Defrosting approx 3.5kg of pork, and then cooking more than once?
I've got about 3.5kg (7.5lbs) of rolled pork (with lots of skin crackling) vacuum-packed in my freezer which has been there for just under a month. I've got around 20 coming to eat on Saturday for a buffet and I'd like to serve it as pulled pork, with separate crackling.
So, first question: when is it likely to need to come out of the freezer? 24 hours before cooking? Or 48, to be safe? It's pretty big.
And, second question: I'd normally do pulled pork for about 5 hours, but this is a larger joint than I've cooked before, and I'm wondering if I can cook it for perhaps 5 hours on the Friday, remove the crackling, then leave it in the fridge overnight, and put it BACK in the oven for another couple of hours on the Saturday. Is that hygeinic / healthy / possible? It'll do the crackling wonders but I'm thinking more about the meat.
Any other tips / advice appreciated, though bear in mind that unfortunately I can't leave it in the oven overnight since it's a temperamental old oven and I need to keep an eye on it :(
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To defrost faster, you could put a vacuum-packed item in cold water. Just be sure to keep the water cold--either put the whole container in the fridge or change out the water periodically on the counter. If you don't use water, I'd allow at least 48 hours in the fridge to defrost.
Anyhow, please don't attempt cooking in two phases. Botulism is one possibility, but under this scenario, it's probably not at the top of your list of concerns. There are all sorts of bacteria that could be growing in a rolled roast. Once the meat get significantly above refrigerator temperatures for more than an hour or so, you really need to cook it until it gets at least to 130-140F (about 55-60C) for a while. Only once you get above 130F/55C will you begin to kill off bacteria at an appreciable rate. (The exact amount of time required to make the food safe will depend on the final temperature you reach.) If you don't get to a high enough temperature, a slow-cooked roast can end up teeming with bacteria.
If you then cool it again before it's fully cooked, some bacteria can produce toxins that may not be destroyed even when thoroughly cooked at a later time. You have three options if it can't be left unattended: (1) get up early and cook it all at once, (2) cut in smaller pieces to reduce cooking time (as others have suggested), or (3) cook completely ahead of time, cool rapidly and refrigerate, and then reheat to serve immediately.
Your proposed method is possibly dangerous, you'd be warming it enough for botulism to thrive, but not enough to kill it. When you cook it, cook it properly and all at once. What I'd suggest is simply cooking it on Friday, then re-heating it saturday, or getting up early enough to cook it through on Saturday. As for when to thaw it if it's a truly heroic size I'd thaw it in the fridge starting 48 hours before you want to cook it.
As for how long I'd usually do 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes as long as the meat is room temperature to start with, so for 7.5 lbs, so that's near enough 3 hours as makes little difference. Not that long really, if you wanted to serve at 1pm you'd want to get it out of the fridge as early in the day as you can, get the oven on at 8:40 on 350F (375 F on a conventional oven), get the meat in at 9, roast till 12, then rest it for an hour. Crank the oven up to max for the last 20 minutes to get the crackling extra crispy.
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