Holding meat for a party

[Joe McManus]

Looking for some advice/opinions for preparing for a graduation party. Party's on a Sunday, starting about 1:00p. Menu: 4 butts, 1 brisket (maybe), 2 turkey breast (Keri C's brine). Can't do much cooking Satuday night because commencement ceremony is Sat night.

Option 1) if I cook the butts Friday night, timing them to be done ~1:00p on Saturday, do I rest them for a couple ours before cooling them, rest for a little, pull then chill, throw them right into a cold cooler (we have to drive to the in-laws) and reheat/pull on suday? I've always had good sucess pullling and reheating, but that been using a croc pot. Too much here for the croc pot. If done Friday night, plan is to rest them in a warm cooler for the 2hr drive to the in-laws, pull the meat there, put it in the fridge and reheat in the oven the next day. Would add some liquid, usually consists of apple juice, vinegar, and some butt rub mixed in.

Option 2) Start butts about 2 or 3 Saturday afternoon...let them cook while at commencement ceremony (i'm totally comfortable leaving the ol bullet unattended for 3 or 4 hours after stable temp have been achieved). Butts will likely be done early in the morning requiring in excess of 6 hours of holding...don't think thats possible. Is it OK to hold them in an oven at low temp (175 or so)?

Brisket will likely go on Saturday night, with hopes to finish by noon (there's alway foil).

Turkey will go on that morning either on the kettle of one of the bullets (will have two available).

 

[K Kruger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> If done Friday night, plan is to rest them in a warm cooler for the 2hr drive to the in-laws, pull the meat there, put it in the fridge and reheat in the oven the next day. Would add some liquid, usually consists of apple juice, vinegar, and some butt rub mixed in. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Do precisely that. You can heat in a large roasting pan, covered tightly. You could also use the pan and the crockpot, serving from the crockpot and refilling it from the pan as needed.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Is it OK to hold them in an oven at low temp (175 or so)? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes, it is, covered tightly; stir periodically.

On edit: If you choose your first option it's important to cool your meat before packing it for storage in the fridge. You risk bacterial development and/or off flavors if you pack a mass of warm food together and stick it in the fridge. This is easily accomplished using sheet pans or cookie sheets (I line each of mine with pieces of plastic wrap, overlapping as needed, then stack them in the freezer to chill while I'm pulling the butts). When the butts are pulled and mixed, spread it out on each of your pans (the thinner the better as that speeds cooling) and return the pans to the fridge and freezer, uncovered, (you can switch the freezer and fridge pans around mid-flow so that everything cools about equally). When cool, use the plastic wrap you lined your pans with to lift off the meat. You can transfer it to your storage containers, or just ball it up on the plastic wrap (using another sheet to wrap around the ball), and put in Ziplocs to go back in the fridge.