If you have an Amazen Smoker tube - try cold smoking whatever you are choosing as your protein. You used pork chops as an example : I would smoke some thick cut pork chops for about 2 hours using preferably a fruit wood pellet in the Amazen Smoker Tube, then vacuum pack them ( or wrap and freeze as LA described) and put them in the fridge until tomorrow. This allows the smoke to penetrate into the meat further, and it seems to mellow out the flavor of the smoke itself.
Whole muscle cuts ( in other words - NOT ground meats ) are safer to cold smoke. The idea is to keep the meat cool while introducing the smoke - because we do not want to create a condition favorable to bacterial growth. This time of year, if you live in a region where the daytime temps stay around 40F or lower - that is ideal. Or you can cold smoke during a temperature favorable time of the day, and add a tray f ice under the meat being cold smoked - that helps a lot. Think of the food safety adage: "40 at 40" Which means - you want to prevent raw meats from being exposed to 40F or higher - for more than 40 minutes.....Now, we can stretch this time out this as long as we are going to cook the meat to above 165F - on the surface...
So.... -as with pork chops - or any whole muscle cut of meat, that you do not want to "over cook" in the interior temperature -it is a good idea to cook at a temperature that insures the surface temperature of the meat reaches 165F - even for just a brief period of time, to kill off any potential bugs. That could mean just a quick sear on Grill Grates, or a griddle.
If you have not tried cold smoking cheese, nuts, chex mix....you have an entire new set of fun things to do as well. Lots of info on cold smoking here on LTBBQ!
As for re-heating...I will go back to the vacuum packing for a moment: Nothing is easier than dropping a vacuum bag into simmering water. No moisture can escape...The food within remains as good as when it was first cooked - without "saucing" or braising. There are vacuum storage bags that are made for going from freezer to simmering pot ( NOTE: NOT boiling water!) for re-heating. And...this is the best season to watch for bargains on vacuum sealers. FoodSaver, and Cabela's as well as the other outdoor gear stores will run sales form Black Friday thru Christmas, often including these items.
