how much


 
N

Nathan Bauer

TVWBB Fan
My grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary next Saturday. They wanted to take the family (18 of us) to dinner. Instead it was suggested that we do a potluck so we could more easily visit with one another and not just the few people you sat next to in a restaurant. I spent most of my childhood and my adolescence living with them so I’m a bit closer to them than most. When I heard it was switching to a potluck no one tried to stop me when I asked if I could just cater it. My grandparents have done so much for me I wanted to give them a meal they would never cook themselves or anyone else in my family for that matter. I’ve got the dishes I’m doing picked out. Nothing too far from their norm just enough to push some boundaries. If it works out I’ll push them a little further next time.

For the meat I’ll be making pp and brisket. Sides will be sweet potato hash, fresh green beans with a garlic butter sauce and almonds and hog apple baked beans. I come from a long line of picky eaters so my sister is making a potato salad for those not ready for something new…kind of a back up. For dessert I’ll be making a roasted pineapple and grilled bananas served with ice cream and again my sister is getting a store bought cake for the backup. So the menu selection is taken care of for the most part.

I know this question has been covered many times before and I think I may have my answer already but I thought it would be wise to run it by everyone so I don’t make any goofs. I can expect about a 50% yield loss in the pork butts and maybe a tad bit more loss for a brisket? I can get my hands on 12-14# packers and I’ll only do one. How many lbs. of uncooked pork butt does everyone think I’ll need? Again total head count will be around 18. I’d rather over do it on my amounts. I know leftovers won’t go to waste.

Thanks for your help!
 
Two typically sized butts will be plenty. One packer added to that, for the variety, and you'll be fine.
 
Nathan about 30lbs total butt's and brisket will be more than enough especially with all the side's u are serving. Good luck and happy 60th to your grandparents. I miss my parent's & grandparent's.
 
Nathan.
You're a great grandson sir!
Nothing like spending good times and food with family and friends.
Your menu sounds great and 16 lbs of uncooked butt would not be overkill at all IMO
Congrats to the Grandparents!

Tim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Nathan Bauer:
Couple of 8#er's overkill? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>More than you'll need but that's okay. 2, 6-8-pound butts, making 12-16 pounds uncooked, 6-8 pounds cooked, serving 18-30.
 
Best wishes to your Grandparents. My folks had their 50th anniversary 5 years ago. 60 is quite an achievement for sure.
I hope it all goes well for everyone involved.
 
One last question for everyone. Seems my head count has changed so I can slim my butts down and do two 7 pounders. I've smoked plenty but never planned to have anything done by a certain time and I've never done two different meats at the same time. I'd like to have the butts and brisket resting by 3pm prior to serving at 6pm. I'll need plenty of time to get the rest of my dishes working and I'm sure I'll have plenty of distractions along the way. I'm having some trouble figuring out how to best do this. Any suggestions? My thought was to put the brisket on for a few hours as the butts are finishing up and then add another load of lit when the butts come off and finish the brisket with HH.
 
Nathan,

Is it possible for you to do the meat in advance and simply reheat for the big event? PP does very well that way, and it would simplify things for you in a big way.

Jim
 
Many like to do butt-over-brisket cooks but I do not. I don't like mixed-meat cooks. Me, I'd do the butts first, shooting for them to be off earlier, like 1 pm or sooner. Because I do not like resting HH brisket much more than 20-30 min, I'd shoot to start the brisket at ~1:30. They take me about 4 hours to cook so the timing would work out.

The beans can be done under the butts, if you wish. The hash can be done while the beans cook; the almonds can be toasted. The green beans can be blanched while the butts cook as well, shocked, then held and finished at the end of the brisket cook or when the brisket rests.
 
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