Cooking for 60


 
LarryR

LarryR

TVWBB Diamond Member
PICTURES

So Ed C's party got me thinking about the upcoming graduation party we're throwing in June so today we put our headcount together and came up with 60 people. I broke out the BBQ Catering Workbook 2.0 spreadsheet and ran it for 3 meats - Ribs, Pulled Pork and Chicken with 3 sides - Beans, Potato Salad and Pasta Salad. The numbers threw me a bit so I thought I'd throw this out to the group for their feedback. It told me I'll need 10.2 lbs of pork butt (pre-cook weight, post cook weight 6.6 lbs), 15 slabs of ribs and it doesn't compute chicken but I'm thinking about 25 thighs. Sides - 8.5 lbs each of salads and 4 quarts of beans. I'm thinking the spares are right on but the butt seems way low. I would have guessed closer to 20 - 25 lbs of butt. What do others who cook for large groups think? I know it's a ways off but I'm going to start putting my plan together.

Also, I'm thinking I may have to buy another WSM (too bad huh?) as right now we only have Ed and I's WSMs. Which if I buy now I should have her broken in by June. Also will need to pick-up another stoker blower and temp. probes. Happy Graduation Present to me!!!!
icon_biggrin.gif


I'm interested in your feedback. Thanks in advance!
 
Ribs, pork and chicken all on one plate--or presumably so? --or just somewhat of a selection of each?

If the former, I'd do more pork and more chicken; probably 25-30 lbs of pork, 75-80 thighs and 15 slabs.
 
Larry, The butt seems way low to me. When I do up butts for the guys at work I figure one 8 - 8.5 lb pre cooked weight butt for 10 guys. I make the sammies huge, get about 11-12 sammies per butt, we are big eaters.
icon_biggrin.gif
I would say 4-8 lb butts would be about right.
 
I did 6 butts for my sons grad party figureing we served 100 people. Had way to much left over being we had so many sides and other meats ie, chicken, saurkraut & meatballs (10lbs 1 oz size homemade smoked). 3 butts I feel would be enough if your not sure do more. I made mine up a week before froze it then reheated by boiling water. If ya think your gonna run low ya can always warm more up quickly. My last cook for 200 people I did 12 butts and had maybe 15lbs left over the crowd took home on plates. I smoked roughly 110 lbs. I hope this helps you on your figureing.
 
Yea I'm thinking 4 8lb butts sounds good. We'll have people in from out of town so they'll be around a couple of days and will enjoy left overs.

I'll kick-up the number of chicken thighs.

So here's another question, how many racks of spares can one "comfortably" fit on a single WSM? I'm thinking 8 rolled with four on each rack. I've been reading about the proQ Stacker and I'm thinking it might make more sense to buy one of these units vs. a new WSM. Thoughts?
 
I like your idea of buying another WSM but a cheaper route would be to cook the butts ahead of time and put them in a roaster to keep it warm at the party.
Just a thought
Good luck

Dave
 
Well I've actually started looking at another option too; purchasing a Backwoods or Spicewine unit. I really like the Stumps Elite 4 but I cannot justify spending that kind of money for a backyard smoker. I really like the Backwoods Party unit, I think it would be a great size for what I do.

Don't know if I'll pull the trigger on it or not but I'm seriously thinking about it.

Oh, and Ed and I did discuss doing the butts the day before and re-heating as an option . . . but it doesn't get me a new toy
icon_biggrin.gif
 
Hi Larry. Before I found this site I was checking out the backwoods smokers, the chubby and the party, For the price the WSM was a better option for me at that time, but I would like to see your future posts on your new toy.
Timothy
 
You could also put your Performer and OTG into service for the ribs and thighs. This would give you plenty of room on the WSM's for the butts. Since that Genesis will be just sitting there, why not fill it with Italian Sausage and Brats?
 
Dads birthday party about 60. I cooked for about 24 hours which is no problem with the WSM. I did 2 butts at 9#, 2 Turkey breasts at 8#, 15 # brisket, 6 fatties and some brats. Was no problem cooking at all. Fire it up let it settle in and do whatever else you have to do.
 
We have plenty of "grill" space as we also have Ed C's Barb-B-Chef, you can cook a "mess" of chicken on one of those.

Tim, the big difference between our two cooks is that I'll be doing 15 racks of ribs and for the ribs alone I'll need two WSMs. If we weren't doing the ribs this cook would be a piece of cake space wise and could probably be done on a single WSM.
 
