David Vitale
New member
I just completed my largest cook yet - 128lbs of pork butt for our annual church picnic.
First I have to thank all of those that have posted about larger cooks. I could not have done it without you. Especially portioning and yeild.
I used 3 WSM's with 5-6 butts in each. Each butt was about 8-9 lbs. These were packers that I trimmed the fat cap to about 1/8 inch, and I used a modified version of the Southern Succor Rub. I added chilli powder and cellery seed, and used a beer based mop which I changed to apple juice since it was for church and we have a lot of people in recovery groups there. I mopped every 4 hours.
I used the Minion method with a combination of hickory and pecan wood chunks and 35 lbs of Kingsford. The WSMs performed fanatastic. I opened all vents until they reach 200 degrees and then closed two of the bottom vents. They sat at a pretty even 230 degrees with very minor tweeking.
I loaded the WSMs on Saturday at 3:00pm. With that much meat, it took almost two hours to reach 200 Degrees. The total cook was 14 hours, so I pulled the butts at 5:00 am on Sunday. I foiled and coolered them until 8:00 am when congregation members came in to help pull the meat. My 9 year old daughter and I stayed the night at church tending the cook. Great bonding time I might add
Here in Michigan, starting a WSM is like doing a rain dance - every time I spark up the smoker, it rains, and this cook was no exception. Fortunately the rain started as the meat was coming off the smokers.
I served the pork with a mustard based sauce and a Piedmont style sauce - both of which I made in 2 gallon batches and almost all of which went
We fed 400 people generously with a small amount left over. Hot dogs on the smokers for the kids was responsible for the leftovers.
I would say we had about an 85% yield. The butts were fairly lean. The taste, texture and lip smack'n goodness was some of the best I've made. This will be an annual tradition.
So once again I say thank you to everyone that posts. This cook was a huge success.
First I have to thank all of those that have posted about larger cooks. I could not have done it without you. Especially portioning and yeild.
I used 3 WSM's with 5-6 butts in each. Each butt was about 8-9 lbs. These were packers that I trimmed the fat cap to about 1/8 inch, and I used a modified version of the Southern Succor Rub. I added chilli powder and cellery seed, and used a beer based mop which I changed to apple juice since it was for church and we have a lot of people in recovery groups there. I mopped every 4 hours.
I used the Minion method with a combination of hickory and pecan wood chunks and 35 lbs of Kingsford. The WSMs performed fanatastic. I opened all vents until they reach 200 degrees and then closed two of the bottom vents. They sat at a pretty even 230 degrees with very minor tweeking.
I loaded the WSMs on Saturday at 3:00pm. With that much meat, it took almost two hours to reach 200 Degrees. The total cook was 14 hours, so I pulled the butts at 5:00 am on Sunday. I foiled and coolered them until 8:00 am when congregation members came in to help pull the meat. My 9 year old daughter and I stayed the night at church tending the cook. Great bonding time I might add
Here in Michigan, starting a WSM is like doing a rain dance - every time I spark up the smoker, it rains, and this cook was no exception. Fortunately the rain started as the meat was coming off the smokers.
I served the pork with a mustard based sauce and a Piedmont style sauce - both of which I made in 2 gallon batches and almost all of which went
We fed 400 people generously with a small amount left over. Hot dogs on the smokers for the kids was responsible for the leftovers.
I would say we had about an 85% yield. The butts were fairly lean. The taste, texture and lip smack'n goodness was some of the best I've made. This will be an annual tradition.
So once again I say thank you to everyone that posts. This cook was a huge success.