Help with planning a BBQ - Pulled Pork, Ribs, Turkey Legs (If I can get em), Turkey Breast and Chicken Wings

[funstuie]

Hi Y'all,

I am hosting a BBQ round ours at the weekend (it's my Birthday next Monday so I am hosting my own BBQ!).

There will be 10 adults (possibly 12) and 10 kids (only 4 of whom will actually eat the BBQ food).

My plan is to do Pulled Pork (so a whole Boston Butt), Pork Ribs (2 or 3 racks). I also want to do some turkey legs (I am hoping Restaurant Depot has some in) and Turkey Breast (my wife struggles with Pork these day so I am doing the Turkey Breast for her). I am also going to a whole heap of chicken wings because the kids always eat those.

So we are looking to have people arrive for around 3 and to eat around 4pm.My issue is planning it all out - I have never done so many items at the same time before.

What would your plan be for this cook out? I have an offset stick burner (Yoder Wichita), Kamado Joe Large, Webber Kettle and a Traeger pellet smoker. Could I get away with doing everything (except the wings - I will do those last on the kettle) on one cooker?

If I aim to cook everything at 275 thats - 10/11 hours for Pulled Pork, 6/7 hours for ribs, 4 hours for Turkey and 3 hours for Turkey legs? Have I worked that out right?

In all honesty I want to go all out on this one as it's the first big(ish) BBQ I have hosted since we moved to the US but I also don't want to kill myself getting there. So any advice to help make it stress free(ish) would be great.

 

[landarc]

Why limit yourself to one cooker? I think there is something magical about running all the cookers at once. I would go butts and ribs on the Yoder, chicken wings on the Traeger, turkey on the Kamado, each cooker cooking the meat is does best.

I figure the wings on the Traeger, as the lighter smoke profile will let the kids be happy. The offset will give the best flavor to the pork and the ribs will love the smoke. The Kamado tends to provide a nice smoke with locked in moisture.

 

[funstuie]

Why limit yourself to one cooker? I think there is something magical about running all the cookers at once. I would go butts and ribs on the Yoder, chicken wings on the Traeger, turkey on the Kamado, each cooker cooking the meat is does best.

I figure the wings on the Traeger, as the lighter smoke profile will let the kids be happy. The offset will give the best flavor to the pork and the ribs will love the smoke. The Kamado tends to provide a nice smoke with locked in moisture.

thanks. I was planning on running them all, I was just trying to work out what to do in what. I was also going to have one of the grills ready to go for the ahole who brings their own burgers or whatever and decides they have to "grill"

 

[Bludawg]

If you cook ribs for 6-7 hrs at 275 they are gonna be way over done closer to 4.5-5 hrs max. All that stuff will fit in the Yoder.

 

[funstuie]

If you cook ribs for 6-7 hrs at 275 they are gonna be way over done closer to 4.5-5 hrs max. All that stuff will fit in the Yoder.

Thanks. That's what I am looking for. I am trying to plan out so all the food is ready at around the same time (including resting time)

 

[Wampus]

Really depends on what you're looking for.
I think it will all fit on the Yoder, but that will require you to throw logs unless you're doing charcoal. If you're wanting more "hands off" cooking so you can get other things done, the Kamado and Traeger will help with that.
I agree with landarc about multiple cookers too, though. Sometimes that makes things easy because each one is doing it's own thing.
I also agree with Bludawg that the ribs won't take that long at that temp. Either do them at 225-230 for a longer cook like that or plan on them being done around 4 hours at 275.

Sounds like fun. I love doing cooks like that for family and friends. Very rewarding!


If there's one piece of advice I can offer is to plan for plenty of rest time. You can ALWAYS hold things longer if needed. What you don't want is to be running late and try and hurry things up and end up burning or drying something out. The butt can rest for a LONG time and so can the ribs really. You're going to want the turkey breast and chicken wings to be done pretty close to eating time, with a slight rest on the turkey breast.

It's all gonna be some good eatin! Even though you've not done a big cook like this before, you know what's up. Just do each thing like you know needs to be done and it'll all work out.


Good luck!

 

[Doog]

Get someone to help you especially if your running a few cookers. You could do it, but it would be easier with a wing man :wink:
You could probably do most of it on the Wichita and get the rest with the Big Joe.
What do you like cooking with?

 

[Skip]

Write your plan down and look at it to make sure you aren't forgetting something. Just like a competition you are gearing to have food on the table at a certain time. Devise your time lines and stick to them. Note when the meat carries you outside of it and have option to help bring you back in time.

