Holiday Pot luck ideas?

[TrickyDick]

My office has a holiday potluck every year. This year I thought I would bring some smoked/BBQ meat. Not sure what to do. Its a lunch event. I'd probably need staff to reheat for me. Options for reheating are extremely limited: Microwave, tiny toaster oven. Could MAYBE do a chafing pan and sterno, but that would be very progressive to consider for this annual event. I'm thinking maybe doing a bunch of chicken leg quarters and putting into a cooler to maintain heat or else FTC'd pork butts with an overnight cook for 8 hours (Start at 11:30PM, put on the MAK and let it run unattended until morning, FTC and head to work - pull at lunchtime) but this seems risky....

I might be able to convince my wife to deliver from home around lunchtime, but I know she is usually golfing the day of the potluck and likes to eat lunch at the clubhouse with her golfer friends. This would broaden the options considerably if she would be available.

There is USUALLY a TON of food, so I'd not need to bring a very large amount of food. A full brisket for instance would be too much.

I would consider a smoked turkey breast, but so close to Thanksgiving and another person already signed up for Turkey.....

Leaning towards chicken quarters, possibly jerked style, though this seems less amenable to an overnight unattended cook.

By the way, has anybody mixed in allspice "berries" with wood pellets in the hopper when doing jerked food? I will probably make a mix of apple and cherry and hickory pellets - I think TentHunter had a good jerk pellet blend idea that I need to search on.

Any suggestions?

TD

 

[TentHunter]

By the way, has anybody mixed in allspice "berries" with wood pellets in the hopper when doing jerked food? - I think TentHunter had a good jerk pellet blend idea that I need to search on.

Yepper! Here you go: Pimiento Wood - How to Simulate



Now as far as the pot luck...

If you have an electric roaster, then Pulled Pork works really well for pot luck. You can cook & pull it ahead of time, store it gallon bags in the fridge. Then about an hour or so before the pot luck, turn the roaster on to about 250° and toss in the pulled pork with a little water & just a bit of vinegar. Of course, you'll need to check on & stir it periodically. The steam & vinegar will freshen it back up like it was just pulled.

 

[scooter]

What about a couple tritips?

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks for the ideas!
Tri-tips are not readily available where I live.

I may go pulled pork option and see if I can convince my wife to deliver to work warm. Alternately I wonder if the old FTC trick would hold from a 7AM pull off the smoker until lunchtime, pulled on site....

I think I might even consider doing jerked wings and holding them in a foiled styrofoam cooler.

Unfortunately I do not have an electric roaster.

Last option would be brats and kraut, from my last package of homemade Bratwurst..... That might technically not be considered "BBQ meat" which is what I put on the board, but since I'm the boss, I guess I can cheat a bit.

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

I think given the situation, I'm going to have to pre-cook the meat and then re-heat. I think a pork butt is simplest to do. I will probably cook pull refrigerate and then bring to work with some sauce and a crock pot for reheating with a little water and vinegar added to the crock pot.

TD

 

[JeffCO]

FWIW, for my potluck today, I took my butt off at 5:30am, FTC'd and pulled at 11:30. It was still hot enough. to serve.

 

[RickB]

A pork butt ftc'ed will be to hot to hand pull after 4 hrs. I would not ref and reheat.

 

[TrickyDick]

THANKS!!!!!

That's the ticket then! Normally I cook to serve at home the same day. This is new territory for me. Thanks friends!

BTW - did a couple sous vide cooks with some smoked sea salt, and it does really add a nice flavor. Double Thanks!

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

Hmm. Well, as it turns out, I've had a craving for some Jerk Chicken. I decided to go that route instead. Ill figure out the reheating process later..

FWIW, in addition to what TentHunter suggested to simulate the flavor of jerk cooked with pimento wood (which by the way I happen to have some pimento charcoal, sticks and leaves, but haven't figured out how to use it in either my WFO or MAK), I read in a recent (Jul/Aug 2012) Cook's Illustrated article about how they simulated the flavor. They used a packet of hickory chips wrapped in foil with some allspice berries, dried thyme, and dried rosemary. They used 2T of each of the spices which they dampened with total 2T water to keep them moist while smoking. Also, as an aside, I contacted this website place where I ordered the jerk ingredients wood, charcoal, etc, several months ago and inquired about pimento pellets. I was told a breakthrough was eminent, but that was over a year ago. would be nice to see if we could get some pimento flavor wood pellets.....

TD