Advice Needed - Pulled Pork for 60

F

flavorguy

New member
I've been following a few threads here on preparing pork shoulder. I've been volunteered to cook pork shoulder at a company picnic. This will be on Wednesday during work hours, so timing has to be exact - ready to serve at 12:00... I'll be trucking my MAK 2 star to work the day before.

There will be hot dogs/burgers/chicken as well as pork....

Game Plan: Please comment....

1) I'm thinking 3 X 9.5 lb shoulders... is this enough?
2) I'm thinking shooting for a 7 pm start time the evening before. Will inject and rub at 4pm.....will refrigerate until 7pm. Planning to smoke at 225'F. This gives me a 14-15 hour smoking window.
3) I'd love to have the shoulder out of the MAK at 9:30 - 10:00 am and let them rest in a FTC until 11:30 am... then I'd remove, let rest and pull....

Any comments or advice would be appreciated...
 
BBQ Joe

BBQ Joe

New member
I just did four for the the weekend. Injected with SOW and rubbed with Plow Boys Bovine Bold 4 hours before the cook. I put them on at 225 at 4 and at mid night they were at 160. Foiled them with 1/4 cup of apple juice and reduced the heat to 215 to slow down the cook because I didn't want to get up too soon. Got up at 5 and they were all between 195 and 200. FTC'ed for 3 hours and pulled. I did this on a Wednesday night and Thursday morning, put the meat in 1 gallon zip locks and refrigerated. I reheated in a roaster on Saturday. This eliminated the guess work. Pork was amazing. I used three of the butts and they were about 8 pounds each before cooking. We had about 40 people and this was the main course. We went through 66 sandwich buns.
 
scooter

scooter

Moderator
Been there, personally, I'd cook it all at home then truck in the cooked pork during the rest period then pull when you get there. I'd also build in at least a 3 hour window from when it's done to when they want to chow down. Shoulders will hold nicely for many hours FTC'd.

Are you also handling the dogs/burgers and chicken?
 
F

flavorguy

New member
scooter said:
Been there, personally, I'd cook it all at home then truck in the cooked pork during the rest period then pull when you get there. I'd also build in at least a 3 hour window from when it's done to when they want to chow down. Shoulders will hold nicely for many hours FTC'd.

Are you also handling the dogs/burgers and chicken?
Click to expand...

I'll have some grill help since this is for a sales meeting. The sales staff is cooking lunch for the HQ/support personnel...

I live about an hour from HQ however, so I'll have to smoke on site... I'll be staying at a hotel close by so I can check the smoker until 11 pm or so...we have meetings in the AM which I can sneak out of now and then to check my progress.

So you're thinking maybe start smoking a tad earlier (maybe 5:30)....

It would actually be better with an earlier start time. However, I'm concerned about a long FTC hold...

If I can get the shoulders off however, I was thinking I could smoke some chicken thighs (280'f at 2.5 hours)....

BBQ Joe's experience sounds like 3 might be a good number????
 
Last edited:
TTNuge

TTNuge

New member
Figure at least 1/3rd loss in weight once you are done, maybe a little more if they are bone-in butts. A rough estimate puts you at around 20#'s for 60 people, that's a third of a pound per person. With the other food you are probably alright but me personally, I would prefer to have too much rather than too little. I think I would cook 4 but like I said, I prefer overkill.
 
F

firehouse_bbq

New member
I cook a lot of pork butt! We only use bone-in, and I figure a 50% loss. I would be cooking 40 pounds of butts for 60 people (based on a 1/3# serving size. Always better to have extra, and not run out. We cook our pork at 250*, and normally takes about 10 hours. Once it reaches 165* IT, I wrap in foil with apple cider. Once the pork is done, it will stay very hot for 4-6 hours if placed into a cooler or cambro.

Any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Pete
 
F

firehouse_bbq

New member
Yep, a little foil never hurts anything. Also, if for some reason the pork is dry at all when you pull it, simply add some apple cider and you will be good. Pork is like a sponge, it absorbs real well.

flavorguy said:
Pete -

I'm thinking the foil route probably is a good safety net... thanks for the tips...
Click to expand...
 
BBQ Joe

BBQ Joe

New member
Couple more tips. Use frog mats if you have them. They make taking the meat on and off the grill very easy. I got some rubber insulated gloves and bear claws to make the pulling easier. Check amazingribs.com. Another good source of info. I found this site there.
 
Bear

Bear

Moderator
I have held pork butts, foiled, wrapped in towels, in a cooler for 6+ hrs, and they were still too hot to handle when I took them out to pull.
 
F

flavorguy

New member
Hey Guys - I just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who gave advise...

The company picnic was Wednesday at 12:00 noon. I ended up preparing 4 X 8.5 lb shoulders. This was also the first time that I used a cooking program on my MAK Pellet Boss.. I had 3 meat probes in use...

Butts were injected noon on Tuesday with 2:1:1 Apple Juice, Soy, Worchester Sauce mix. Butts were wrapped in plastic and refrigerated until 3:30. At 3:30 the butts were covered in molasses and Texas BBQ Rub was generously applied...

I started at 4:00 pm with a 3 hour smoke. After 3 hours, the Pellet Boss program was to adjust the MAK temp to 240'F. This was to continue at 240'F until MP 2 (stuck in the middle thickest butt) hit 185'F. At 185 I asked the PB to adjust MAK to 210'F and hold...

To make this cook interesting, I had to leave the unit unattended from 4:00 pm until midnight. I had to entertain clients in NYC, and my cook was happening at our office complex approx 40 minutes away in Northern NJ.

I got finished with my client dinner and rushed back to the office. I checked the unit at 11:30pm - temp of MAK was at 235-240'F and Probes 1-3 were between 164-170'F.... I went to bed, came into the office at 7:00 am and the three MP's all were between 193-197'F.... the MAK was running at 205-210'F. A Taylor thermometer went into all four butts like butter. I removed all four butts, wrapped in plastic wrap, then FTC'd by 7:30 am Wed...

BONUS - At 9:00 am I was able to smoke Chicken Thighs - 290'F for 2:45.... I used "Wegman's Jamaican Jerk Marinade" and this stuff is fantatsic!

The butts were removed from cooler at 11:30am - I removed foil, allowed to rest in plastic wrap for 20 minutes. I pulled using "bear claws" (great tip!)

The butts and chicken were the hit of the BBQ.... the MAK and the Pellet Boss made this an extremely stress free effort....

Results were fantastic. I liked this user program (3 hr smoke - 240'F cook - slowed down finish at 210'f when MP hit 185'F) due to the fact I was out of pocket for most of the cook. It guaranteed me to get these butts done ahead of schedule in a 12 - 15 hour window.

Thanks again guys for the great advice on talking me through the largest cook I've done on my MAK...
 
TTNuge

TTNuge

New member
Outstanding! Just make sure no one else knows how easy it really was. They need to know you slaved and toiled all night at day to make them that delicious food!
 
txpgapro

txpgapro

New member
If it was me, I'd be smoking 6 butts. I would waste time injecting either. Smoke around 225 for about 12 hours, wrap I'm foil with apple juice and smoke for another 3 hours. Let rest an hour, pull and serve. I'd also do it all at home and put it in a roaster to warm and serve.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom