The Big Party is Friday...


 
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Matty Tee

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So I'm having a picnic at my house for all my employees on Friday. This is a pretty signifcant cook for me, by far the largest I have done for any crowd. I'm expecting about 20 adults & 10-15 kids.

I have 2 butts and 11 racks of spares on order. I'm planning in cooking the Butts Wednesday night for a Thursday morning/afternoon finish. I plan on holding them in the Fridge (whole) and reheating and pulling on Friday.

The ribs will go on Friday morning around 6-7 to be done around 3-5. I am planning on doing all 11 at once, in halfs, and stacked on two char-broil rib racks. I know I saw it done here somehwere where someone had done 13. If they're trimmed KC style I think it will be ok. Trimmings will go in the freezer for a future cook.

Any issues I should be aware of? Does it seem like this is a good plan? Just looking for a little assurance that I'm going about this the right way...I would hate to ruin that much meat, or worse yet, embarass myself in front of my people. I think it's a solid plan, just a little concerned about the cook time for the ribs on Friday. I think 10 hrs is enough, and anything that is done early can get wrapped and stacked in the cooler/warmer.

Any thoughts/tips/comments are appreciated!!

Thanks,

Matt
 
Matty Tee

My one suggestion would be to go ahead and pull the pork after it has been cooked and cooled down a little. You'll run a chance of it drying out when you try to reheat it before pulling. I do this when I plan to serve within a couple of days of cooking. I use 1 gal. Zip Lock bags to store the meat. I would then reseason a little, add a little moisture and reheat either in a micro or in a low temp oven, covered.

Good luck with the event.

Paul
 
I agree w/ Paul, pull the pork at the time of the smoke and reheat the next day. I have done this using a crock pot set on low. I also add xtra liquid as Paul suggested.

good Luck

Tom
 
Matty, just a thought but, why not do the butts Thursday morning or early afternoon ending in an early Friday finish...wrap the butts in HD foil and stick in dry cooler wrapped in towels...it might hold and stay warm so you can avoid the re-heating project...just a thought as I don't know how long it will stay warm and "safe" in regards to the temp!

In any event, good luck and take some pics if you can...also go out and get me a rack, I'll be over around 6pm Friday!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Definitely pull the pork immediately after smoking, then bag, refrigerate and reheat a little in microwave and serve in crockpot, basically what Tom said. Once I tried pulling a shoulder after it had been refrigerated, it's pertnear impossible.

2 racks of spareribs will feed about 4-5 adults. One 6lb. pork shoulder will feed about 10 adults...I think you are cooking way too much. The largest number of spares I've ever done in the WSM is 6 slabs, and that's a pretty darned full WSM, even with ribracks. I wouldn't do much more than that. Oh, and if it was me, I'd just throw some weenies/burgers on the grill for the kids...you'll have buns anyway. Have a fun cook!

I'm cooking for 100 this weekend, with a little help from fellow BBQers. Mostly pork shoulder, brisket and chicken wings.
 
Matty,
I would be interested in seeing how you will put 11 slabs of ribs using rib racks. I too, saw a thread a little while ago with photos which show about that many on the WSM. I believe the only downside was that that would not be done for a competition. Please provide pics.

John L.,
I am also interested in knowing how you prepare for 100 people. Are you doing everything on the WSM? What kinds of meat and quantity are you doing? How far ahead are you starting?
 
Paul/Tom/Greg/John -

Thanks for the tips. I will defintely pull the pork when it's done.

Greg - I thought about cooking them on Thursday into Friday, but I am worried about what time they will be done and do not want to take any chances on my WSM being available you know? I suppose I could finish them in the oven too, but the oven will be busy with side dishes on Friday. Something to think about as the days approach.

John - I've got 20 adults coming so using your 2:5 ratio for ribs gives me 8 racks. These are not your run of the mill office dudes, they're truck drivers. At the last dinner I took them too most of them got full racks abd finished them so I don't think too much food is an issue!

Besides, I would rather cook too much and give them something to take home than not have enough. If I'm short on food I won't hear the end of it until next summer's BBQ!!!

Thanks for all you comments guys...I'll keep you posted thorought the week and the two cooks!

EDIT - Rogers we must have posted at the same time. I am planning on stacking them like I saw in a picture (somewhere on here). I will be sure to add some photos when the time comes. In the mean time I think I will do a mock-up to be sure I can get them all on!
 
Matty....

That was my pic I think you saw. Keep in mind, I normally use BB or St. Luois spares that weigh 2 1/2lbs. per slab. You should be fine......seems like I am doing this cook every other week!

This method does work, but it is also a fair amount of work. You will need to rotate the inside slabs to the outside and vice versa. Keep in mind, the slabs closest to the sides of the unit will get done much quicker as the temp is much hotter. Also, the uppermost part of the ribs will get done quicker, so I flip them(top side down, bottom side up) as well. You should also exchange from top grate to bottom grate. Hope this makes sense!

I do all this at the half way point and at the same time I mop them for the first time.

I think all else sounds fine....as long as you pull that pork after smoking it.

Best of luck!
 
This big cook is making me nervous..! I think it's smart to do some ahead of time. You will be tired but happy when this is over. May the bbq gods smile on your party.
 
Matty, do you have a food saver vacum thingy? I've heard of guys putting them in bags then boiling the pork back to temp. Probably could do it in gallon size ziplock bags beacuse your turn-around time between all the stuff will be quick!

Just a thought Matty...good luck
 
Kevin - I think that was your pics...13 racks was it? I did a mock up with soem cardboard to make sure it would work and it looked OK to me.

Susan - Thanks for your well-wishes! Say a BBQ prayer for me!

Greg - That's a great idea with the foodsaver, unfortunately the one I thought I was going to be able to borrow fell through so I will just have to rely in the ol' zip lock freezer bag!

I'll keep you all posted with pics...the Butts go on tomorrow night!
 
The Butts are looking fantastic...as of 0600 this morning the top one was at about 180 and the bottom was 174 or so.

The ET-73 worked awesome...what a great tool. I hope some of you who have had problems give it another chance.

I'll try to get some pics of the butts up later.

Matt
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Greg Rempe:
... a food saver vacum thingy? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> ROFL...SS (splitting sides). Greg, I'm sorry, a food saver vacuum thingy?

Matty: Greg is right, as are others, I just did two butts and pulled both within 4 hours of taking off of WSM. 1 Gal ziplocks worked great but one of those "food saver vacum thingies" would work even better. Could then reheat by boiling in the bag (wouldn't try that with ziplocks).
 
 
Matty, nice pictures and that finsihed product looks AWESOME!!! Bones are super clean too...SWEET!!

Keith...is there another name for the "food saver vacum thingy?!?!?!
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Glad I could lend you a laugh tonight my friend!!

Keep up the good work Matty! I'm sure everyone enjoyed it.
 
Matty, take pity on the poor dial-up user and post links instead of putting the multiple pics inline.
 
I've replaced the inline photos with links to the photos.

Including a single, reasonably sized photo is OK, but for a dozen photos, please use links.

Thanks,
Chris
 
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