65 for Pulled Pork...help

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65 people, about 30 children, 11-12 year olds, and 35 adults. Currently, the plan is to have only bbq-no dogs or burgers. There will be sides and deserts etc. I will provide two sauces and pork.
My plan is as follows:
2.5 people/lb. of cooked pork
26 lbs. cooked pork
52 lbs. fresh boneless butt
butts average 6 lbs.
9 butts X 6 lbs. = 54 lbs. fresh meat
So...9 boneless butts in two cooks.

Is there a way to cook 4 and 1/2 butts without doing any mod? My thoughts were to put 1/2 butt on top of the two on the top shelf-will this work or would I be better doing the 12 inch rod mod?

With the twelve inch rod mod, what holds the three shelves in place? The top shelf or the bottom shelf? It looks like the top shelf was raised higher than normal.
 
More...planning empty pan cook-who needs heat sink with 25-30 lbs. of meat.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> ... Is there a way to cook 4 and 1/2 butts without doing any mod? ... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
yup, do 3 on the bottom and/or top, on edge in a meat teepee or in a row, if you want to get fancy prevent the edges from touching with little foil rolls.

Skewer bottoms and or tops if they won't stand on their own.

Have fun Steve!
 
I am glad to know 3 butts will fit. The foil balls are a great idea.
 
After it cooks down you should still have 35 or more pounds of Pork.....Hope your hungry
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Take pics of the setup you use, I would love to see it.
 
Chris, would 8, 6 lb. boneless butts be enough? I did not think that 54 lbs. of meat would yield 35 lbs, of PP.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Petrone:
I am glad to know 3 butts will fit. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> One consideration that occurred to me about the vertical butt suggestion Steve, I always trim my butts bald and have to stop myself from cutting the fat out of the middle that's holding it together.

So maybe I'll never win a comp. If you're used to leaving some fat cap on you might not get the same great basting action you are used to.
 
Steve, just saw your second post about empty water pan, missed it earlier ... I really don't think I'd do that on such a long cook when you are planning to use the bottom rack. At best I'm certain you will have to move your skewered - foiled - teepeed or line-dancing butts around regularly and that won't be fun.

I did the empty water pan with meatloafs on a 6 hour cook and the bottom rack one was a little dark and crunchy on the bottom.
 
Almost all my cooks are top rack only. Would sand be better than an empty pan? I will probably still need to rotate...
 
When I just did my cook I used hot water at the beginning and only filled the pan once at the 10 hour mark. After that I just let it run dry. I found that with filling the pan the temps would dip a bit too low for my comfort, albeit still above 200 degrees.

As for the rod mod...the grates are held on by the nuts and washers. It goes nut, washer, grate, washer nut. The bottom grate sits on the tab like normal and the other two are locked to the rod with the nuts and washers. A note is to make sure the whole rig is level because if not you will have to make sure the lid closes all the way. Not a big deal but worth the note.
 
Jim, thanks for your help. I am very impressed with your past effort. It is inspiring.

I hope to do this w/o the mod. I appreciate your clearing up that the three racks rest on the bottom rack supports.
My thinking was, as you inferred, that the water or sand would take up heat-with 4 or 5 butts on, if I rotate them, I should be ok.

What do you all think about the quantity of meat to cook? For the boneless butt, how much yield should I expect? Most folks say to expect not quite 50% loss for bone-in.

Is 2.5 people per pound of pulled pork about right?
 
Steve, you might want to tie those butts up so they don't fall apart prematurely! Boneless butts have a tendency to fall apart more than bone-in's do! Just a thought!
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You are so correct. After working the rub in,I will tie it all up.

Any comments on amount to cook?
 
ok, how dumb can I be? I am planning two cooks-so I'll do one cook with 4 butts, measure the shrinkage factor before planning the second cook.

I hope planning 2.5 people / lb. works.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> ... measure the shrinkage factor before planning the second cook ... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
volume calculation on a butt bone ? ... perhaps it's about 5% - 10% of the volume of a bone in butt ... on 8-9 lbers it's perhaps a pound at most prior to cooking ... so maybe loss is 35% - 40% of weight on bone in butts

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> ... I hope planning 2.5 people / lb. works... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
a double quarter pounder burger is 1/2 lb before cooking ... 1/2 lb per person cooked pulled pork is probably fine if served in buns with salads 'n such and you have a normal mix of eaters, might want to bump it up to 12oz/person if not serving in buns or mostly big eaters ... lot's of leftovers are OK too
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I've done the pulled pork and CR in crock pots for a big group and it worked great. If you have too much to do with that big of crowd already, maybe cook them all ahead of time to keep yourself out of the pressure cooker. Don't forget, it will take a while to pull that many butts as well.
 
The effort has begun. Two trips to the store.
I have made two batches of rub. It took 30 minutes to grind enough black pepper. I dried the brown sugar for one hour in a 150 oven. Rub is done!

Next, a double batch of tomato based sauce. It simmered for about 30 minutes. I was out of lemon so I substituted some fresh lime and orange juice. This is the sauce that gets too thick. I added about 2/3 cup of water to 3-4 cups of sauce. Done.

Finally, a Lexington vinegar sauce. 5 more minutes of grinding pepper...working on a blister from grinding! A double batch of this sauce is done.

I am tired and I have not trimmed a butt yet.
Tomorrow morning, I will start a 4 butt almost 30lb. cook. The plan is for 20 to 24 hours. Followed immediately with a second cook of equal length. So there will be a Fri am to sat am cook with a second cook Sat am to Sun am. the party is 3-5pm Sun. I am tired thinking about it. Butt I'm up for it. Wish me luck.

After the input from Shawn and Tom, I decided to keep sand in the pan for the cook. That is what I am most used to.
 
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