.

And welcome to eGullet.

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