A promise kept

Way to keep your word brother. That's commendable. :clap2:

Are you doing spares or baby backs? With 2 meats, I would recommends at 35 racks of spare ribs for 100 people. Even with St. Louis cut, that will give some good portion sizes.

Are you doing chicken quarters or chopped?

As for south of DC, there is a Restaurant Depot in Alexandria that will have all the supplies you need. If the weeding is in Richmond, there are a few Costcos down there. I get my ribs there and they run ~$140-150 per case for St. Louis cut spares.

I think you're going to need at least 3, maybe 4. I believe they are about the size of the WSM 22 and I have done 6 racks easily so you should have no issues doing 8-10, especially if you have rib racks. And depending on the second protein, you may be working like yourself crazy. Are you going to have help?

I'd offer to help fab those UDS but I'm up in Greenville area. Still, I've got leads on drums if you need them-though you potbelly have more/better suppliers down there.

The Smithfield plant near Richmond could probably give you a good price on a large bulk order; however, I agree with via_connoisseur - Costco by the case will probably be your best bet in terms of price and quality. Even if you have to purchase a membership just for the meat you will still save $$$.

Good luck. Congratulations. Let me know if you're in the area and want some help :-D

Wherever you are buying meat, give them a heads up.
Even costco is not going to have 35 racks readily available.

If you are willing to go for basic pulled pork you may not need many cookers.

At 1/2 pound per that is 1 pound of raw boned pork butts.

about 10 whole butts--only 2 cookers.

I would beg to differ on the ribs and chicken for 100. That is actually the hardest thing to cook for 100 people. Some numbers.

If you do ribs, you will need 4 bones per person, on average for baby backs, three bones for spares. That means (eliminating the small end bones and any shiners) somewhere around 40 racks for baby backs or 30 racks for spares. Ribs do not hold well, so you will want to take them off no more than 30 minutes prior to service. My UDS will hold 6 racks of spares, if they are trimmed. Which means you would need 5 UDS cookers rolling. About the same for baby backs. That is just for the ribs.

100 pieced of chicken? Cooked on a UDS? Maybe if they are wings you could get away with 3 UDS cookers for 100 pieces of wings or drums. But, if people are going to want breasts and such, no way a UDS is going to get it done.

If ribs and chicken is really what you want to cook, you need to look in to renting a rig, something with some real capacity. A 72" offset with two racks would be a good start. Oh, are you doing just meats or the full dinner? Is there an oven? How do you intend to hold the food?

I don't mean to be a damper on your enthusiasm, but, I have cooked for 100 before, and I have cooked and done other things at weddings before (for the record, I hate weddings). You only get one shot at them. If I had the gear, ribs and chicken for 100 is a piece of cake, on UDS cookers, I think I would steer people to pulled pork and roast beef. If you must have a "white meat" then I would do the pulled pork and marinated chicken breasts.

Also, if you are going to do this with multiple UDS cookers, might be a good idea to run a practice session or two with a setup. It's pretty easy, usually.

This is great advise ^^^^^^^^^^

Build 1 more drum. Cook a case of pork butts and get 2 cases 5oz pre portioned chicken breasts and cook them on a grill. Everything done and hot at one time.
What are you doing about sides?

What does "plans for 3 more" mean when it comes to the number of UDSs? Are people going to loan them? Are you going to build them? Using multiple UDSs for 100 people can be a nightmare. Multiple fires, multiple temps, multiple checks of food, etc. what about renting a cooker and doing whole hog? Much simpler and has a nice "wow" factor suitable for a wedding.

I live in Richmond. If that's not the week we're down in Disney World, I'd be glad to help. I could smoke as many as 8-9 butts on my Big Green Egg XL. Would be glad to do that for you.

Don

PM sent

I think instead of waiting for them to give you the menu, you should sit down with them and make the menu using meats more conducive to your cookers and your skills for cooking for larger crowds.

I mean it is their wedding day, a day they will remember for the rest of their lives whether good or bad.

It's the simple things in planning that can make or break a great cook for an event like this. Plan ahead.!!! The mention of pulled pork above, I would like to point out that the butts will easily hold temperatures in a well insulated cooler for many hours. I have held them for almost 8 hours and they are still too hot to handle when they come out. Planning for a four hour rest will free up a lot of times to get many other things accomplished during the final hours. They will withstand any delays for the serving times as well where other meats will not.

Like Landarc said, ribs do not hold well. You don't want to be remembered as they guy who cooked dry ribs at Sara's wedding... (LOL)

Keep us posted on your progress....

Coming back to this...you need to take control of the food. People do not realize how these things go, of course, an experienced and well equipped caterer could toss together a feed for 100 people in maybe, three days. But, you don't even have the cookers ready. You still have two months, and I can guarantee you, that is how everyone else is looking at it, until time farking vaporizes, and the food is not settled, and everyone has an opinion, and pretty soon, you are smoking a 50 pound Steamship Round, and making Vegetable Terrines at midnight of 10/3.

What I would do, is send a group email, copy everyone you can. Propose a menu and list of services that you feel you can achieve. Do not HOPE that someone else is doing sides, find out for sure. If the answer is 'well, we can have people bring some hot dish', I guarantee you, you need to plan on doing the sides.

landarc said:

Coming back to this...you need to take control of the food. People do not realize how these things go, of course, an experienced and well equipped caterer could toss together a feed for 100 people in maybe, three days. But, you don't even have the cookers ready. You still have two months, and I can guarantee you, that is how everyone else is looking at it, until time farking vaporizes, and the food is not settled, and everyone has an opinion, and pretty soon, you are smoking a 50 pound Steamship Round, and making Vegetable Terrines at midnight of 10/3.

What I would do, is send a group email, copy everyone you can. Propose a menu and list of services that you feel you can achieve. Do not HOPE that someone else is doing sides, find out for sure. If the answer is 'well, we can have people bring some hot dish', I guarantee you, you need to plan on doing the sides.

Click to expand...

The more I read this thread, the more I tend to agree with the two previous posters. You need to lock down the menu and tell them what you can provide for 100 people. Leaving this open to discussion will leave you with a menu until the 11th hour.

10/4 is a good day for a wedding! :grin:

Following along for your progress. I did what I thought was supposed to be 80 people for my parents one time, and that was just pulled pork. Good luck!

There is a RD in Richmond, if you need access to it PM me and I can help

You may want to also consider doing pulled chicken thighs. Get the boneless skinless kind. I marinade in Italian dressing for a couple of hours in a foil pan, drain it off, apply rub and then cook it in the same foil pan. Usually go an hour uncovered and then covered until done. Put on a pair of cotton gloves and then nitrile gloves over them and clench each thigh in your fist. You can have a pan of pulled chicken in about 5 minutes doing it this way. Re-season with rub and wet with an apple sauce/bbq sauce mixture to keep them from drying out.