Pulled pork for a hundred...

[Texas Turtle]

No, it's not a quote from the latest Jeopardy rerun, I just volunteered (?) to help my spousal unit prepare pulled pork baked potatos for our church's Wednesday night dinner next week. Usual crowd is 80 -90 but the standard is to prepare enough for 100 since the attendance is growing. The church provides the meat, so the real question is how many butts do I need to cook for this event. Since it is going on a potato, I am assuming about 1/4 pound of cooked pork per person, so I will need about 25 - 30 pounds net. If you assume a 75% yield, I would need around 40 pounds uncooked. I'd like to do this in one cook on my 22.5 WSM, but I can fire up the offset if necessary. I don't know if I can get five 8-pound butts on it since I have never done that many. The last time I did a butt on the offset I tried Myron's method in a foil pan and it took two forevers to get done (but it was really good). Any of you guys with catering experience care to comment?

 

[HankB]

Are you confident in your 75% yield figure? For bone in butts I've heard 50%.

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

I'll be watching with interest. My church has about 100, and I've thought about volunteering the use of my 22.5 WSM.

I forsee a pyramid stack of butts, like the mound of cannon balls on a pirate ship, on the top rack and a 17# bag of Kingsford.

 

[Wampus]

I've done more than a few large cooks and have weighed both pre and post cook to get a good yield number. What I've found (with pretty good consistency) is a 40% waste, or 60% yield from raw, untrimmed weight.


So, here's how I'd work the math for 100 people.....


I usually figure 1/4 lb portions per person, so you're going to want 100 cooked portions, which is 100x1/4, or 25 pounds COOKED pulled pork.

25 lbs / 0.60 is 41.667 lbs of raw. (60% of 41.67 lbs is 25 lbs)

So, you'll want to start with about 42 lbs of butts. I usually round up to the nearest whole butt. If it were me, figuring on an 8 lb average per raw butt, I'd be cooking 6 butts, or about 48 lbs to start with. This will leave you a little breathing room too, just in case you need extra.

48 lbs of raw butts (at 40% loss) should yield 28.8 lbs of cooked meat, or 115 1/4 lb portions.

If you wanna be real safe and figure a 50% loss, then either get bigger butts (say 10 lb'ers) or cook 7 - 8 lb'ers to get you to a total of 55-60 lbs pre cooked weight. This will get you 110-120 1/4 lb portions respectively.


Good luck on the cook!

 

[The_Kapn]

How much PP would be needed for each tater??

1/4 # sounds like a lot, but.....I have no clue :redface:
And, leftovers of cheaper meats are a good thing.

But, from there the math from Wampus is the deal.

Sounds like a great meal coming up.

TIM

 

[pigdog]

I haven't done it, but I know some guys have put 8 butts on the uds.

 

[Bludawg]

I figure 3/4 lb uncooked weight per person based on a 1/3 lb serving size( 5.3 oz) so 100 servings 75 lb raw weight.

 

[The_Kapn]

I figure 3/4 lb uncooked weight per person based on a 1/3 lb serving size( 5.3 oz) so 100 servings 75 lb raw weight.

You cook that much for PP put in Taters?

TIM

 

[GMDGeek]

I'm doing a church cook in April - did it last year and ran out of meat. 150 men and boys - 4 pork shoulders and 2 briskets with 40 brauts. This year doing 6 pork shoulders, 3 briskets and a mess of hot dogs. We are also going to use smaller rolls and not hamburger buns for the pulled pork. I don' t know if the 22.5 will do the amount of meat you are wanting to do at one time.

 

[Wampus]

I haven't done it, but I know some guys have put 8 butts on the uds.

I've done 8 butts on my UDS a few times. It's not ideal cuz I like to keep as much space for air/smoke movement as possible, but it can certainly be done (with 2 cooking racks of course). So they will also fit on a 22.5" WSM.

I just don't think you'll need that many butts to get this done. 6 oughta do it.

 

[Wampus]

In fact....

Here's a photo of my UDS loaded up with all 8 butts. These weighed in at right at 8 lbs each (+/-). You can't really see the bottom rack, but this is the top rack.

A 22.5" UDS has pretty much the exact same rack sizes as these 22.5" weber grill racks on my UDS.

 

[Wampus]

IN FACT....

Here's the thread I put up last year of that very cook. I forgot that I also posted about starting and finishing weight and what the total yield was and all (at the end of that first post).

Turns out I had a little less final pulled pork than I posted above, so adjust as you see fit.


Here's the thread:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130672

 

[Bludawg]

You cook that much for PP put in Taters?

TIM

Yes I do My BBQ is that good.:mrgreen: I figure a 5.3 oz serving per person. figuring a 60% Yield that leaves me with 2.5 oz extra per serving or a little over 2 lbs that Can be sold as take out for additional profits to the parsonage

 

[Texas Turtle]

Thanks for the help, guys. Looks like I may start with 6 butts, hoping for some or all to be over the 8 pound mark. Since my son-in-law provides the meat from his job as manager of the local supermarket, I may be able to influence the size somewhat.

 

[Lake Dogs]

What they all said above; Wampus has you right on the money. If you can, get those butts in that 9# range. If nothing else, a few left-overs never hurt.

 

[Texas Turtle]

As usual, I'm gonna cook too much rather than too little. I have to serve this stuff on Wednesday evening at church. If I cook it on Saturday or Sunday, how do I store it until then? Freezer, fridge, or just take wednesday off and put them on the WSM at 4:00?