Pull Pork for 80 guests!!


 
C

CWay

New member
Hello. I’m brand new to the forum so forgive me if I don’t provide enough info. or if I use improper terminology. I thank you in advance.

I have been volunteered to provide pulled pork to my step-sister’s wedding reception. There will be 80 guests. I have a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. I have used it roughly 10 times and have done pulled pork 3 or 4 of those smokes. I have had great success w/ a Costco shoulder weighing 20+ lbs. I would like to tell you all what I am thinking and get advice and feedback to make this successful. Most of what I have done in the past comes from “The Renowned Mr. Brown” method on the Virtual Weber Bullet site: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pork2.html

~ Obtain 2 shoulders as close to 25 lbs. each as possible. Most likely go w/ Costco. $2.09/lb.
~ Trim, pat dry and rub w/ spice 12-24 hours in advance. I will tie up the 2 pieces that make up the cryovac package. Store in fridge in large ziplocks. Assuming that I will have 40 lbs. on the smoker after trim.
~ Pull from ziplock 1-2 hours before, pat dry and re-rub immediately before placing in the WSM.
~ I use the Minion Method w/ as much charcoal (Kingsford) as possible along w/ about 6 fist sized hunks of oak. Pan full of hot water.
~ Once the smoker is up to temp. (225-250) I will place the smaller 2 pieces on the bottom rack and the larger 2 pieces on the top rack. My goal for smoking temp. is 225.
~ I plan on flipping (and basting?) the meat around half way through the smoke. My assumption (but one of my biggest questions) is this will take me 18-20 hours???
~ Once they reach 190-195, I will pull and wrap w/ foil and towel wrap them in a cooler for travel.
~ There will be a gap of 2.5 hrs. between when I need to leave my house and when the food will be eaten.
~ I don’t have a remote thermometer, just a digital stick type. I have debated getting one but just not sure of the accuracy and worth.
~ I’m also thinking of a wind shield. I think I can get something from Lowe’s that will suffice.

I’m sure I’m leaving stuff out but I’ve asked you to read enough. I wish I could do this in advance but I’ve been busy and I also can’t do it this weekend. Plus, from the smoker to the plate seems ideal.

Thanks,

Chris
 
Welcome to the forum!

Don't have much time, but here are a couple of things.
First, at 20 lbs. I'm sure you're talking about a twin pork butt pack, doubt you'll find much larger.
Let's take 50 lbs. of butts, no matter how many, that will give you about 25 lbs. of pulled pork.
A good average is 1/3 lb. per person, so that's only enough for 75.
Young or old may eat less, others might eat more, depending on what else is served.

I'll let others chime in with cook details.
One thing is to at least give the state where you live, it will be helpful to the real bbq gurus on this forum.
 
CWay said:
My assumption (but one of my biggest questions) is this will take me 18-20 hours???
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Welcome to the forum! Last Christmas I volunteered to do pulled pork for our company Christmas party. I also got two butts, each weighed approx. 25LBS I didn't/don't trim my butts.

Our party was scheduled for Noon on Friday December the 20th. I fired up my 18" WSM with as much charcoal as it can hold using the Minion method at about 2PM Thursday the 19th and moved it into the warehouse when it settled in, roughly a half hour later to cook. I put one butt on each shelf. I've found that I can't stop at a specific temperature, I start tooth picking around 190 degrees internal, and often do pull my butts off until they're 200+ internal (rarely are they soft at 190, but a couple times they have been) I cook my butts at 250/275

I stalled out at 165 degrees at 10PM (7.5 hours into the cook) and remained in the stall (held 165) until 5AM when the temperature finally started to climb. I hit 190 degrees at 9AM but they never did get as soft as I would have liked. I pulled them off at 11AM, (200 internal) so they could have at least a one hour rest wrapped in foil. That was at 20.5 hours of cooking. They could have stayed on, but the party was scheduled for noon, and plan B needed to kick in

We were scheduled for 70 people, but like all parties, this one went over, there was probably closer to 90

I started pulling the first butt at noon, it pulled nicely except for the very center (I would guess about 1 to 1.5 LBS) I ended up slicing the center, and those slices got ate, they did taste good

The first butt lasted about a half hour, and I started pulling the second butt. It pulled nicely all the way through. I believe it was the butt on the bottom rack, but I'm not positive, I was getting nervous when I pulled them off. We didn't run out, there was some to take home for a couple people, I'd guess maybe a pound or two was left. I use the old adage that one pound will serve 3 people, so I figured I was good for up to 150 people, then I realized that when you cook, you loose about 20% in the cooking. I wasn't too worried, I figured I could feed 120, I'm just glad I didn't have 120 because like I said, there was only a pound or two left, with approx. 90 people

I learned two things from that cook:

1) Never volunteer to cook for a crowd that big :)
2) I probably should have started my cook at noon the day prior. I don't know that I would have needed 24 hours to cook, but you have to factor in the rest period and butts like to rest two hours or more

Have fun, take some pictures. I didn't my phone died and I left my charger at home :(
 
"I also got two butts, each weighed approx. 25LBS"

Chuck,
The OP talks about 20 lb. butts, wanting to buy 25 lb. ones.
And yours weighed 25? Sorry, butt I don't think so. :)
A whole shoulder maybe, which is the picnic and butt combined.
 
