How much meat?


 
M

Morrey Thomas

TVWBB Super Fan
For some of you competition professionals out there.....what formula would you use in deciding how much poundage of butts to purchase for a large crowd?
In planning for an event in October, we calculate to serve approximately 1,200 alumni and families. The anticipated crowd is likely to be a mix of men, women and some older children possibly teenagers. Not many small kids due to the admission fee.
There will be ample sides including baked beans, corn on the cob, slaw, potato salad, rolls and desserts.
Long story short...how many pounds of raw butts should we start with to feed this crowd?
 
The formula I was taught was to figure 3 people to a pound of finished meat. Butts will lose up to 50% of their weight in the cooking process.

1200 divided by 3 is 400 lbs finished product, so you would need to start with about 800 lbs.

I'm not a caterer, so hopefully you'll get more answers.
 
Lordy that's a big crowd. I think Clark's figures are pretty close but in a crowd that big with ample sides I think you can err on the lower side, some people won't eat meat, some won't eat pork, some will have eaten before they came etc.


7-800 lbs of raw pork sounds like a good ballpark figure though if that's your only protein. Good luck!
 
Good ideas..thanks guys! We are tying in a bbq festival and competition with our college's alumni day. This is pre-festival planning to determine how many raw pounds we need to have available.
I cook a good bit myself, and have always heard there is far less waste with a butt than whole hog. With that being said, if a butt only has a 50% edible yield, what in the world will a whole hog give after you lose bone, skin etc? Sounds like a 25% yield to me??
 
I think the yeild for pork is closer to 60% if you're talking butts, and that's after deducting excess fat and bone
 
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