Smoking pork for a large party

[Wildcat]

My ex decided she needed to invite about 100 people to my daughter's graduation party on July 9, and it looks like nearly 90 are attending. There will be some chicken involved, but I put myself in charge of making the pulled pork.

I'm planning on doing as many shoulders as will fit in my 18.5" WSM smoker, so I'm figuring I can fit maybe 60-70 pounds total in there. I can probably fit two larger shoulders on each rack, or three medium sized shoulders. Given the heat differential, I may have to swap the shoulders top to bottom/bottom to top so they get finished somewhere around the same time.

Been checking a few other sites, and it seems the yield on a pork shoulder is about 65-70% of the uncooked weight (including removal of the bone). I am also figuring on making one batch of Carolina vinegar-style BBQ sauce for each shoulder. I'll be using a cooler to hold these until I get to the party (wrapped in foil, then in old towels--they'll stay surprisingly hot for a couple of hours).

I've got plenty of briquettes on hand (lighting them using the Minion Method or Soo's Donut), some nice big chunks of applewood, and a temperature regulator so I can maintain 225° and get some sleep. I'll need it, dealing with those dysfunctional relatives.

For meats (pork and chicken), I'm figuring on between 1/2 to 1 pound per person, and probably 4 to 6 ounces per person on the sides. I'm picking up potato salads from a nearby market, and there will be pasta salad also. Sort of eyeballing things based on this: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/party_planning.html

Hope I have everything covered! I may try to get a few pics of the smoker setup once it's rolling.

 

[John James]

 

[savatage1973]

Couple things--having done professional catering (in a past life), unless you are feeding a softball tournament or sports banquet full of "bruisers", your estimates of portion sizes are about twice what they need to be. 4-6 oz meat per person and 2-3 oz side per person is more in line--grandma is only going to take 1 piece of chicken and two tablespoons full of potato salad--you get the idea. Also, not everyone is going to eat a portion of every item--so for a head count of 90-100 ppl, all you need is a max of 50-60 portions of each item. If you do a full 90-100 portions of every item on the menu, you are going to have a truckload of food left over and wasted a lot of money up-front. Depending on the batch size for your BBQ sauce, you may be over-estimating that as well--16-24 oz sauce per 10 lbs of cooked pork is more than adequate--you want the flavor, but you don't want a soupy mess that will mess up peoples clothes--you do not want to be serving sloppy joes--remember, people are going to be walking around with this stuff and socializing, not sitting at a dining room table.

I concur that you will probably need to rotate racks to cook the pork more evenly, but not everything has to be finished at the same time. My experience with graduation parties is that people straggle in and out over the course of hours, not all at once--so you want a fair amount done and out on the tables to start with, but you want your back-ups "staggered" to put out fresh food at intervals over the course of the time-frame you are working with. If it is all done at the beginning of the event, it will be dead by the time the last guest arrives.

As a matter of food safety--hot food needs to stay hot and cold food needs to stay cold, so put out small batches and replenish. For mayo-based and egg-containing foods like potato salads and pasta salads, or cole slaw, you want to "double bowl" them--place a larger bowl or pan underneath the bowl containing the food filled with ice to keep it cold--besides--who likes the taste of those foods at room temp anyways?

Just a few tips from someone who has done this before--hope it helps.

Good Luck!!!

 

[Wildcat]

Just a few tips from someone who has done this before--hope it helps.

Yes, it does. Most of us will be middle-aged and late teens. Only one or two old-timers are left in the families. ~16 kids (who will probably take the chicken tenders over the pork).

All of the pork needs to be done ahead of time since the party is not here. The only thing I can think of is to take the partially smoked shoulders on the lower rack and finish them off in the oven at the party at 225°. But running an oven in a hot house for hours probably won't go over very well either. We'll have a Nesco roaster on hand to keep the served portions of it hot.

My only dilemma right now is finding the pork. The store I usually buy it from sometimes puts it on sale for $1.19/lb. The cheapest this week is unfortunately at Sam's Club. The meat markets and packers down at Eastern Market were way overpriced (which is surprising, given that they are wholesalers). Costco doesn't list prices (and I don't know anyone with a membership). Other chains or grocers, no luck either this week. Individual meat markets, forget it--they are even more expensive.

