The "I'm Cooking for a lot of People" Thread

[Baboontyme 2808]

On 4/10/2022 at 7:40 PM, Baboontyme said:

We buy the bulk brick of beef dogs from GFS for the fair. They are crack like for some reason. I find myself stealing more dogs from the stockpile then I do brisket. Maybe it's that they're a low value target or maybe it's that I've only had a salet today but damn they sound good right now. 

These are $21 for 40 dogs now. I think I paid $5 for a brick 2 years ago according to my somewhat shoddy records.

This is Teacher Appreciation week. Do something nice for your kids' teachers. They have had a rough go of it the past couple of years.

50 school staff, pulled pork, mini bag of chips, a cookie and a soda. Self serve this year with no protocols. 4 butts (~ 41 lbs) or 5? I do not think I need to budget a half lb of cooked meat/person for this group. Do I?

[tigol 2383]

1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

These are $21 for 40 dogs now. I think I paid $5 for a brick 2 years ago according to my somewhat shoddy records.

This is Teacher Appreciation week. Do something nice for your kids' teachers. They have had a rough go of it the past couple of years.

50 school staff, pulled pork, mini bag of chips, a cookie and a soda. Self serve this year with no protocols. 4 butts (~ 41 lbs) or 5? I do not think I need to budget a half lb of cooked meat/person for this group. Do I?

Won't hurt to go with 5 in case you fuck one up.

[DalTxHornFan 3088]

2 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

These are $21 for 40 dogs now. I think I paid $5 for a brick 2 years ago according to my somewhat shoddy records.

This is Teacher Appreciation week. Do something nice for your kids' teachers. They have had a rough go of it the past couple of years.

50 school staff, pulled pork, mini bag of chips, a cookie and a soda. Self serve this year with no protocols. 4 butts (~ 41 lbs) or 5? I do not think I need to budget a half lb of cooked meat/person for this group. Do I?

Do 5.  Leftover pulled pork is versatile and useful. 

[Baboontyme 2808]

6 it is. 

[Texzilla58 4718]

Condiments are important, and the brands are critical. For a hamburger/hot dog cookout

Heinz Simply Ketchup …sugar not HFCS
French’s yellow mustard…America
Dukes mayonnaise
Vlassic sweet and dill relish
Chopped onions…Texas 1015’s if possible
Fresh pack kraut…especially if sausages
Sliced pickled jalapeños
Chopped fresh jalapeños

If expanding:
Huy Fung Sriracha
Pickled sport peppers
Guldens spicy brown mustard
Zatarains coarse creole mustard

[Baboontyme 2808]

no good deed...trying to drop shit off in the teacher's lounge this morning after the bell rang so I can just bring the pork at lunch time. Fucking plastic grocery bag breaks and my jar of pickles falls straight out and smashes on the floor of the lounge. Glass, pickles and pickle juice everywhere. FML. Oh well no pickles I guess. 

[Baboontyme 2808]

the 3:30 AM photo from yesterday

Last two small guys (bone in) finishing up yesterday

I bought this thing probably 10 years ago and this is maybe the 3rd time I've used it. It works but it's a bit unruly. Meat flying everywhere unless you can cover the bowl. 

 

[baboso 6052]

You under bowled is your problem.  We use a big, deep, crawfish boiling pot when we are pulling the butts and have no issues with flying meat.  So much easier than the bear claws.

[Steamboat1874 4038]

I have always found that if you are cooking for a lot of people fajitas are the way to go.

[thunderlounge 7776]

3 hours ago, baboso said:

You under bowled is your problem.  We use a big, deep, crawfish boiling pot when we are pulling the butts and have no issues with flying meat.  So much easier than the bear claws.

Yup. Big pot or even a bucket. Problem solved. 
 

 

3 hours ago, Steamboat1874 said:

I have always found that if you are cooking for a lot of people fajitas are the way to go.

This isn’t a terrible option. Lots of cheap filler. 😁

[Baboontyme 2808]

The spring fair at my daughter's elementary school is Friday. This is the big gig. We did our first one in 2018 and did it again in 2019 and obviously the fair was cancelled the past two years so we're back baby! I have two more years of this and then it might be time to bequeath the trailer to someone else. 

I spent this weekend prepping. I had to clean the pit out. From a few years of experience my best method for cleaning is a grease fire. I drained as much grease as I could out using the ball valve and yeah that's gross and there are for sure a few stains on the driveway. Then I burned it out on Friday with the help of some charcoal in the belly of the barrel and some lighter fluid. It was pretty successful. Nice big, long burning fire. Then the next day I knocked all of the ash and dust off and used the ball valve tube and a bucket underneath to clear as much ash as I could. Then the coin op power wash - pulled everything out and hit them with the high psi spray and knocked all of the crap off that I could. Finally, I bought 6 cans of PAM and sprayed the entire thing down inside and out and burned it out really good last night with some lump in the firebox. Still could use some TLC but looking pretty good and we're ready for Thursday/Friday. I think we are going with 6 briskets, 4 butts, 4 racks of spares and 220 hot dogs. 

