Quantities and Portion Sizes


 
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Ivan Stratton

TVWBB Fan
One of my best friends is getting married this weekend. My wife and I and another couple are "catering" the reception as a wedding present. We are only responsible for buying and setting up the food. No actual food service or clean up. He has some one else covering that. There will be around 65 guests. Our menu will include ham biscuits, hot onion dip, pepperoni balls (rolls stuffed with pepperoni and baked), chips and salsa, peanuts etc. All of this will be set up near the bar area so people will have some munchy food for a bit as everybody comes from the wedding and we will keep this out after the main serving line is cleaned up. For the main dinner we are having Pulled Pork BBQ, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Barbies Baked Beans (recipe from this site), Macaroni and Cheese (also from this site), No. 5 sauce that I tweaked a little and a Carolina Style Sauce. I have cooked for this many before and have made everything Im making numerous times. This isnt going to be in my "backyard" for friends, this is for some people I dont know, so I just wanted to go over some stuff. I have a 18.5" WSM. Im going to load it with 6 butts, Im going to try to get them in the 7-8 lb range. That should give me 42-48 lbs raw or with 50% yield around 21-24 lbs final product. Im going to do 4 of the large 117 Oz. cans of the Bushs Beans in the Barbies recipe. Im doing these in 2 full size pans that will go right into the chafing dishes. Im doing 2 full size pans of the mac and cheese also. Im thinking it will be about 6 lbs elbow macaroni. I think this will be plenty but I dont know what the serving size for 1 lb pasta will be but I figured I would just make the 2 full pans and have more than needed its not all that expensive. Im making 8 quarts each Potato Salad and Cole Slaw. I have a large cooler to hold the foil wrapped butts that I will pull just prior to serving. I have a 4 pan cambro for the beans and mac and cheese and I have several of the party stacker coolers for the cold stuff. Im not really worried about anything and thats what scares me a little. Ive already made the sauces, put together my rub, made all of my lists. Im doing the Cole Slaw and Potato Salad the night before. Im putting my butts on at 10:00pm for the wedding the next day at 4. Ive scheduled oven times for the other hot dishes. Ive got plenty of help, 4 of us plus my Mom is going to help us set up. I feel like Im missing something. Any input or ideas that could make this event go more smoothly or make it better for my friends would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
Ivan Stratton
 
I don't think you're missing anything. 6 pounds dry macaroni cooked then sauced should serve ~60. With the other sides you should be okay. If you're serving the PP as sandwiches, or having that as an option, remember some sort of rolls.

I'd likely start the pork sooner, like around 8pm.
 
Kevin- Thank you for your response. I was planning to have some rolls for everyone. I had thought about moving my start time to 9:00 pm but I have held butts for longer so I may end up starting at 8. I still use water in my water pan and my smoker doesnt seem to ever go over 240. It might spike at 250 if some smoke wood catches but it settles at 240. The last time I cooked 6 butts it took right at 14 hrs. I was thinking 10pm to 12 the next day. Hold for 2.5- 3 hrs. and pull.
 
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