 

[Erik Tracy]

I've taken pork butts off my WSM to wrap and finish in the oven for pulled pork.

Once you get smoke on them for 4-6 hours and the bark sets, I haven't noticed any difference taste wise between finishing on the WSM vs oven.

Plus I can save fuel/money in the WSM.

You could even set up a 'factory line' and crank out as many butts as you need:
Prep...WSM...Oven....Rest...Pull...Store.

Pulled Pork easily works for next day serving.

Good luck! And please post some pictures!

 

[Eric n Kc]

Hey
I don't have any experience with wsm 18.5 but is loading it that full going to slow the cooking process? The idea of moving the pork to the oven ,sounds like a good way of controlling the temp (inturnal) good luck .
I love the Caralina style pork. Just don't tell anyone here in Kc. Eric

 

[Erik Tracy]

Hey
I don't have any experience with wsm 18.5 but is loading it that full going to slow the cooking process? The idea of moving the pork to the oven ,sounds like a good way of controlling the temp (inturnal) good luck .
I love the Caralina style pork. Just don't tell anyone here in Kc. Eric

Good point.

If you take Alton Brown's advice as 'word', then look for more but smaller cuts to increase surface area to reduce cooking time, instead of massive butts (hey...let's not go there!).

 

[savatage1973]

16 kids (who will probably take the chicken tenders over the pork).

If you know you have kids coming and have access to a grille of any sort, a couple of cheap packages of hot dogs and buns, or frozen hamburg patties and buns would be a good idea. Wally World sells the three pack (picknic pack) of mustard, ketchup and relish for like $6. Also, a bottle or two of ranch dressing and/or regular "sweet" BBQ sauce for the chicken tenders for the kids and even the teens. Just a suggestion...

EDIT--who serves BBQ w/o cole slaw?--you need that on the menu

 

[Wildcat]

Once you get smoke on them for 4-6 hours and the bark sets, I haven't noticed any difference taste wise between finishing on the WSM vs oven.

I've read that is a good option for finishing the pork. I had considered that if I had needed to do more than one smoker load--do the first load for about 5-6 hours, move to the oven, start the next load. Thankfully I won't be smoking to that extent. This is a one-time thing. If we have a get-together at Casa Wildcat, I doubt it'd be more than 25-30 attending. The lower rack cooking a bit slower may work out to my advantage anyway. I figure if they need an hour or two at the party to finish in the oven, then it's all good. I'm using a large cooler as a cambro to take the hot pork to the party. (Pork will be foiled and wrapped/packed with old towels around it.)

I don't have any experience with wsm 18.5 but is loading it that full going to slow the cooking process?

The only slowdown is in getting the smoker up to temperature once the meat is put in. Other than that it's really no different, other than having to monitor the meat on the lower rack due to the temperature being about 10 degrees cooler than the top rack. (And I would have to do that even with less meat, if I were smoking two different items.) I will have to check fuel at some point I know, but that's standard procedure for longer cooks anyway.

I have a fan-operated temperature controller and the smoker has all of its joints and the door sealed with Nomex gaskets, so temperature swings of 5-10 degrees in either direction are the extent of the variation I'll have to deal with. (Having the joints sealed off eliminates those spikes when too much oxygen gets in.) That helps the fuel last longer also.

I agree--Carolina pork is good stuff. I also like the mustard-based sauce, but I don't think many others would. The Carolina-style sauce I make is out of the old Weber's Big Book of Grilling, modified slightly, and is easy to make since it uses common household ingredients that I always have around.

EDIT--who serves BBQ w/o cole slaw?--you need that on the menu

I think that was discussed also, but I can't remember if we decided to do it or not. Not many in that family like it. (A bag of chips and a sugary soda is about the extent of culinary excellence for some of them.) For what it's worth, it takes me only a few minutes to shred a few heads of cabbage in the food processor. I just need to find a good slaw dressing recipe that I like. I kind of like the taste of Marzetti's southern-style dressing, but its one flaw is that it is too sickly sweet thanks to the HFCS they use (as opposed to sugar).

Nobody wants to fuss with a grill or cooking during the party, so the young 'uns will have to eat chicken tenders and like it. Seeing how that mob likes their fried foods, let 'em have it.

