Pulled pork is one of our favorite make-ahead dishes for small and large group food preparations. It’s easy to make and convenient for people on-the-go. Though it’s quite inevitable, left-overs are common especially when there are other dishes served at a dinner party or celebration.
Are you wondering about the best ways to reheat your pulled pork without the dilemma of becoming dry? Do you want to know how to make it taste as good as it was freshly cooked even upon reheating?
Saving left-over foods, in general, is a good practice to help reduce the earth’s food wastage. That’s why I compiled some tips that could help you enjoy leftover pulled pork.
Tips below are expert-suggestions. It is also important to know how pulled pork is properly prepared. The manner of cooking and storing your pulled pork will greatly affect the quality when you reheat it.
How To Enjoy Reheated Pulled Pork In 4 Different, Easy & Fool-Proof Ways
If you have an existing recipe of this all-time favorite dish, you may want to read through below and consider the tips below to salvage your left-over pulled pork.
What you will need
Choose depending on the items that is available at your home
- Water bath and food-safe zip lock bags
- Conventional oven (gas or electric)
- Deep baking tray or disposable aluminum pan
- Microwave
- Quick read thermometer
Four Different Methods of Reheating Pulled Pork:
1. A Lot Of Experts Recommend The “Sous Vide” Style.
According to Steve Cylka, author of the book The Everything Guide to Cooking Sous Vide: Step by Step Instructions, “Food that has already gone through the process of being vacuum sealed and cooked in sous vide is perfectly safe to be reheated at a later date”.
- Toss leftovers in a food safe zip lock bag.
- Flatten it to an even thickness of about 1 inch or less and vacuum seal it. Freeze.
- To reheat, heat up a water bath and submerge the bag of pulled pork and cook until heated through, about 45-60 minutes. As emphasized in the book, “using this method prevents the meat from drying out and burning in a way that could happen in the oven or stovetop”.
2. Reheat Through Oven Baking
Julie Christensen advised the following instructions in reheating through oven baking:
- Pile pulled pork into a deep baking tray or disposable aluminum pan.
- Add some mopping sauce or broth and cover the pan with aluminum foil.
- Bake an oven for 30 minutes at 250 F or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 F (if you have a meat thermometer at home).
3. Set Aside Oil, Pork Fat Or Mopping Sauce For Reheating
There are also good pulled pork recipes that require you to set aside pulled pork sauce, oil or pork fat intended for reheating.
Such as in Lisa Schroeder and Danielle Centoni’s book, Mother’s Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again, where in their recipe, you need to set aside a tablespoon of oil or pork for every 2 cups of tightly packed pulled pork.
Heat it also covered in an aluminum foil and bake in an oven for 30 minutes. This will give you a nice and juicy freshly made pulled pork output.
4. Microwave reheating
If the above procedures still give a hassle in your tight schedule, microwave heating will be the fastest method of reheating pulled pork.
Although there are certain articles that don’t recommend reheating it in a microwave, this is still worth a try. Julie Christensen, a caterer, and mom-chef mentioned in the website Our Daily Life, that when dealing with a few servings of pulled pork:
- You can immediately toss it in a microwaveable bowl and cover it with a plate, lid or saran wrap.
- Microwave for one to two minutes or until it is hot and a meat thermometer reads it at 165F.
And that’s it ! Knowing the proper way of saving leftover foods will go a mile, again in saving the world’s food wastage!
Another thing is that you can share your own cooking to others at the office, instead of buying fast food for lunch. It will also help you save money when you eat out.
I’m sure there are other useful tips and tricks on how to reheat left-over foodsI hope that whatever method above that you use will help you save that leftover pulled pork.
Tell us how your reheating went by typing a comment below ! Or you may want to suggest other reheating styles that could help. And if you did like this article please do share it!
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