First time smoking for 250 people


 
C

ClayJ

New member
I was asked by my church to smoke pulled pork for a social dinner this weekend, approximately 250 people. Mostly couples between 45 and 70.

It's just me and my trusty WSM doing the cooking.

I'm smoking 4 butts at a time, and accelerating the cooks by smoking for 4 to 6 hours. Then I pull the meat, wrap them in foil, and finish in a 250 degree oven. I then prepare another 4 butts, refresh the charcoal and start a second smoke.

I get 2 cooks done in a day, with a long enough gap for all the coals to burn out so I can empty the ash and clean the water pan, then do it again the next day.

I'm pulling the meat and vacuum packing each butt into large vacuum bags that leaves them only 1 inch thick. I cool them on the counter for an hour, then in the fridge for a while, then freeze them.

BTW a butt from Sams yields between 3 and 4 pounds of finished meat after removing bones and any excess fat.

While I'm at it, I'm also trying some different rubs on different cooks. Renoun Mr Brown, BRITU, Chris Lilly's, Weber Poultry/Pork, Bone Suckin' rub. I've never done cooks close enough together to really compare. I'll let you know our favorite when I'm done, but so far BRITU is winning.

My real quandry is over serving size. Is 1/4 pound each enough? Or 1/2 pound? Or More?

I'm going for at least 100lbs of finished meat and just wondering about how much more.
 
Serving size is usually 1/4 lb or slightly less. Of course, some might want seconds but then that is another serving. It isn't often that one serves larger than 1/4 lb for the first serving.

You should have much more than enough with 100 lbs finished.
 
Hats off to you Clay, that's a nice thing you are doing there for the church, and I would have to believe a lot of man hours put into it!
Todd
 
I guess I should mentioned that they decided not to do sandwiches. It's just loose meat on a plate with salads, potatoes, and other things around it.

I gave the guy in charge a vacuum pack with 1/4 pound and another with 1/2 pound. To him, the 1/4 pound looked very small.

But it will all be for the good. Once the meal is over, I'll have my foodsaver there, and I'll package up the rest to go to a few widows in the area, so the more I cook, the more that gets passed out.
 
I just finished the last of the pork for tonight's dinner.

I wound up pulling out my modified rib racks to do 6 pork butts at a time because 4 at a time was just going to take too long. I finished with roughly 110 lbs of meat.

Here's a photo of all the sealed bags.

357432352_iC94y-M.jpg
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> BTW a butt from Sams yields between 3 and 4 pounds of finished meat after removing bones and any excess fat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Clay, I'm going to do 4 butts on friday and I'm trying to get an idea of my yield. How big were the butts to start?
 
The sizes varied from 5 to 8 pounds. I think the overall average of finished meat was 3 1/4 pounds.

I trimmed most of the fat cap before cooking and then did very little fat removal after cooking.
 
Clay,

Good job. I wouldn't worry about the amount of meat as you mentioned that there are side dishes as well. Let us know how it turns out.

Paul
 
The dinner went great.

I had 110 lbs of finished meat to serve the 230 people that came to the dinner.

We used 80 lbs of meat, leaving 30 to be distributed to less fortunate members.

I had saved allot of the drippings from the cooking so I could help moisten the meat if it was too dry. But because I had vacuum sealed the meat while it was still hot, it stayed very moist. But some people discovered the drippings and started putting it on their baked potatos. That was a real suprise hit. I had cooled and skimmed the fat off, so it was primarily gelatin that was left.

I cooked a total of 38 butts in 7 cooking sessions.

The overwhelming favorite was BRITU rub (at least in my family).
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">But because I had vacuum sealed the meat while it was still hot, it stayed very moist </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is not a good idea, sorry. Butt will stay nicely moist if you cool it before packing. Vacuuming hot, especially if ther vac'd bags were then stacked in the fridge, means heat gets trapped for longer, quite possibly long enough for Staphylococcus aureus outgrowth. If the time and temps are adequate, S. aureus will grow in sufficient numbers to form a nasty toxin that is heat resistant (reheating won't touch it) and a nasty illness for those that consume it. Food should never be packed hot, vac'd or otherwise.
 
I always rest the meat for 15 minutes before shredding it. Then I cool the vacuum packs on the counter before putting it in the fridge. If I'm in a real hurry I put it in an ice bath.

I've tried letting the meat cool way down before shredding, but it just doesn't shred the same as when it's hot. And once it's shredded, it seems to oxidate and dry out very quickly.

I don't like that faded gray/brown color that pork gets after it's sat out for a while. When I pack it still hot, it keeps that bright pink and white color until I've re-heated it and opened the bags.
 
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