When I cooked pork butts in my 08 there was considerable amt of drippings . I poured it into a mason jar to dispose of. the next morning the fat had risen to the top & the drippings were like jello. My question is- has anyone refrigerated the "Jell" and used for seasoning for veggies, etc? Sorta like using the Pot Likker from a Smithfield ham.

Rt64

Nope,

I use the drippings, as they're dripping to flavor beans and to sometimes baste a brisket.

I'm sure it's edible if I'm using it that way, but I'd probably say the shelf life is REAL short.

Maybe one of those old timers will jump in and tell us how they did it as a kid (right Tom).

I do them like Smokin',over a pan of beans.

I'd be a little concerned about the safety of the drippin's that sat all night out in the drip pan.

Now if you foiled,later in the cook and rested the butts in foil in a cooler/cambro you will have a lot of good drippin's.

You can defat them and pour back over your pulled pork,etc.

There is a rumor that some brisket cooks might mix a few spoonfuls of Cookshack sauce with it and paint their slices for the turn in box.

Yeah, the flies are attracted to the stuff in the drip pan. I agree that it wodu lbe dangerous to use them after being outside. I am going to have to try the baked beans thing.

One think we've talked about before, use the drippings to make Suet for the birds. Mix some of that fat with some seeds and put it out for them and watch them go wild.

But that doesn't answer RT's original question.

I will take the drippings in the pan and boil them to kill the nasties. Or at least I hope so, no one has gotten sick or died yet.

And then I use some of it to rehydrate my pulled pork. The butts I seem to get around here seem to be trimmed pretty close. Going to pick up a few for the weekend, I may have to ask the meat dude if they trim them or sell them as they arrive.

I have found that a good rolling boil for a few minutes and some more of the rub mixed through the final meat make it much more tasty.

Have also used some of it and thickened for a gravy for the baked potatos. You need to dilltue it though because it is really strong.

I smoked a butt this past Friday night into Saturday afternoon. When it was done and I looked in the drip pan , it didn't look too appetizing.

Yuk-O big time. Not only that, it's a lot of fat to drip into a pan of beans.

dan

If you put a catch pan inside the smoker below the pork butt, could you catch some of it inside the smoker, and not have the 'outside the box' problem.

Yes, you can catch the juice inside, where the temp will stay high enough to not affect the grease. I'd just open it up during the cook to make sure you don't have too much. And if the pan is on the level with just above the fire box, it could get too hot, spill over and potentially cause a grease fire.

...but other than that