How Much Sauce for Ribs

[Drew Crook]

I'm cooking ribs and chicken for about 110 people at a golf tournament (not using a Weber). I've done this before for about 60, and just guessed at sauce, but with this many I'm a little worried. Do any of you have a formula for figuring out how much sauce to provide or a rule of thumb? While I'm asking... how much rub (I will be using rub on both the ribs and chicken)?

Since I know all of you are enthusiasts, I'll give you some details. I am a Smokey Mountain Cooker fan and that's all I bbq on. I'm cooking at a rural golf course in Tennessee. The owner is a BBQ fan and dabbles in it himself. He's built a huge cinder block smoker with iron top and doors. The fire is off set and he burns pure hickory from a local farm. In fact he starts the fire the night before, so all I have to do is show up and start cooking. Last year we had fewer teams so I pre-cooked the ribs on my Weber and then finished them there. But since his set up is so nice I'm doing it all there. The smoker even has a second rack that is on a pulley system that raises and lowers. I would guess the smoker including the fire "box" measures over 15 feet long and say six feet wide, with the top coming to about seven feet. It's sweet!

 

[K Kruger]

Sounds like a cool cooker and a fun gig.

I figure 3/4-1 c sauce/slab, 3/4 c sauce/chicken if halved, 1 c per if quartered; 1/3 c rub/slab, heaping T rub/chicken.

Note: I never sauce ribs during cooking or before serving. I serve sauce on the side only so the quantity noted is based on this. The rub quantities do not include salt as I don't include salt in most rubs; I salt separately first (I often brine chickens). I virtually never low/slow chicken. The rub quantity reflects a total; a portion of some of the rub ingredients gets mixed with butter and goes under the skin, the rest sprinkled on the surfaces.

Welcome to the board!

 

[Drew Crook]

Thanks for the reply... I usually have a vat of sauce that I dip the ribs in after they are done cooking and right before I serve. I do this with half and leave the other half dry. For the chicken, the end of the smoker right next to the fire gets pretty hot so I cook the chicken there at about 350 or so. Last year the chicken was the surprise hit, very crispy and spicy combined with the hickory flavor.

 

[Bryan S]

Drew, how did this cook turn out? That sounds like a bad AZZ cooker, any pics? I hope you are not one of those who post, get the info you need and run people?

Man I hate that crap.