[Baboontyme 2808]

LFG

 

 

[luke duke 6407]

Do you own stock in a meat probe company?

[Paco 1932]

Do you own stock in a meat probe company?

I was trying to figure out how to tag you as soon as I saw that.

[Baboontyme 2808]

 

Porkers on the sidecar

[Baboontyme 2808]

Getting close on these. 1AM and 7 AM. Pork asses still in the stall. 

[Baboontyme 2808]

5/6 off. Rested down to 175ish wrapped and coolered. We shall see how they respond come 6 pm. Ribs on! 

[Etexhorn13 3041]

13 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

5/6 off. Rested down to 175ish wrapped and coolered. We shall see how they respond come 6 pm. Ribs on! 

Quick sidebar related to the “resting down to 175” part… when I take mine off I wrap them in a towel and go straight to the cooler. Does lowering the temp first make that big a difference?

[Baboontyme 2808]

They will continue to cook if you wrap right off of the pit. Doesn't matter much with a pork butt but brisket you want to wait if you're trying to hold. I'm unsure how long it will stay warm coolered when you let them get down to 170 but we will see and I'm going to have a small fire onsite and I figure I can pop them back on at 200-225 for a bit wrapped.

[RMac5 1550]

That’s a big chunk of meat, it will stay warm a long time in a cooler. Especially if there are several briskets in there.

Edited June 3, 2022 by RMac5

[tx 3 putt 76539]

5 hours ago, RMac5 said:

That’s a big chunk of meat, it will stay warm a long time in a cooler. Especially if there are several briskets in there.

i want to be in that cooler 

[elfenix 34201]

that pepper to salt ratio tho

[Baboontyme 2808]

It was Diamond kosher... Really fine. Not my favorite but I wasn't going back to the store. Solid 2:1 on all 3 cuts just can't really see it. 

I don't remember who convinced me to run my briskets cap up but I will not be doing that again. Basically had to carve off a layer of crisp to serve. Other than that tho they were dynomite. Sold out of ribs first, then brisket and have 1 butt left over. Went through about 180 hot dogs, 75 waters, 135 cans of soda. (This is all so I can remember when I bump the thread on a year). PTO profit TBD and I am wary of my wife's accounting skills but we shall see. Probably my favorite night of the entire year, I hate that we missed two years of this and I only have two years left. That stupid school has become just about my favorite place on earth. Just great people. And they are dumb enough to think I'm basically Aaron Franklin because no one knows any better up here. God bless em. 

 

 

[Jerry Callo 8671]

Smoking four pork butts on Saturday for a lunch event on Sunday.  My oven doesn't go low enough to hold them overnight and I'm afraid they won't stay at a high enough temp overnight in a Yeti cooler.  My thought was wrap the finished butts whole and refrigerate over night.  Put them in the oven at 300 Sunday morning to bring back up to temp.  Pull at home, sauce, and then take to location to serve.

Any thoughts?

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Jerry Callo

[dcbc 14442]

1 hour ago, Jerry Callo said:

Smoking four pork butts on Saturday for a lunch event on Sunday.  My oven doesn't go low enough to hold them overnight and I'm afraid they won't stay at a high enough temp overnight in a Yeti cooler.  My thought was wrap the finished butts whole and refrigerate over night.  Put them in the oven at 300 Sunday morning to bring back up to temp.  Pull at home, sauce, and then take to location to serve.

Any thoughts?

 

That will work.  What time will they be done on Friday.  You'd be surprised how long a preheated Yeti will hold food as long as it's not opened and the headspace is filled with towels or some such.  And while ideally, you'd "pull" right before you serve, with four butts, I can understand why that would be a pain.

[Texzilla58 4718]

Where is your event Sunday? I’m crashing and getting a loaded plate. If it’s a potluck I’ll bring Gold Dollar mustard sweet slaw as invented by the legendary Horton Payne in Memphis.

[Jerry Callo 8671]

40 minutes ago, dcbc said:

That will work.  What time will they be done on Friday.  You'd be surprised how long a preheated Yeti will hold food as long as it's not opened and the headspace is filled with towels or some such.  And while ideally, you'd "pull" right before you serve, with four butts, I can understand why that would be a pain.

The pork butts will probably be finished by Saturday afternoon and would probably hold overnight in the Yeti, but I don't want to risk killing all of the old ladies attending my Mom's celebration of life.  I still might be convinced otherwise as that would be the easiest.

I doubt anyone will care about the pork being pulled early and I really just want to show up with the food ready to serve.  I plan to put the pulled pork in a couple crockpots to keep warm and serve.

[Jerry Callo 8671]

36 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said:

Where is your event Sunday? I’m crashing and getting a loaded plate. If it’s a potluck I’ll bring Gold Dollar mustard sweet slaw as invented by the legendary Horton Payne in Memphis.

It is probably not the best event to crash, even though Chazz Reinhold did pretty well crashing funerals in Wedding Crashers.

I toyed with making some coleslaw, but my versions are either a mayo/vinegar based jalapeno slaw or chimichurri slaw.  If you have a good recipe for slaw to complement pulled pork sandwiches, I'd love to have it.

