Cooker Capacity Question

[Guest]

I've been reading this forum for the past couple of weeks and will be jumping in and buying a WSM this weekend.

I wanted to ask about the cooker capacity. I'm planning on holding a cookout in two weeks for about 20-30 people and am thinking of cooking a 10-12 lb brisket, 4 slabs of ribs and 2 chickens. Will the cooker hold that? If so, is that enough food or can I add more?

About half of these people are light eaters so I'm hoping that's enough food. There will also be side dishes too.

 

[Doug D]

All that might physically fit in the WSM, but not practically. You don't want the chickens dripping juices above anything else (safety issue) so they need to be on the bottom.

As far as portions go, you should have plenty unless everyone wants chicken or ribs. I see 8-10 chicken servings, 12-16 rib servings (if spares), and 20-25 brisket servings (it will shrink considerably from 10-12 lbs.)

What you may not want to contend with is the fact that the brisket is going to take considerably longer than either of the other two. You may want to do it in advance, and slice and reheat gently to serve. Then you can wow the guests doing the ribs the chickens the day of, and still have some capacity to socialize.

 

[Chris Allingham]

I would second Doug's suggestion. If I were doing this, I'd do the brisket the day before, slice, refrigerate, and reheat. The chicken and ribs will cook in about the same timeframe on the day of the event.

Have fun,
Chris

 

[Sonny Jordan]

Overnight cooks have a brisket on the bottom and two or three butts on top.

Four to six hour cooks have chickens on the bottom and ribs on the top.

Pork Eat World
Sonny

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips. I will try cooking the brisket a day before. It will also give me an extra day to work with the cooker. What are the reheating instructions for the brisket?

 

[Doug D]

Use a loosely covered shallow dish and place the slices not too many layers deep. Add a tablespoon or so of broth-- chicken or whatever you have-- per serving, and microwave on low (30%) for just a couple minutes at a time, checking for the desired warmness at each interval. Or you could similarly reheat in a warm oven-- again using the broth-- in a foil covered dish, or even in packets of heavy foil.