Food "Bazaar" at work.


 
S

Scott Michaels

TVWBB Member
So some posters went up yesterday and some emails sent out today about a food bazaar where I work next week. Immediately, I thought about reserving a booth and doing something. Soon after, I had a few people contact me begging me to bring something.

My dilemma is what to do. I'm leaning towards a butt or two (Mr. Brown, specifically), but I'm not really sure how to serve it. There are upwards of up to 800 people who work at this location, but there are very rarely anywhere near that number on any given day (vacations, traveling, telecommuting). I should be clear: I'm not trying to feed anyone. The whole point is just to have samples for people to try. Because of this, I'm not really concerned about running out, so the amount of pork isn't really an issue. If I run out, I run out. The point of this bazaar isn't supposed to be a substitute meal -- although, I'm sure there will be people who will intentionally not bring any lunch (nor plan to buy any) because of this event.

The bazaar is only two hours long, and I don't know how many other booths there will be (nor do I know what any of them will be serving). I'm also pretty sure that any supplies (e.g. heating trays) will have to be provided by me. I'm assuming/hoping there will at least be paper plates (I'll clarify that tomorrow).

Anyway, assuming I do butts, any recommendations on how to serve it? Should I buy a whole bag of small dinner rolls to make mini-sandwiches? Or should I just provide some tongs and let people take some? Thoughts? Ideas?
 
Your mini sandwiches on dinner rolls sounds like a good idea. That way you control the size of the portion served. Have fun.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Scott Michaels:
So some posters went up yesterday and some emails sent out today about a food bazaar where I work next week. Immediately, I thought about reserving a booth and doing something. Soon after, I had a few people contact me begging me to bring something.

My dilemma is what to do. I'm leaning towards a butt or two (Mr. Brown, specifically), but I'm not really sure how to serve it. There are upwards of up to 800 people who work at this location, but there are very rarely anywhere near that number on any given day (vacations, traveling, telecommuting). I should be clear: I'm not trying to feed anyone. The whole point is just to have samples for people to try. Because of this, I'm not really concerned about running out, so the amount of pork isn't really an issue. If I run out, I run out. The point of this bazaar isn't supposed to be a substitute meal -- although, I'm sure there will be people who will intentionally not bring any lunch (nor plan to buy any) because of this event.

The bazaar is only two hours long, and I don't know how many other booths there will be (nor do I know what any of them will be serving). I'm also pretty sure that any supplies (e.g. heating trays) will have to be provided by me. I'm assuming/hoping there will at least be paper plates (I'll clarify that tomorrow).

Anyway, assuming I do butts, any recommendations on how to serve it? Should I buy a whole bag of small dinner rolls to make mini-sandwiches? Or should I just provide some tongs and let people take some? Thoughts? Ideas? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I personally would smoke four butts, maybe with two different kinds of rubs and serve it similar to how it's done at Costco. I would put a small amount of pork in one of those small plastic containers with a fork. Definitely no buns. All the pork should run out, but if it doesn't, I wouldn't complain and take it home.

Erik
 
I agree, serve it in the little sample containers like they do at the wholesale clubs. Maybe have a squeeze bottle of some sauce or hot sauce available as well.
 
I think the cups are an excellecent idea.

You could always serve your pork in Keri C's Hog apple beans.
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Just in case you are interested I have adjusted the recipe to use the large cans that are available from GFS, or warehouse stores. It fills one of those steam table pans up. One pan will feed 35-40 using a 4 oz cup, which is a pretty large serving. That is how I serve it at the BBQ shack.
 
Jeff -

We had a similar deal at work in September. I served pulled pork too. I just spooned it onto plates using ice cream scoops. This worked well for portion control. There was so much food that buns were not needed.

Jim
 
If I make this the day before and only refrigerate the pork, how well does pulled pork reheat (and stay warm) in a crock pot afterwards?
 
It will hold allright, just make sure to add a fair bit of juice or a vinegar based sauce to it to keep it moist and avoid drying out.....

Clark
 
Well, it's over. I'd say overall, it was a success. Someone talked me into making Keri's baked beans, too. Needless to say, I ran out of both about an hour into the event -- and I had twice as much food (per dish) as everyone else.

I cooked two butts about 5.6 and 6.7 lbs respectively. I was planning on making the #5 sauce, but my timing didn't work out right (see below). Although, despite the problems, I was able to bring the pork into work intact in a cooler and pull it right before the event started. I kept it warm in a crock-pot and served it in small Dixie cups that were provided. It worked great.

Unfortunately, I really need to take a look at my candy thermometer again. This is my third Mr. Brown smoke, and all three have gone way longer than 2 hours per pound. I think the angle that I have the thermometer set inside the vent of the smoker is wrong, because I've checked the accuracy, and it's right. However, it shouldn't be taking me 2 1/2 to 3 hours per pound every smoke, so I think I'm running colder than what it's actually reading. Does this sound like a reasonable possibility?
 
Some cook at 225, if that is you that is pretty much the problem. Just bumping up 25* to 250 will get you what you want.

I smoked a 24# chuck roll back in the spring. It took 24 hours to get to 200* at a cook temp of 250. I wonder how much longer that would have taken, cooking at 225.
 
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