[thunderlounge 7776]

I can dig up my blue cheese slaw recipe. It’s mayo based, with some ranch as well.

Makes a full pan, so should be plenty. 

[Jerry Callo 8671]

1 hour ago, thunderlounge said:

I can dig up my blue cheese slaw recipe. It’s mayo based, with some ranch as well.

Makes a full pan, so should be plenty. 

Thanks.  My sister (no pics) is going to do sides, so I'm not going to worry about it.

[utee94 15747]

My SIL has lately been making a broccoli slaw that's really good, I prefer it to the standard stuff.

But it sounds like you don't need it so I guess I'll just shut the hell up.

[Baboontyme 2808]

What are you cooking on? Something you have to tend all night? Even on my trailer I think I would just start them the night before and I would have a spare charcoal basket ready to swap out in the middle of the night when my initial fuel burns out and temps dip below 200.

[Baboontyme 2808]

Also fwiw I like wrapping them in 2x HD foil for awhile and a towel so they continue to cook. By the time you unwrap, do that into a foil pan and you will have a good amount of juice. I understand you don't want to pull onsite but in your situation I might plan to have them "done" on the smoker about 4-6 hours before I was going to pull them. But honestly those things are so hard to fuck up you're going to be good to go. 

[DalTxHornFan 3088]

Somewhere along the way the bride and I came to own two older electric turkey roasters (I don't think that we bought either of them).  They do a great job of holding finished briskets, pork shoulders, et al. at a serving temperature -- they hold forever at temps much lower than a standard oven.

Something like this one:

[dcbc 14442]

1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

Also fwiw I like wrapping them in 2x HD foil for awhile and a towel so they continue to cook. By the time you unwrap, do that into a foil pan and you will have a good amount of juice. I understand you don't want to pull onsite but in your situation I might plan to have them "done" on the smoker about 4-6 hours before I was going to pull them. But honestly those things are so hard to fuck up you're going to be good to go. 

He could also start the cook later, wrap at the stall, and finish in the oven overnight at a controlled temp.  Short hold in a cooler, and pull onsite in a foil pan.  Might work well?

[Jerry Callo 8671]

What are you cooking on? Something you have to tend all night? Even on my trailer I think I would just start them the night before and I would have a spare charcoal basket ready to swap out in the middle of the night when my initial fuel burns out and temps dip below 200.

Cooking on a kamado that I can keep constant for 10-12 hours. That is longer than I've cooked pork butts in the past though and four butts would be tight.

I could smoke them 5‐6 hours and then wrap and hold on the oven overnight at 170. They wouldn't get overcooked at 170, would they?

[Baboontyme 2808]

I'm not sure what you mean by 4 would be tight, are you using the Kamado regardless? Sorry it has been a long week. In your situation I would personally 100% put them on Saturday night probably around 8 or 9 to be safe assuming 8-10 lbs each. I would cook at 230-275 and plan on them being done in 10-12 hours, max. I would drink heavily if I were 10 years younger and sleep well. Wrap when done in the morning and pull before leaving or serving. 

If you only smoke them for 5-6 hours and then put in an oven at 170 they won't get done. If you do that put them in the oven at 200. They will not dry out or get over done. 

 

[dcbc 14442]

28 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

Cooking on a kamado that I can keep constant for 10-12 hours. That is longer than I've cooked pork butts in the past though and four butts would be tight.

I could smoke them 5‐6 hours and then wrap and hold on the oven overnight at 170. They wouldn't get overcooked at 170, would they?

Double wrap them in thick foil with some sort of liquid sprayed on them before wrapping, and I think they would not dry out.  Four butts definitely will increase the cook time.

[Texzilla58 4718]

It is probably not the best event to crash, even though Chazz Reinhold did pretty well crashing funerals in Wedding Crashers.
I toyed with making some coleslaw, but my versions are either a mayo/vinegar based jalapeno slaw or chimichurri slaw.  If you have a good recipe for slaw to complement pulled pork sandwiches, I'd love to have it.

Here you go. I can eat it by the bucketful but Mrs Zilla prefers it either white vinegar slaw or mayo based. It’s very loose as it’s intended for sandwiches. If you want as a side add more cabbage or some shredded carrot to tighten it up.

John Wills Yellow Slaw
1/2cup yellow mustard
1/2cup sugar
1/4cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sweet pickle juice
1 tsp celery seed
kosher salt to taste
black or white pepper to taste
1/4cup chopped sweet pickle or sweet pickle relish
1 or 2 heads cabbage, shredded fine (about a 3 pound head)

This slaw was first developed by legendary Horton Payne, and “borrowed” later by John Wills. It is a perfect complement to Memphis style pulled pork or ribs. If you don’t like the mustardy elements to this slaw, leave it out and you have a “white slaw” favored by many. I do not use the celery seed due to dental work, so I use a little celery salt or omit.
This is a very wet slaw, and is more like a sauce in some ways, as it’s primary duty is on a pulled pork sandwich. If you want it tighter just add more cabbage to taste.