Maybe they were shoulders? All honesty, I duno one from the other. My wife picked them up for me at Winco, I might have a picture of them when she brought them home. If he's only has 20LBS (ea) he might be OK (40LBS X 80% = 32LBS net X 3 = 96 servings)

If time is the concern, here's a great way to knock off about half the time

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?51784-Smoked-and-Braised-Pulled-Pork
 
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10 lbs. is a very large butt, so must have been with the picnic, sometimes simply called the shoulder, aka picnic ham, even though it's lower down than the butt, and the butt is on the front of the hog. :rolleyes:
8 lbs. is the largest I've cooked.
Sorry, didn't mean to get this thread off track.


ap_pig22b.gif
 
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At Costco they are labeled as "Shoulder." I always thought that that meant it was the Butt and the Picnic. However, I'm not exactly sure as these have been deboned. Meaning no bone. Is that boned or deboned? Anyway, the package is usually around 22-23 lbs. I am going to try and find the largest ones and get as close to 25 lbs. per cryovac package. I think I need to start my smoke earlier than I anticipated. I believe I will shoot for around 21-22 hours.
 
I always cut my Butt in pieces.. Helps cut the cook time down and you get more bark... I was always told, 10lbs 20 people...

Good Luck...
 
What you get from Costco is usually boneless shoulder butt, it's two butts, probably from different animals, deboned in a cryovac together.

If you've got one piece of meat, then you have the whole shoulder and you're right it's the picnic and the butt and it will cook up just as nice. I'd probably cut it into half or thirds, before smoking, though, to create more surface area for bark.

For a cook this big I would start even earlier than you think, 24 hours to fully tenderize this meat is not out of the realm of possibility, and if it's done early you can hold the hot cooked butts in a cooler for over four hours prior to service, if they're tightly wrapped they'll stay hot that long.

If you need to do this in advance/can't pull for service, shoulder is also very resilient and will reheat well with a little apple juice/butter/your choice mixed in, in a medium oven. This depends, for safety, on your cooling capabilities or exterior temperatures where you live.
 
For 80 guests you need 20-30lbs of cooked product at 4oz-6oz servings so, 40-60 lbs to start. Might as well ask the butcher for a small case (they are 60-80lbs typically); you can get a discounted price this way.
 
I did 4 bone in butts, all averaged about 8.5 lbs each, for a party of 50 people (didn't count, there was probably more). My WSM likes to run around 275*, so that's what I cooked at. Smoked for 4 hours nekkid and then I put them in pans and foiled them. They were done after a total of about 9 hours. I did find one that could have cooked a little longer as it was a little harder to pull. We had a lot of sides, so there was pork left over, but not a lot...
 
Useless factoid: they are called butts because the cheap cuts used to be packed into crates called "butts". Now why a crate was called a butt I'll never know. :)
 
I guess I wasn't thinking clearly about what size package I could get from Costco. I ended up getting 3 packages weighing about 11-12 lbs. each. So, I’ve got 35 lbs. in 6 butts. My plan is to trim and tie them tonight. I’ll either rub them tonight or in the morning. I’ll try to get them going by 5 or so tomorrow (Friday) and have them done by 2-3 pm on Saturday. That gives me 22 hours to have 35 lbs. (before trimming) ready to feed 80 by 5:00. It might not be enough food if it was the main dish but it is just a part of heavy hors d’oeuvres. I hope I can fit them on the racks w/o touching but I think they will touch each other before they shrink up. I’m worried I will mess something up but I’m excited for the challenge and resulting product. Thanks to all for the advice and help.
 
CWay said:
I guess I wasn't thinking clearly about what size package I could get from Costco. I ended up getting 3 packages weighing about 11-12 lbs. each. So, I’ve got 35 lbs. in 6 butts. My plan is to trim and tie them tonight. I’ll either rub them tonight or in the morning. I’ll try to get them going by 5 or so tomorrow (Friday) and have them done by 2-3 pm on Saturday. That gives me 22 hours to have 35 lbs. (before trimming) ready to feed 80 by 5:00. It might not be enough food if it was the main dish but it is just a part of heavy hors d’oeuvres. I hope I can fit them on the racks w/o touching but I think they will touch each other before they shrink up. I’m worried I will mess something up but I’m excited for the challenge and resulting product. Thanks to all for the advice and help.
Click to expand...
If you cook them separately, but all at once, you won't need all 22 hours, probably more like 12 to 13 hours
 
You've got this. It's just like cooking one butt, but it will take a little longer on each phase of the project. More butts to rub, more meat to heat, more meat to pull. But, it's still just BBQing butts... ;)
 
It took me about 1.5 hours to trim, tie and rub the 6 butts. That includes other stuff like making the rub. I used Florida Crystals: Demerara Cane Natural Sugar instead of brown sugar like usual. Anyone do this? I just thought it looked really good on the shelf. Probably not a good idea to try something new on other people. Anyway, there really wasn't much visible fat to trim. My thought on trimming off the fat is that there is plenty of fat throughout and I want the rub to stick to the meat and not the fat. My guess is that I only lost a couple pounds out of the 35 total weight. I'm starting to get pretty pumped for this smoke. In my very limited experience I have found that one of the keys to success is consistent temperature. Hopefully, I will be able to maintain around 225 overnight. I know I won't need to set an alarm to check the temp because I'll wake myself up to adjust the vents if needed. However, I've really been thinking about a wireless thermometer for the future. Anyone want to share opinions on them? Right now I have a digital stick for the meat. I also worry about how accurate the hood thermometer is. The more I read on this website, the more I want to customize the smoker.
 
First...the hood therm can be off as much as 50°. I have several didital therms and they always read higher. Secondly, butts are very forgiving as far as temps go. However I would shoot for 250° I think 225° is a little low for butts. Lastly, you can expect around a 50% yield which will net you approx. 60-65 1/4 lb servings. Good luck have fun and don't forget to snap some pics!!

Al
 
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