Preparing to cater my own baby shower


 
J

JungWoo

TVWBB Member
Hi all, my wife and I are throwing a baby shower this July and we are planning to serve all of the food for it.

Here's the BBQ-related items on the menu:
-Brisket sandwiches
-Pulled pork sandwiches
-Burgers + hot dogs (will be cooked at the venue, not worried about this)

I am expecting about 120 attendees. About how many lbs. of brisket and pork shoulder would I need?

I have a 22" WSM and a 22" kettle. The baby shower will be on a Sunday afternoon. What time would be best to begin cooking everything?

I was thinking I could do the pulled pork overnight from Friday night/Saturday morning, refrigerate it, and then begin the brisket immediately after. I would slice the brisket late Sunday morning and prepare the sandwiches.

One other concern I had was that my local Costco recently only had very large packer briskets. They were all about 18 to 20 lbs. I typically go for 10-15 lb briskets. Anything different I would have to do, other than allow for more time?
 
First, congrats to you and your wife on the baby! (y)

Yes, you will need to allow more time for the larger brisket. I do my briskets in my 22, and go hot and fast, (350-400 until bark sets, wrap and reduce to 275, usually need to get higher IT, around 212 for probe tender going HAF), and the 12-15 pounders that I usually buy take me about 5 hrs total cook time, with a 1-4 hr hold in a cooler afterwards. With brisket, you can count on about a 40% yield, and pork butt, around 50%. For reference, when we do big parties, an 8lb pork but (pre-trim) will get me about 4 lbs of shredded meat in the pan after cooking, bone removed. At 4 oz per person per sandwich (a high estimate), 16 sandwiches total for an 8 lb butt. I find that pulled pork reheats real well, so I usually do them the day before. About an hour a pound at 275F, Wrapping around 160F, until IT of 190-203, whenever it probes tender, with 1-4 hours in the hold afterwards. Brisket I like to do the day of, as I like to slice it right before serving, keeping it as moist as possible, as it can dry out once sliced. It does reheat well though too if you have to, and can be rehydrated with the juices from the wrap (I use foil).

Do a test run on hot and fast though, as it can take some tricks to get the WSM to the higher temps. Hotter charcoal, all vents opened, (an ATC helps), and the door cracked opened does it on mine. Use the hold times of 1-4 hrs to your advantage, gives you a margin of error in the event that you are running ahead or behind. Everything in full and half foil pans for reheating and serving. Hope all this helps and that your event goes well. Good luck!

Charlie
 
Thanks!

I actually did do a hot and fast brisket (10 lbs) last weekend on the WSM. Turned out great!

How many do you think I can fit in the WSM?
 
While I appreciate your ambition it would appear as though you you need more grill space. Mind you I have never even seen a WSM in person and I know there is 2 racks in there it just sounds like you need more space. My rule of thumb for raw meat weight per person to feed is a half pound raw per person. That to me means you need to get 60 pounds of raw meat on your cooker(s) at roughly the same time. I could be wrong of course I haven't done anything like it. I was actually asked by a friend if I would cater his outdoor wedding for approx. 180 people. I had my kettle my E6 and I have a jumbo joe which doesn't go too far. He also said I could use his large Traeger and his 22" kettle. Besides trying to keep 4 smokers going all perfectly and monitoring them I was expected to make 2 different salads and 4 or so different sides including one special dish that was vegan alfredo.
So never catered or cooked that much ever at once, a wedding for 180 wasn't going to be my first " shot " at it.....
I have disappointed 3 other people before, 200 isn't my next one.
I wish you all the luck and if you are smoking 60 pounds of meat at the same time take some pics, I would love to see it!
 
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Darryl makes some great points that you should consider for sure. We entertain several times a year for very large groups, so we've worked out a system. I also have eight different grills and smokers to handle a lot of food, and a pretty large kitchen. If you've not done it before, it might be best to just hire a caterer and kick back and enjoy the party. As fun as it can be, it's also a lot of work. I initially skipped over the part in your original post that said 120 guest. That's quite a large crowd to feed.

As far as how many briskets in the 22, I would only go with two, one on each rack personally, though I know that some have been known to stuff enormous amounts of meat in both the 18 and the 22. Another consideration is putting the meat into the oven once it's wrapped, as the smoking is done at that point, and it opens up the smoker space for more while finishing in the oven. I would still say to cook as much in advance as possible so that most of the "cooking" on the day is mostly reheating and serving. Just my opinion, good luck with whatever route you choose.

