Determining BBQ Pork Portions for Picnic


 
B

Brad L

TVWBB Member
Over the last five years I have planned and executed our company picnic with the help of a few others. We have always done brats, hot dogs, burgers, chicken, and corn-on-the-cob. This became a lot of work for the morning of the picnic, so we have decided to do pulled pork as replacement of the burgers and brats. The turnout is fairly consistent at around 60 people, including a handful of children. Typically everyone is asked to bring a dish to share; it is a good sized pot luck. The pork will be cooked the day before and re-heated, thus saving many hours in front of a hot grill.

Based on last years results I am figuring 5#'s of dogs for the kids/light eaters and 30#'s of chicken thighs and drumsticks.

How much Pulled Pork should I prepare to accompany the pot luck and the meat above? I typically buy my butts at Sams in cryovac 18-20#'s. Do I buy about 20#'s or about 35#.

Sauce will be served separate, how does one calculate sauce to meat ratio for the pork?

TIA
 
No need to reheat, just cook the butts overnight on your wsm and store the foil wrapped butts up to 6 hours or so in a decent cooler (pre-heated with a pot of hot water) with wadded up newspaper around them.

As to the amount, you can figure 10 ounces of uncooked bone-in pork butt per person, but I don't know how to figure with your chicken and dogs.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rick Kramer:
Sauce to pork ratio is one gallon per 100 sandwiches. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's good to know, Rick.
 
I corrdinate large cookouts for a non profit event (300-400) people.

Easiest for us to grill is boneless skinless chicken thighs, prep is just rub prior to grilling and sauce after it's done.

The chicken comes in 40 lb boxes, from Cash and Carry about a buck a lb.

John
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Do I buy about 20#'s or about 35#. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Brad, you're estimate looks good. About 30# (no bone) would yield you a single 1/4# sammie per person. Plus you've got chicken, dogs and sides to go around. The sauce is a personal thing. I would think 1 tablespoon per sammie would be sufficient as not all will sauce. The sauce is cheap though, so you can buy a little extra.

Paul
 
Wow, you guys sure are quick!

Dave - I was originally thinking of doing them the night before, but I am not to confident that things will come out so well. The picnic is Sunday at the local state park. We usually gather early and I don't want to worry about keeping the meat past 6 hours or having to transport a hot cooker. I really wish this was possible, but I can also keep my mess at home this way.

Rick - That ratio is great! Do you figure 4 or 6 oz Sammiches? I was leaning towards 4 butts, just seems like a lot.

J Reyes - I really like to rub my chicken as well, however we usually do a Farmers Roundup/Cornell/Chiavettas/Roadside type recipe. Everyone loves it, and we can prep/marinade the night before. Local butcher is getting me $0.69/lb for the thighs and drums. Would you mind sharing your rub recipe?

Paul - I was leaning for the larger qty myself. I did 20 lbs uncooked a few weeks ago, and it just seems like a lot. I would rather have too much, and the butts will still be less expensive than the burgers and brats. The sauce will be #5 based on the butt rub (that #5 is awesome stuff) but I will plan a little extra for those that want to sauce their chix (blasphemy in my eyes).

Thanks for all your help.
Brad
 
Rule of Thumb ...
~ Yield on pork butt is 50%.
~ Plan on 1/4~1/2 lb per person, depending on the rest of the menu.
~ 8 lb raw butt * 50% yield = 4 lb cooked / .25 lb per = 16 servings

For 60 ppl, you'll need 3.75 8 lb raw butts or 30 lb total.
 
It's a potluck ... usually means lots of food. Already a bunch of dogs and 30 lbs of chicken. I think 2 butts would probably do, but I'd do 3.
 
<J Reyes - I really like to rub my chicken as well, however we usually do a Farmers Roundup/Cornell/Chiavettas/Roadside type recipe. Everyone loves it, and we can prep/marinade the night before. Local butcher is getting me $0.69/lb for the thighs and drums. Would you mind sharing your rub recipe?>

Brad, yes see the leg quarters are about .60/lb here but when you consider all the fat, skin and bone weight there's not that much difference with the boneless and skinless thighs which also has most all of the fat removed, cook faster than quarters, and don't require any prep other than rub.. Anyways when we do quantity that's the preference.

As far as rub, the non profit we do this for is a homeless/street people faith based outreach so we use what's cheap like restaraunt supply or dollar store rub.

For myself many times I use a basic rub maybe Pappy's Low Salt for chicken and add more sweetness for ribs & pork... for beef use beef bullion and worchester wet rub...

Also for beef my brother who did the beef took 2nd using Cookshack Brisket rub and a tenderizer like the one in the link
http://www.cooking.com/product...rodde.asp?SKU=198288
http://store.cookshack.com/c-136-brisket-rub.aspx

John
 
Thank you to all for your help. The picnic was great fun. I was successful at reducing the amount of grilling time the day of the event, and the food was better than ever!

You can see a few pictures of the food from the event here.

I started out with 30lbs of thighs and drumsticks, 30lbs of butts, 4lbs of hot dogs and 4 dozen ears of corn. The attendance was down this year with my final head count around 48, average is about 60. Next year I will reduce the food quantities considerably, although the leftovers disappeared very quickly.

I am planning for next year to be 3lbs of hot dogs, 18-20lbs of butt, 20 lbs of chicken, and 2 dozen ears of corn. The weather this year was very comfortable, had it been hot out I would have contributed the extra food to the heat.

I guess I ordered the proper weather though, 78 degrees, no clouds, and a refreshing breeze off the lake. It was a great day.... Thank you all for your contributions.
 
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