RD sometimes sells already cooked/smoked turkey legs if you want to cheat

 

[BIL'S BBQ]

I did something very similar this past weekend, heres my notes;

time: "eating at 5ish" is what I told everyone

-pork shoulder on GMG davy crocket pellet smoker, started at 8am finished at 3pm as planned, cooking at 225 for first 3 hours, bumped up to 275 for the remainder of cook. pulled at 205 IT. rest in cooler till time to eat.

- 2 whole chickens, on the COS, start at 3pm run till 5pm was the plan. but forgot to prep the chickens before the pork finished up (damn friends/beer/fun got in the way). ended up finishing the chicken 5:45-6. BBQ beans and mac and cheese cook along side the chickens.

-also did hamburgers and hot dogs on the davy crockett around 20 minutes before everything was finished.

- had friends help me turn into pulled pork and pulled chicken, while my brother in law manned the davy to finish the burgers and dogs...

so what every you do... stick to the plan!

I failed to;
-cut and rub the chicken early enough
-thaw the burgers before time to go on grill, thought wife did it!
-manage time better early in cook... that's why I did my longest cooked meat on the pellet smoker to give me more time to socialize and prepare everything else...


man I was a running around crazy when it was all coming together

 

[funstuie]

So just got back from RD and they had no turkey - it was all cooked crap and they had no legs/drumsticks.

 

[Skip]

So just got back from RD and they had no turkey - it was all cooked crap and they had no legs/drumsticks.

Did you ask the meat manager if he could order it for you? A case of turkeys might be too much but a case of turkey legs might work for you. RD is normally willing to order stuff but you have to take the case.

 

[funstuie]

I found a pretty cool butcher in Millbrae and they had Turkey breast (fresh) so I got that and some sausages and a few other things for dinner this week.

I have a confirmed invite list of 11 adults (with as many kids - but most too small to worry about).

 

[landarc]

I might be nuts, but, that moment, the last 45 minutes when I am going nuts managing all the cookers, meat resting, prepping apps and slicing, is when I feel the most engaged and energized in an entire cook.

 

[funstuie]

So I am going to start cooking the pork at midnight on Saturday/Sunday in the yoder - with the hope that it will be done late morning (my plan is to sleep on the sofa and get up every few hours to add wood to the fire) and I will just pack it in a cooler to rest for a few hours.

The ribs will go on early morning for around 5 hours and the turkey for around 4/5 hours. I will cook the beer brats on the kamado and fire up the weber for burgers, hot dogs for the kids.

The chicken wings I am going to brine them for a few hours and do them last on one of the bbq's for around 40 minutes.

Sides I am doing coleslaw and potato salad. I might try get some sauerkraut. Guests have been told to bring snacks/sides for the kids and plenty of beer.

 

[landarc]

Sounds like a plan, good luck

 

[funstuie]

So I didn't get a chance to take any photos but it mostly went OK.

I started a fire in the yoder at 10pm last night and prepped the pork butt. It went on the grill at around 11pm but I struggled to maintain any decent temps (it was all over the place from 230 up to 310f) eventually I got it stable around 275ish and went for a nap - woke up at 4am and the fire was out and temps had tanked to 120. I got up and restarted the fire but again I struggled to maintain stable temps (I decided to wrap in foil as there was so much smoke). I fell asleep again around 5.30am and woke up again at 7am with the temps down around 180. Got up and got the fire going again but this time I was able to get it around 260 and hang there. Went back to bed again as I was so tired and got up at 9. Spent a few hours pissing about getting the temps to maintain around 250ish. I put the ribs on but I left them on for too long. I wrapped them after about 2.5 hours for another 90 minutes and they were all mush - but I still glazed them and served them as self service pull of the bone.

I took the pork off around midday and put it in a cooler with blankets - which worked great it was still at 160 when I unwrapped and pulled ready to serve.

Turkey drumsticks tasted like **** - way too smokey but with no other flavours despite the brine.

Turkey breast got 5 hours in a smoker and it was lovely and moist with a nice flavour from the brine.

Beer brats went OK. I kind of forgot about the chicken wings so by the time I was finished cooking them people had started eating the rest so the wings got left behind (guess what my kids will be having for dinner tomorrow?).

The pulled pork turned out amazing. The rub I used was pepper based (both black and chilli) which worked really well. Everyone loved them and wanted seconds (and thirds). So I suppose staying up all night was sort of worth it.

All in it was a pretty decent day. The turkey drumsticks where just ****ing horrendous but everything else worked. Even the ribs were well liked despite me kicking myself for over doing them. I was pleased I managed to time almost everything to at least serve it all hot at the same time.

I am not doing it again for a while though.