I agree with all the above regarding the butts. Thats about a starter for me
icon_smile.gif
. As a guage, just having pulled pork sammiches at my daughters baptism we had approx. 35-40 people and I cooked 6 butts. It totaled two chaffing dishes. But with the ribs and chicken Id probably say 4 butts.
 
OK, I think we have a handle on the meat side of things; 35 lbs of butt, 15 racks of spares and 50 chicken thighs so now we're looking at the other areas of the party such as tables, chairs and what makes me post today, chaffing pans. I'm thinking we'll rent them vs. buying the disposable units, the. So here's the question what size and how many? I'm thinking three 6 quart units, one for ribs, chicken and pulled pork. Too big, too small, will I need more?

As a side note, we're not serving at a designated time, we'll have people coming and going, how long will the food stay safe in heated chaffing dishes? I'm starting to wonder if we should change it to "dinner served at X:XX" just to be on the safe side. Any thoughts here? That Firehouse fund raiser where everyone got sick has me a bit nervous about holding times.

Evidently June is a very busy time for these Party Rental companies, graduations, weddings etc. and they're telling me I should have my order in/reserved by the end of April to ensure I'll have the items I need.

Thanks again for everyones input.
 
You can get away with 3 chafers but I'd get 3 more pans in addition to the 3 you'll get for the chafers (plus the water pans, of course). You will then either reheat all the pans at once and hold 3 back in the oven while 3 are in the chafers, or you'll stagger reheating depending on service times/crowd flow.

A 'safe side' won't obtain just by serving at a designated time. Food can last all day in chafers if attention is placed on then--i.e., they are kept going, they are kept covered, food in chafers that have been uncovered for a while or must remain uncovered is stirred periodically.

If lots of people got sick at a fundaiser it was not likely from chafer use, though that's possible if the issues I just noted were not addressed. More likely? Prepped hot foods were not cooled quickly enough before storage (do not pull the butts and then pack still hot in deep pans or bags) and were perhaps reheated too slowly as well. (Do not reheat deep chafers back with food in the chafers themselves. Reheat the food first then load the chafers.) Or there was cross contamination after cooking or during prepping of the cold items. Or there was the lack of or improper handwashing.
 
Thanks Kevin, great information. Our plan is to cook the butts the day before and reheat. Right now I'm leaning towards reheating in crock-pots and then putting in the chafing pans. Everything else will be prepared fresh and go right from the WSM/Grill to the chafers. It sounds like you're suggesting I have two sets of pans for each unit, and keep one in the oven, when the pan at the buffet runs out, swap with pan in oven? At what temp should I set the oven?
 
Yes, that is what I am saying. To reheat I'd set the oven at 300. When hot (>130) I'd reduce the temp. For the pork, stir at least a few times during the come-up so that heating is more even--and don't pack the pan.

If you prefer to reheat in CrockPots then do a similar thing: Reheat at a hotter temp--but don't take the meat to HOT--just go long enough for the temps to be >130, stirring periodically, then lower the Crock to low to hold.

Make sense?

The big deal--or one of them--is to make sure you cool the meats relatively quickly after cooking. Fill any cooling containers shallowly and cool thoroughly before packing for storage. Do not pull the pork, e.g., and pack it all in a single container, covered, in the fridge. That's when the door gets opened to problems with food safety.
 
Well, believe it or not this cook is only two weeks out, I can't believe I originally posted this back in early March, time flies doesn't it. So here are the particulars, we've changed the location to Ed C's backyard as it's really better suited for a crowd this size, also we'll be able to use his Bar-B-Chef for the chicken thighs
icon_wink.gif
. So here's the equipment we'll be playing with - 2 WSMs (one Stoked and one DiGiQ powered), 1 Bar-B-Chef, 1 OTG and 1 gasser (just in case). Food - 50 chicken thighs 1/2 roadside style 1/2 bbq sauce, 4 8 lb pork butts Chris Lilly Champ. style and 14 racks of St. Louis spares Competition Ribs style. The plan - we're eating at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday so we'll do the the butts the day before, ribs starting that a.m. and start the thighs around 4:15 p.m.

We bought six chaffing dishes, three stands with fuel that we'll be serving the food in. We'll be reheating the pork butt in the oven and serving the chicken and ribs hot off the grill/smoker.

