BBQ for 50

[Todd French]

Hi all,
I'm a new guy here. Just a quick question. I'm doing pork butt for 50 adults next week. I need to know how much pork butt I should smoke for that many people. I have a weber smoker and also how long should the butts cook and any other advice you think I might need. This is for my work picnic so it needs to be good. thanks for the help

 

[K Kruger]

Lots of info here. Start at the Cooking tab above and then click on the butt recipes. You can also hit the Find button and do a search that way for threads about butt.

Briefly, I'd do 5-6 butts. I'd also do them early, 2 overnight cooks, rest them and pull when still hot. Cool, freeze, and re-heat the day of. Far less strssful.

Welcome to the board.

 

[Doug D]

If you estimate that each guest will consume anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 pound of pork each (less if you serve other meats), for 50 people you'll want to end up with 12-25 pounds of finished product. To achieve that end, you'll need to start with 21-42 pounds of fresh pork butt. You would be best off cooking in advance, pulling, freezing, and reheating the day of the picnic, unless you want to show off a little and do a couple of them so they finish around picnic time. One session of 3 7-pound butts will take anywhere from 12 to probably 15 hours, including firing up and getting things up to target cooking temp-- two sessions like that if you opt to cook the max. While it is physically possible to do 6 butts in one session, that's an ambitious task even seasoned WSM users would likely avoid. The good thing is that-- of all BBQ meats-- pulled pork reheats the most easily, with a quality nearest to just-cooked.