Cooking for BIG group . . .

[Guest]

I may have sort of volunteered myself to barbeque for 200 or so at a wedding this summer. I have done four smokes now, and I would of course spend the spring and early summer practicing. Also, I think I may be able to borrow two more bullets for a total of three. Nonetheless, a daunting task.

I have seen a few threads on cooking for large groups - I figure between 100-150 lbs raw meat for this crowd. If I cook chuck roll and pork butt, I could do two rounds on three bullets and maybe handle 150 lbs of meat.

Anyone have any suggestions or tips on handling such a massive task? Talk me out of it if you like. Hard to turn down the opportunity to smoke 150 lbs of meat on someone else's dime though!

 

[adam clyde]

looks like you've read other threads about amounts of meat. Folks are correct... with a big and varied group, plan on about 1/3 pound finished meat per person. You can do the math, figuring conservatively that you'll get around 50% yield (likely a little higher, but I use that as my insurance policy).

But my big advice is get a food vacuum and do as much if not all of it ahead of time. If you want the visual/aromatic effect, cook a nominal amount, but have the vast majority of this stuff done well in advance. Both chuck roll and pork butt freeze and reheat perfectly if vacuum sealed.

Just my 2 cents. good luck!

 

[Jeff T Miller]

Pork butt and chuck roll reheat well. I would cook before hand and reheat. I use large steam table foil pans from sams and fill it with pork and add some water, apple juice and cider vineager. I do a lot of reheating on the gasser. It takes about an hour at 300.

If for no other reason doing ahead of time takes the sweat factor out of the burn not going as planned. Like the temp too low or 16 hours and still isn't done.

 

[Stu M.]

I agree with Adam and Jeff, to avoid last second stress and/or panic, I would cook a majority ahead of time. Then vaccum seal it until reheat time. I did forty people last Thursday and that's what I did, they loved it!. Those pans at Sam's are pretty inexpensive, I picked up the chaffing racks for $3.86 each. Good Luck...

 

[Bob H.]

Cooking for large groups is just cooking more food than for a small group. If you have the right planning and preparation, and some help it will be just like Q'ing for your family but on a larger scale. You will want to control portions and not just let folks help themselves. You can give each guest different colored "meal tickets" and serve groups of 20. I have catered groups as large as 1300, with sucess through pre-planning. It is good that you have started to plan early! Make it fun for you and the guests!