This is the situation. Wifey requested I smoke a pork butt (shoulder) for a PTA event today. Typically they take about 18 hours for me. For whatever reason, when I go check the temp this morning, it's already at 195 degrees. (12 hours)

So I foiled, and brought into the house, where its resting.

Question is, now what? Food to be served around 3 p.m. My thought was to let sit for an hour, than pull, sauce, and place in crock-pot on low setting.

Any alternative methods we should consider?

Morning Dave. If this shoulder finished way before your usual times, I hope you checked thhe temp in several places just to make sure it's done.

What I have done in the past is to break the shoulder apart, just enough to expose the meat, add just a tad of sauce then foil, wrap in a few warm towels and toss in a cooler. Now, I suppose you could stick a probe in the meat so you would know when it had cooled down to the danger-zone (140). You should be good for 4-5 hours anyway.

Pull and throw in the crock pot or foil and toss in the oven at it's lowest setting. Might want to add just a bit of apple juice or some kind of liquid to keep from drying out. Both methods have worked for me. Personally I prefer the foil.

Others may have suggestions. I too would like to hear them.

Good luck!

PS You know that after doing this for the wife's crew that this will become an annual event don't ya....?

Question for you Wheelz. Why would you partially break apart the pork before placing it in the cooler to hold?

I ask because I just wrap mine my finished butts in double foil and put them in a preheated cooler. I preheat it by placing hot water in the cooler for about 10-15 minutes. This way, when the butts go in, the cooler is not pulling heat away from the butts to warm the cooler up.

I double foil, wrap in a beach blanket and hold in a cooler. I've held butts this way for up to 6 hours in temps in the 40's and when we went to pull the butts, they were almost too hot to touch with your bare hands.

Like wheelz said,be sure it was pullable.

You could just check your oven temp,with your remote,and be sure it is running under about 160�.

If you don't want to start breaking it down yet,just add a little apple juice,be sure the foil isn't leaking,set it in a pan in the oven.

It has enough internal moisture,that holding it another four hrs shouldn't hurt it.

Just pull it on your planned schedule.

The longer it is pulled and sauced,the more it degrades IMO.

RibDog - I like to let just a little of my homemade sauce mingle with the meat (nothing over-powering). Putting it on the outside (bark) just solidifies (glazes) the butt. Yes, you may loose a little heat but I love the added flavor!

Thanks.

We ended up putting it in a crock pot, whole, at a low temp setting, and added a little bit of apple juice.

I would of kept in the foil/cooler method, but I was looking at 7 hours or so until its eaten.

The temp was only at 195 degrees, so I figure it won't hurt for it to actually "cook" a little more, up to 205 or so.

Thanks again for all the great ideas.