Planning for a big cook


 
Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor

TVWBB Member
I'm planning to do a large cook for pulled pork a few days before my wedding in September. I have done one cook of three butts a few weeks ago when I first got my WSM. I'm wondering what I should expect if I plan on doing about 3 times that. I'm prepared for it to take more charcoal and more time, but is there anything else that I should be aware of before setting out on this. I'm a little nervous, but I feel like it should go fine. My first attempt at pulled pork went so well that I feel like I can do it. This smoker is awesome!!

Here is a pic of my first attempt:
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Looks like you have exprience with larger cooks so I think you'll be fine. I've never done a cook that big but, I think if you do three top and three bottom the bottom will not get as quickly as the top. Maybe you can swap top to btoom about halfway thru. BTW, congratulations on your marriage.
 
Thanks Dwain. The pictures above represent my only experience with smoking butts. I've only used a smoker twice. Hopefully everything will go as smoothly as it did for the first run. Thanks for the tip about swapping the top and the bottom.

Thanks for the congrats!
 
You will use more fuel since each piece of meat is a heat sink but cooking time shouldn't change as long as you keep your temps where you want them.

+1 on the Congratulations.
 
Nice thing about butts is that you can hold them longer in foil if you happen to get em done a tab bit early....which is not a bad thing when on a time limit. I would start earlier than planned and use the time in the foil to help you if you do get done early.

I have done one cook for 200 people and it came out on time!! That was about two years ago and I am still tired!!! Good luck with the cook!!
 
There's photos and a post on here, not too long ago I think by someone who cooked eight butts. Maybe they will see your post and chime in. I do remember them saying it will take quite a bit longer for your smoker to come up to temps because you are heating so much meat. Other than that it's just a longer cook and you got to be patient. Are you using the water pan? Dry? Clay Saucer?
 
I was planning on using water. Would you suggest otherwise? I've only used the smoker twice, as I've mentioned, and each time I've used water. However, I am by no means attached to doing it this way and always open to trying something that will improve the cook.

On a large cook with 40 or 50 lbs of meat, is using water in the pan just a waste of energy (briquettes)? I imagine that I'll use SOMETHING in the pan, as it seems to me that having some mass in the pan would help to even out any hot spots for more even cooking. Is it worth preheating a clay saucer in the oven to speed the heating process?
 
Andrew I do not have the experience to answer that question, I was more curious but I'm thinking with all that meat acting as a heat sink you might not want to use water or at least not 3 gallons which what the 22 holds. Hopefully others will see your post and chime in. I'm only using water now for ribs. I like the clay saucer and have done butts with it and it's great.
 
You said you're planning a large cook a few days before your wedding, are you planning on serving the food at the wedding, or is this for something else?
 
Tom_M said:
You said you're planning a large cook a few days before your wedding, are you planning on serving the food at the wedding, or is this for something else?
Click to expand...

I wish I could get away with serving Q for my wedding. I would save SO much money. My future MIL is going to have a reception type thing for everyone the night before the wedding with informal type food. Since I had just made my first pulled pork when she was talking about it, I volunteered to make some for the reception.

My plan is to make the pork, bag it up, and then freeze it down quickly on dry ice. I'll heat it in some large foil casserole pans in an oven for the dinner. Does this seem like a sound plan?
 
Yeah, that will work but PP can dry out fairly quickly during reheating so you might want to add some liquid to it. I've had the best luck sealing it up in Foodsaver bags and then reheating by putting the bags in boiling water. Heavy duty freezer bags also work well in mildly boiling water.
 
Thanks Tom. I'll probably do a test butt (you know, strictly in the name of science;)) to make sure that it'll reheat OK. The first butts I did reheated just fine with a bit of added apple juice. I might just use water though so I don't alter the flavor too much.
 
...what Tom said...We have a local joint around here that vacuum seals a lb of pulled pork for take home and recommends reheating in boil water. It works really well and may work for you with Ziplock bags or something.
 
I copied this from one of the posts on here. I've never tried it. I have used Roxy's Mustard & Vinegar Sauce. I posted it on here. He is someone I know and has some stuff on the Smoke Ring. It's great on PP. If you are doing this for your wedding you might want to consider offering some different sauces to go with the PP. Just a thought. Congrats by the way!!

Pork Butt Finishing Sauce

1 part butter
1 part chicken stock or broth
1 part bbq sauce
Heat and pour over the pulled pork.
1/4 cup each is usually enough.
 
One more question: do I need to adjust the amount of smoke wood for a bigger cook? I'm sure I'm over complicating it, but I could see using more due to the greater surface area of food that needs to absorb food, but then I wonder if that is offset by the decrease in volume of air (smoke) space in the smoker from the food. Am I making this overly scientific?
 
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