Massive Cook for 600+ Big Poppa Smokers Nailed it!

Ok my biggest customer in the guitar business is Guitar Center/Musicians Friend. They moved Musicians Friend from Oregon to the GC HQ in Westlake Village California and this was the first meeting of all the execs together....over 600....46 vegans.

I volunteered to cook for them again (did it about two years ago) and they took me up on ie....Last time it was supposed to be 400 and only 275 showed up. This year "Around 625" No problem....hehehe (Ok I was a little worried) Oh yeah...the contact person also said "we need 8 serving lines and everybody has to be fed in 25 minutes or less" Oh and one of the lines has to be ready at 11am the rest at 11:15. Understand that cooking for huge quantities of people if they stroll in over four hours is a very different animal than all hitting the fan at once.

Now to the menu...we asked for it hoping that it would be just a few items...no the order came in :Salad, Beans, Garlic Bread, Pulled Pork, Ribs, Chicken" WE want two veggies for the vegans and a main dish and vegan bread"

Jody and Brad did an awesome job of planning the amount fo food and the cookers involved (oik i tweaked the cookers a little)

40 pork Butts...no foil...we used Head Country Rub and spritzed often with a blend of Cherry Balsamic and apple juice mix. Cooked on the 32 on the Meadow Creek to start and 8 on the 2 Mak One Stars. sauced with Big Bob Gibson Blues Hog mix


We put them on at 6PM..figuring 14 hours with some play....they started coming off at 6am and the last two at 11:45. Between 12 and nearly 18 hours.
Here is a spritz


At 4:30 am I put some of the butts on to the MAK One Stars..once they had shrunk I could fit 7 butts on it Here is Joe checking the temps in the morning...Beautiful deep bark

Now the ribs. ON big cooks....keep it simple as possible....also when you have a store use the rub that you have the most of that is getting near the end of the expiration date...hehehehe Again Head Country. It acutally was really nice...a tad salty but that worked well when sauced. So 105 racks.....48 racks on the Backwoods Piglet Plus, 32 on two Jambo Juniors,
25 on the Meadow Creek PR42

spritzed with the Cherry Balsamic too....here is the Jambo ribs. The piglet took about 4.5 hours at 250, the ja,mbo about 5 hours and the meadow creek 6.

Sauced with a combo of Headcountry and Blues Hog
Chicken...WE loaded up the Meadow Creek Pr60 and its shelf with pieces...planning on about 2 hours and it was right on 270...This is the last these losers did with chicken...I cooked the 800 pieces in 3 hours using the two meadow creek bbq42 chicken cookers....it was intense and smoky and macho..hehehe head country rub Wee willys white sauce

WE did the garlic bread on thebbq42's after the chicken came off...the beans and the corn on the burners...the asparagus on the Hasty Bake, the vegan lasagne on the BBQ Guru Onyx OVen....
Sorry no money shots too busy....Oh by the way the people were so anxious they started in line at 11:05 and we were ready. Big Thanks to the crew of Ernie Ball workers that helped make this happen...Joe Jody Brad and I really make a great team....it was fun cooking to a massive time line




WE got 2 standing Ovations at the banquet!

What a challenge and a blast.

Wow!!! Looked nice... How were the ribs and chickens cooked?

I just said...between 4.5 to 6 hours at 250..head country rub on the ribs and chicken....wee willys white sauce on the chciken blues hog/headcountry blend on the ribs and Big Bob Gibson and Blues Hog on the pork

Wow that's alot of food to get timed just right, looks like you guys knocked it out of the park!

Good lord that was a load of meat!

So will we be seeing a 'fire sale' on Head Country??

I think Jesse should have a weekly 'dynamic pricing' post on what is about to expire. I'd be happy to take some off of your hands for the following weekend's cook.

What else can one say? Awesome BP!

The timming, prep, and quality for that much food... Nice work. I still struggle with one rack of ribs.

Fantastic! Now that's a load of meat and to get the timing right on everything is outstanding. I have trouble timing a single meal sometimes. That's where teamwork comes into play!

Nice job BP team!

wow, thats alot of food. you guys did a great job. how come you didn't use BPS spices? chicken is great w/ DG and money.

Thats impressive BP ! No one should of went away hungry thats for sure.

600+... WOW!!!!

So by my count you had 11 smokers/grills going, correct?

I know what a tough job it is planning & cooking every year for the Marching band cookout for between 110 - 130 kids & staff. There's usually two or three of us cooking on three cookers with a noon deadline. This year it's suppose to be more, but still I am sitting here imagining cooking for 6 times that amount!


All I can say is...

Well done you guys!

sparky said:

wow, thats alot of food. you guys did a great job. how come you didn't use BPS spices? chicken is great w/ DG and money.

Click to expand...

Sparky as I said in the text we use stuff that is nearing its expiration date. We can still sell the other stuff

Big Poppa, you and your team are truly amazing!!! That is one righteous cook! I'm with everyone else, it is hard enough to "time" the meal to come close to the planned time to eat for a small family event. But 600 people!!! Truly awesome. Great job!! I am sure you and your team felt the accolades you received were well deserved. They truly were deserved!!

Art

Holy Crap!! You killed it! I'm giving you a standing ovation form here!

very impressive

Impressive cook BP! I have trouble with timing cooking for four! I can't imagine 600!

let me kgive you a hint...its the same as in competition...timeline