Cooking for a crowd...a large crowd


 
P

Phil R.

TVWBB All-Star
My sister in law has asked if it would be possible for me to cook for my nephew's 1st birthday party...going to be having 35 adults and 24 children (I hate it when babies have birthday parties, but this isn't the place for a rant...). Anyway, I was thinking tri-tips. What do you guys and gals think of this plan:

So there will be 35 adults, and I'm going to plan on 1/4 lb. of meat per person. So, for the adults, lets say I'll need 9 lbs. of tri-tip for the adults. I'll plan on 1/8 of a pound for the children, that's an additional 4.2 pounds, for a total of 13 pounds. That's roughly 6.5 two pound tri tips for the whole bunch.

I'm thinking I can cook 3 tri tips on the WSM at once...the problem would be that I would then have to foil and hold them while the remaining 3 would be cooking. So, to cook the meat to medium (140), I will pull the tips at about 132-134. I'm hoping that after I foil and put into a cooler, I'll get an additional temp rise of 5 degrees (could be wrong).

The only thing I'm worried about is that the meat will somehow be affected by the foiling. I mean, I know we all hold butts and briskets foiled for quite a while, but what about tips? Could it possibly over cook them and make them mushy?
 
Phil,

I suggest adding in for shrinkage; it's not butt of course, but I think I'd do 7 or 8, use both grates, do two cooks, and cook 4/4 or 3/4.

I'd pull at 130. You should get close to a 10-degree bump if you're cooking at 300+.

The meat will not be adversely affected by foiling. You may lose the crustiness but there are a couple options: Since tris don't take all that long you could put the first cook's tris on racks on a sheet pan and double wrap in HD foil leaving a bit of airspace above the meat. That will maintain more texture than wrapping directly. Alternatively, or if the crustiness is not to your liking when you unwrap the racked tris,you can briefly re-sear while the ones you just pulled are resting.
 
Yeah i agree with Kevin on some shrinkage. I would do 8 of them. Maybe under cook the first 4 a little and when the last 4 are done break down the WSM and grill the first 4 orver the coals to get a nice exerior back on them. Def use a cookie sheet with cookie cooling racks for them to sit on (will keep them out of the juice) and a foil tent so they don't soften up too much.
 
Guys--

I didn't really expect much shrinkage with a tri tip. I thought that since they were so lean (relatively speaking) I could get away with making my calcs. not allowing for any fat loss.

I've done a few tips on the WSM (using the recipe here on TVWB). I'm kinda concerned that if I use both the top and bottom racks that the heat sink will be way too much and I won't be able to get the cooker up to 350. I mean, heck, when the WSM is at 450 and I put only 1 tip on, I drop the temp to 350. Will it be the same for 7 (or 8)?

I have to admit, the exterior is not a big priority to me. I figure I'm going to be slicing it anyway, so I'm just not going to bother. But, thanks for the suggestion.
 
you will get a definite drop in temp. however, if you have enough lit fuel in there, that sucker can still blow like a jet engine. On some circumstances, I've lit the equivalent of 3 full weber chimneys, then to keep it smoking hot, I make sure all the bottom vents are open, and open the access door now and then to do a gentle fan of the coals (without stirring ashes).

I think somewhere on "TIPS" section of this site, there is a picture of someone using the access door upside down, so they could prop it open from the bottom and keep a steady flow of oxygen going inside. that would be the optimal way to get a lot of oxygen to keep the sucker hot.

Reiterating what someone else said above, though, you do want to make sure you have plenty of airflow so the bottom rack doesn't stifle the top rack.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
 
That is exactly what I do--3 chimneys--when doing a high-heat cook with a mass of meat; with lump. My door is upside down for that reason as well--it props open easily that way.

There is some shrinkage, it's not like you get with a meat like butt, but some. I've never calculated it out for tri-tip. I tend to err on the side of plenty for parties.
 
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