Portion Calculating


 
M

Matt in MD

TVWBB Fan
Hi all - I thought I read a thread here a few weeks ago about how to calculate how much food to plan on for large events but cannot find it after some searching. Does anyone have it bookmarked or know what the rules of thumb are? I am thinking about smoking 6 pork butts in my 18.5" WSM and am trying to figure out if that's enough. We are having a large work party and the pork would be one of several main dishes.

Thank you!
 
How many people are you expecting and what other protiens are you preparing? Also, you need to take into account the sides. They do factor in here also.
 
Thanks Darren - Bob, the whole menu isn't done yet, but it will be mostly crabs and shrimp as the main things, then several small side dishes, probably mac and cheese and I'm not sure what else (I will not be making anything except the pork). There will probably be 100-150 people total.
 
I am not an expert on large events by any means, but with what you have described you should be fine. You could do 2 or 3 more as backup and if not used, you would have plenty of left overs in the freezer for other things.
 
Matt in MD said:
Hi all - I thought I read a thread here a few weeks ago about how to calculate how much food to plan on for large events but cannot find it after some searching. Does anyone have it bookmarked or know what the rules of thumb are? I am thinking about smoking 6 pork butts in my 18.5" WSM and am trying to figure out if that's enough. We are having a large work party and the pork would be one of several main dishes.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

That was me who posted the calculation. I tried the search (useless as you found out) and without knowing a specific word (I tried "person" and only got back to Aug 1), I can't find it either.

Maybe when Chris (mod) gets on, he can find it.

I think it was something like a 4 oz serving (one sandwich/person) you need to figure on 40% shrinkage (that's a guess--might be as much as 50% depending on the butt). So you now need to estimate how many sandwiches and/or people you expect and work backwards to get a raw weight.

So at a guess, you have 100 people who want one sandwich each so that's 400 oz. of finished meat. That is 60% of the starting amount of raw. So total raw meat (with 40% shrinkage) would be about 666oz or ~ 41 pounds of butt. If each butt is about 5 lb, then you'd need ~ 8 butts. This fits in with what Darren said--6 butts for 80 people and increase that by 25% (my example for 100 people is 8 butts--not quite exact but close enough).

As I said, it really depends on # of sandwiches required/how much "other" food you have and how many people are expected.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys - one other sort of related question, and sorry if this is a dumb one, but how much more wood do you use for large amounts of food? I am finding 4-5 tennis ball sized chunks good for 1 or 2 butts. It doesn't seem like too much more would be needed for 6 butts.
 
Matt in MD said:
Thanks guys - one other sort of related question, and sorry if this is a dumb one, but how much more wood do you use for large amounts of food? I am finding 4-5 tennis ball sized chunks good for 1 or 2 butts. It doesn't seem like too much more would be needed for 6 butts.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Lots of "free smoke" floating around in there just going up the pipe. I only use 2 when I do a 5 lb butt.
 
This helpful advice was given to me earlier in the year.
I used this calculation last weekend and it worked out perfectly.

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?65137-Brisket-and-pork-shoulder-in-the-same-cook

Doug Hanthorn has a website called The Naked Wiz. (http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm) It's a ceramic cooker website and it has a wealth of information on everything from charcoal reviews to recipes. Here's what he has to say about how much you need to feed a crowd. Secondly, I'd cook the brisket on top since you'll be pulling it off first. Temp the flat and after you pull it, put the probe in the pork.

How much meat do I need for a large crowd?

Here is how you can figure how much brisket or pulled pork you need to prepare to serve a large crowd. There are several things to consider:

For pulled pork or brisket, a typical sandwich (or serving) is 4 oz of cooked meat.
For adult males, you might want to plan on 2 servings per person.
For women and children, plan on one serving per person.
The average butt loses about 40% of its weight while cooking. Therefore a pound (16 ounces) of uncooked meat will yield 9.6 ounces of cooked meat. 9.6 ounces is 2.4 servings, so every pound of uncooked meat that you start with will yield 2.4 servings.

So, first figure out out many servings you need (2 servings per hungry eater, 1 serving per ordinary eater). Then divide the number of servings by 2.4 servings per pound of uncooked meat and you have the total number of pounds of uncooked meat you need. Here, then, is an example:

10 men and 10 women would require about 30 servings. (2 x 10 men = 20 servings, 1 x 10 women = 10 servings.) Divide 30 servings by 2.4 servings per pound of uncooked meat and you get 12.5 pounds of uncooked meat.

Or from a real-life example:

We were asked to cook pulled pork for a women's shelter. There were 37 women, but these were 37 hungry women (many took a second sandwich with them after dinner), so we figured 60 servings. 60 divided by 2.4 is 25 pounds of raw meat, which is just about what it took.
 
Last edited:
Somewhere on these forums or on other internet searches, I read to multiply the amount of people times 0.4 and that will give you a rough estimate of the amount of maw meat you would need. Similar to Len's post: 100 people X 0.4 = ~40 pounds of raw meat. You can always cook another butt if you're are afraid it might not be enough.
 
Thanks everyone, this is really helpful stuff! Using these formulas, I think that in this case, six 7-8 pound butts will be more than plenty. Now I just have to hope for a good sale near the event date!
 
Thanks Tim - that calculator will only let you select up to 30 people. Of course you could multiply that, just kind of weird.
 
Len Dennis said:
If each butt is about 5 lb, then you'd need ~ 8 butts.
Click to expand...

Len, great post but I think your math jumped the tracks at this point because you're not taking into consideration that those 5lb butts are before shrinkage. He needs 41lbs of meat after shrinkage and five 8lb butts after shrinkage would yield (5x8x.60) = 24lbs of finished meat. Isn't the correct math closer to (40lbs / .60) = 66 precooked lbs. 66lbs/8 butts = 8lbs each?
 
Another factor to take into consideration is whether you are assembling all the sandwiches or if you are going buffet style where people portion their own meat. I'd be willing to bet that at a pulled pork bbq most people would find a 4 oz sandwich on the sparse side. I admittedly am always paranoid about the embarrassment of running out, but I would count on 6oz portions nonetheless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top