BTW, for sides, do you consider all sides when considering 2-3 ounces (like a combination of slaw and potato salad)?

I'm debating buns also. Not sure how many I'll pick up. I'm going with hamburger buns vs. the larger sandwich buns.

 

[savatage1973]

BTW, for sides, do you consider all sides when considering 2-3 ounces (like a combination of slaw and potato salad)?

I'm debating buns also. Not sure how many I'll pick up. I'm going with hamburger buns vs. the larger sandwich buns.

Yes, I consider all sides--very few people will take a full serving of both potato salad and macaroni/pasta salad (and cole slaw if you get it--which I would)--they may take a few bites of both, but not likely to take full servings of both. Consider the size of the plate--most people don't want 2lbs of stuff on a paper/styrofoam plate to deal with, nor do they want to look like pigs. Depending on your area and the kid's circle of friends, there may be a dozen graduation parties on the same day, so a lot of parents, kids and relatives may be "making the circuit" to hit a half dozen or so parties on the same day, so they are not there for "dinner".

Buns are a MUST--with pulled pork--that is a sammich waiting to happen--the smaller, the better, to reduce waste. If you hand out big buns, people will fill it up, eat half and throw the rest away. You can have 3 "sliders" if you want, but most folks won't want a pulled pork "hoagie"--if they do--eat 3 sliders. If you can, have someone watch what the kids are taking--if you put 100 chicken tenders in front of 20 kids, they will be gone in a minute--they will take 5 each and eat one or two each and the rest hits the trash--I know this from experience.

Again with the ranch and sweet BBQ sauce--kids and teens drink the stuff for breakfast and put it on ANYTHING--I hate ranch, so no recommendation, but for the best bottled BBQ sauce--it goes to Sweet Baby Ray's.

As for cole slaw--couple bags of shredded cabbage/slaw mix from your local grocery and a couple bottles of Marzetti slaw dressing and you are good to go--it can be a little on the sweet side, but 90% of the world loves it.

Another option for picnic themed BBQ parties is baked beans--hot or cold. No need to go to a lot of work for the general public--grab some Bush's and either heat them up or chill them down. I frequently buy them and "tinker" with them--but they are totally acceptable right out of the can--hot or cold--I prefer cold.

 

[Eric n Kc]

Hey
Pulled pork you gotta to have coleslaw. Just saying. Eric

 

[RT Fan]

Good point.

If you take Alton Brown's advice as 'word', then look for more but smaller cuts to increase surface area to reduce cooking time, instead of massive butts (hey...let's not go there!).

I like Big Butts & I cannot lie! or so said Sir Mix-A-Lot.

 

[Eric n Kc]

Hey

 

[Erik Tracy]

Alright...you wanna go there...I can play too.

Here's a shot of my t-shirt from Pappy's (St Louis BBQ)

 

[grillebilly]

I worked for a guy who does BBQ competitions and catering. One big event we had to cook 30 shoulders and serve them over a 10 hour period. We had to cook 'em fast so we had the fire box roaring. There was a lot of moving them around in the smoker, 3 rows and 4 on each row. Since it was so hot we had to wrap them after the got a nice color as not to singe the outsides too much. They took about 4 hours, I think the temperature in the smoker never dipped below 250. He also won the competition for pulled pork. Kinda ticked the other competitors off since he was also catering the event.
Good luck and congrats to the new graduate.

 

[Eric n Kc]

You mean like this one

 

[Eric n Kc]

Hey
Here some more of the collection.

 

[Eric n Kc]

Hey.
No affiliation with the bar .I used to pay the gas bill there.Eric

 

[savatage1973]

I'm debating buns also. Not sure how many I'll pick up. I'm going with hamburger buns vs. the larger sandwich buns.

Sorry--forgot to include a bun count in my reply--for regular (small hamburger buns) 5-6 dozen max is probably a good count (60-72 buns) and you will have more than enough. Again--not everyone is going to take the pork and even with the ones that do, not everyone is going to use a bun, so even that number is erring on the high side--you might be able to get away with 4-5 dozen easily--but around here they are cheap <$1 per 8 pack, so not a big deal.

 

[bashman]

Well, being from Berkeley I have to say: If you're planning to pass it around so everyone can smoke it, you should buy a good sized pig. Remember, though, they can be hard to light!