Charlie
 
Lots of sides. Lot of helpers. Lots of planning. Lot of work. Lot of stress. And yes you will probably not eat any yourself. Is it worth it... maybe.

Lots of pork shoulder, feeds a ton of people. Brisket what you can. Cook in advance and reheat brisket too. I think 160 to 168 is the right reheat temp. Chris A. knows.

I usually do one pound per person. That is on the high side... too bad.
 
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If it where me I would just do pulled pork for bbq forget the brisket and have burgers and dogs with 2 or 3 sides. Lot less hassle. I did 6 butts ended up with about 60lbs of finished product. Best part you can fridge some and freeze some and it taste better to me when it sits cold. I just use some vintage westinghouse electric roasters to warm it up day of.
 
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120 people will eat a LOT of food. I'd say @Tony-Chicago has some of the best advice. With a pair of 22" cookers, you're going to have some issues getting enough food smoked or grilled. I've smoked a couple of times for 70 people, and used 3 25"x28" racks in my gravity fed with a couple of packer briskets, 4 pork butts and 4 chickens. That's for only a little more than half of what you're expecting.

Do as much as you can in advance.
 
For 120 people, I would smoke all of the pork butt a week in advance and freeze it. You can get 6 port buts in the 22" WSM. I'd reheat in the oven in some giant aluminum foil pans. Day of, I'd probably load up with WSM with some turkey breasts for the white meat people. I think you could probably get 6 each bone in turkey breasts on the 22" WSM. I might try making some home made baked beans, but I'd probably get slaw or potato salad from the store.

I don't know if I'd ever try doing more than 1 packer brisket in the WSM at one time. I'm not big into spritzing, but I'm not sure how having a brisket on the lower rack and another one on the top would work out. If I was going to get into making briskets for bigger gatherings I'd have a pair of 22" WSMs or if I thought I needed to do 3 at once I'd probably get an offset or a good sized pellet smoker.
 
If you can reheat day of and on-site that would help.
Definitely use any available ovens too. I have even cooked pulled pork in a turkey roaster.
Use Sous vide, large sous vide, to reheat a lot. Or other forum approved methods.
Jkalchik has a larrrrge smoker. But you can do this with planning. Plan early and there will be less stress.
 
John K has the right steps...

Cook early. Take a lot of stress off.
What type of venue?
How many side?
Help?
Pre-make sandwiches, actually have someone behind the counter make them therefore you actually save food, people make their own.... yeah that's right.
Lots of bread, slaw, potato salad, beans maybe.
 
Best advice; fly as a many forum members as possible to your place in Maryland for help. I think we may have some ex-military folks who'll parachute right into the backyard. :cool:

I think there was an old song about this very thing....

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Brisket's goin on, I'm going to Jong Woo's' home
'Cause his baby is needing a shower🤣
 
It sounds like you've got some great suggestions.

I don't know your background and maybe you have this all considered, but please consider the food safety side of this as well.

Some home refrigerators can't chill large amounts of warm food for example.

Keeping cold (raw food) cold while chilling down cooked food is one scenario. You might need to pre-chill food going into a refrigerator or a freezer using a cooler chest with ice blocks, or maybe even dry ice.

It might be worth writing up some of the food safety needs and sharing them with everyone handling the food.

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud. My comments are not based on real-world cooking at scale as I've never done this size of a cook.

good luck...
 
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Chad-Burnt to a T said:
If it where me I would just do pulled pork for bbq forget the brisket and have burgers and dogs with 2 or 3 sides. Lot less hassle. I did 6 butts ended up with about 60lbs of finished product. Best part you can fridge some and freeze some and it taste better to me when it sits cold. I just use some vintage westinghouse electric roasters to warm it up day of.
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I agree. Pork and brisket is pretty ambitious if they are hosting. Unless he is able to solely focus on the meat...which is rarely the case when hosting a shower type event.
 
I only have to do the meats.

I've hosted for 50 before, just cooking brisket and steak while my wife took care of the sides. It wasn't bad at all.

I think I'll do the pork starting Friday, and leave it resting and refrigerated (and possibly shredded) until the event.

Briskets I'll do Saturday morning, let them rest until the event.
 
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