So here are my "last minute" questions; 1) even though we're saying we're going to eat at 5:30 p.m., I know not everyone will be there at that time to sit down and eat, they'll arrive late and like to eat upon arrival. So, should we stagger the chicken and ribs? Maybe do 1/2 ready to serve right at 5:30 and have the others ready at say 6:30? Same goes for the chicken too? 2) Kevin K. wrote, "Fill any cooling containers shallowly and cool thoroughly before packing for storage. Do not pull the pork, e.g., and pack it all in a single container, covered, in the fridge. That's when the door gets opened to problems with food safety." So, after I pull the pork I should spread it out thin on say baking sheets, cool it fast then once cool pack in bags for the fridge. Should I use vacuum packaging or just regular zip lock bags. I suppose if vacuum packaged I could reheat in boiling water vs. the oven reducing the risk of drying out the meat. I'm interested in thoughts on this one please. 3) Lastly, how long can we allow the meat to stay in the chafing dishes? I'm still worried about making someon ill.

I think this pretty much covers it at this point, my only other thought is quantities; I think I'm good on everything except I'm wondering if I'm doing too much pork butt. The BBQ Catering Workbook says when cooking for 60 and doing 3 meats and 3 sides I should do 10.2 lbs (pre-cook weight) pork butt, this seems way off. I'm tripling this figure as it just doesn't seem right and I can always freeze the leftovers. On the sides I'm doing 8 lbs of Neelys Sweet-n-Spicy coleslaw and 9 lbs of potatoe salad. Any thoughts here? I also took these numbers from The BBQ Catering Workbook.

Beverages - I think we're covered on beverages, 72 cans of Bud Light, 60 cans Coors Light, 72 bottles of Corona and 36 bottles of Miller Light. 2 1.75 ltr bottles of Merlot and 2 1.75 ltr bottles of Chardonnay. 24 packs of Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and root beer. 50 bottles of water. Only thing that jumps out at me after writing this down is I don't have any "regular" beer . . . maybe I'll pickup some Budwiser too.

Any last minute tips or anything I've over looked please let me know. Well Ed it's almost on, I'm really looking forward to this one, should be fun one. We'll make sure and take plenty of pictures and maybe even some video for You Tube.

EDIT: One last thing, party is on the June 14th and I've told everyone I need an RSVP by June 10th so I may be adjusting my figures. We're inviting 75 people and after doing a mental run through we're thinking 60 will show.
 
So, after I pull the pork I should spread it out thin on say baking sheets, cool it fast then once cool pack in bags for the fridge. Should I use vacuum packaging or just regular zip lock bags. I suppose if vacuum packaged I could reheat in boiling water vs. the oven reducing the risk of drying out the meat. I'm interested in thoughts on this one please. 3) Lastly, how long can we allow the meat to stay in the chafing dishes? I'm still worried about making someon ill.
Click to expand...
Yes, spread out shallowly (pre-chilled sheet or roasting pans will speed cooling), allow to cool enough to take the edge off then finish cooling in the fridge. Pack when cold. I still pack thinly. I go for a larger bag that, when filled, will still flatten out to about an inch thick. Better reheating if you go the in-water route.

I'd vac-pack regardless. Less space in the fridge and it keeps options open. Reheating in the oven is fine as long as you a) don't reheat too slowly, b) add some moisture (finishing sauce, a.j., whatever--which you can do when the pork is pulled, btw, before cooling completely), c) stir periodically after the first 20 min or so of heating, d) don't overheat. Or--go the in-water route but still: don't overheat.

No worries on the chafers. If the food (ALL parts of the food) are >130F the chafers can sit there indefinitely. There can be drying and/or loss of quality over time, of course, but the food will be safe.

The big deal with chafers is not to overheat the food once it's there either. Some chafers really crank. (Temp the food periodically so that you can avoid overheating and drying.) Note, too, that the surfaces of food left uncovered for a time can cool to <130 while the food below the surface stays hotter. Avoid this by periodically stirring the foods that are stir-able, rearranging the foods that can be rearranged (moving lower pieces to the top), and keeping the covers on the foods that are not possible to stir or rearrange as much as possible. (Cover all whenever possible anyway.)
 
Thanks Kevin I appreciate the advice. Both Ed and I are really looking forward to this cook . . . except for pulling the membrane on all those ribs. How about stagering the ribs, would you do that or just finish them all at the same time and throw them in the oven and chaffing dishes?

BTW, you're not going to be out here that weekend are you? If so you should come by and roll up your sleves! Or just kickback and enjoy some Q. Thanks again for the help!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top