How much do I need???

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nebraskasmoker

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 13, 2008
2
10
We are putting on a back to school barbecue at our church this Sunday, and me and another guy are smoking the pork butts for it. We're expecting around 200, and we're using bone-in pork butts. The question is, what would be a good estimate for how much we need to make sure we don't run out. We've got 40 lbs right now, and I'm thinking we maybe need to double that. Neither of us have ever done this for more than about 15-20 people before. We plan on doing most of the smoking on Saturday, so we're ready ahead of time. Give me your thoughts please. I was just guessing about 1/3 of a pound per person, but I want to make sure we don't run out, with the expectation of quite a few visitors.
 
The rule of thumb is you will yield about 50% of the total weight. Figure about 1/3 of a lb per person as long as you have a few sides and everyone is having one sammie.

So 200 people at 1/3 lb. per person is about 67 lbs of finished product.

You'll need about 135 lbs of pork butts to start with.

Figure 8 - 9 8lb butts.

You can make them the day before, vacuum seal them and then reheat the next day in alumium foil pans over low heat with some of the left over juices or a nice finishing sauce.
 
Welcome to SMF. Be sure to stop into the Roll Call forum and give us an intro post: Experience, equipment, etc.

Ron's estimate is a good one. Remember butt DOES freeze well. :{)
 
got that right, I freeze mine off every winter.

I don't think 8-9 butts will feed 200 folks though. I think 15-16 of them would be a closer guess.
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So would ya say he was half right, or half wrong!
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Batteries musta died on his calculator!
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Nope the brain just stopped working.

The guys are right, 135 lbs would be more like 17 butts.

Apologies for the error.
 
I did a job last Feb for 200 people. We used 12 butts and we cooked them 2 days prior and placed the pulled pork in aluminum pans for reheating. We had 6 full pans of pork but we doubled up on the pans to hold the weight of the pork. Bought a cheap chaffin pan set up for $30 at Gordon Foods and used that to keep everything warm. We feed the crew for under $500 and everyone walked away full. For sides we had cole slaw and baked beans. We also served the meal to help cut down on people wasteing food. We also cut the BBQ sauce with about 40% water to save money as well. If you are going to serve it with sauce on do it before putting it in the fridge. That way if its a little dry you can add more juice to a later. We also was expecting 200 people but only 150 showed. We also had nacho's and cheese and sliced cheese and vegetables for sides before we served the meal. We had a ton of meat left over and sent as much out the door with the people we could. Hope this helps and Good luck.
 
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Just stock up on "Runza's and Valentino's " just in case. Some ABT's and "Fatties for the little troops" couldn't hurt. How about some "Snicker Apples?" All the surprises help. Seems like there ought to be some smoked roasting ears in Cornhusker Country? Put some red food coloring under the shucks and call them Husker Ears. Semper Fi from Sedalia, MO. Rich
 
Hey everybody,
thanks for the responses, I think we have a pretty good handle on what we're going to do now.

We're at Northridge Assembly in Grand Island. Come on down from Omaha if ya like.
 
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