Number of pork butts for tacos for 150 people? Also- Can I smoke ahead and freeze? If so, how long can they be frozen?

[RebeKeller]

Number of pork butts for tacos for 150 people? Also- Can I smoke ahead and freeze? If so, how long can they be frozen?

 

[BigW.]

Sounds like a great party. What type of equipment do you have? Smoker, cambro, coolers, sous vide, roaster or oven available to reheat? Good news is you can certainly freeze before hand. I eat frozen pulled pork all the time with no quality decrease. Welcome!

 

[RebeKeller]

Sounds like a great party. What type of equipment do you have? Smoker, cambro, coolers, sous vide, roaster or oven available to reheat? Good news is you can certainly freeze before hand. I eat frozen pulled pork all the time with no quality decrease. Welcome!

We own a Pitboss pellet smoker, but also have access to a very large wood smoker as well. I am unsure about the best way to reheat, but after reheated, it will be set up in chafing dishes just ahead of the wedding reception. At this point, I welcome ALL advice and tips and tricks that you pros know. I super appreciate your help!

 

[02ebz06]

I'm with B BigW. , you can freeze ahead of time.
You don't put a lot of meat on a taco, so if you assume an average of 3 tacos per person would be 4 ounces give or take.
For 150 people you would have 600 ounces or about 37 pounds.

You can look at the pork butts in the store and add up the weights to get to 37, then add 1 or 2 more.
There will be weight loss for trimming and during cooking, so 1 extra minimum and 2 extra to be safe.
Besides you can always refreeze leftover.

The above is just an estimate on my part, and what I would do.
It also assumes there will be side dishes and people won't be filling up on tacos only.

Maybe someone that actually has done it can chime in.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum.

 

[RebeKeller]

I'm with B BigW. , you can freeze ahead of time.
You don't put a lot of meat on a taco, so if you assume an average of 3 tacos per person would be 4 ounces give or take.
For 150 people you would have 600 ounces or about 37 pounds.

You can look at the pork butts in the store and add up the weights to get to 37, then add 1 or 2 more.
There will be weight loss for trimming and during cooking, so one extra minimum and 2 extra to be safe.
Besides you can always refreeze leftover.

The above is just an estimate on my part, and what I would do.
It also assumes there will be side dishes and people won't be filling up on tacos only.

Maybe someone that actually has done it can chime in.

Thank you so much!

 

[DemonPit]

For my family of 3, I always smoke 2 pork butts at a time, and vac seal enough for dinners for the family per package. Reheat in hot water bath.

I did learn one awesome trick. Add a tablespoon of the "jelly" (pork butt juice) to each bag. This will make each bag mmoistened very flavorful. I do the same (but with tallow) on my brisket slices. Portion meals per bag and freeze. I do have a dedicated 10cu' deep freezer for meat and leftovers.

 

[Hijack73]

I always WILDLY overestimate and I'm usually glad I do. Figure 25% shrink during cooking and 8oz meat per person. My quick head math says go with 100lbs uncooked. You may have 10lbs of leftovers, but that's WAY better than 5 people at the back of the line going "you're out?"

Church cooks and weddings will almost without fail have 20 more people show up than you were expecting. When I cook for a gathering, people are able to eat like gluttonous carnivores, or I haven't done my job right.

 

[RebeKeller]

I always WILDLY overestimate and I'm usually glad I do. Figure 25% shrink during cooking and 8oz meat per person. My quick head math says go with 100lbs uncooked. You may have 10lbs of leftovers, but that's WAY better than 5 people at the back of the line going "you're out?"

Church cooks and weddings will almost without fail have 20 more people show up than you were expecting. When I cook for a gathering, people are able to eat like gluttonous carnivores, or I haven't done my job right.

I agree with you about having extra for sure. I would be so embarrassed if we ran out. Thank you for educating me on the shrink. I didn't even think about that. In your opinion, do you think people like tortillas or hard shells better? What ratio of each would you recommend?

 

[smokerjim]

If it were me I would smoke them ahead of time, shred them and freeze in ziploc bags, pull out of freezer a day or two ahead of time to thaw out. Reheat in covered aluminum pans in 250-275 degree oven, I would also add some bbq. sauce or finishing sauce when reheating for moisture. As for shells I like the hard shells but maybe offer both, everyone's a little different.

 

[gmc2003]

For the average person Bruce ( 02ebz06 ) has you covered. However, if your feeding a bunch of high school boys you may want to increase your amounts/person. Same goes for if you feeding a group of senior citizens. You may need to decrease the amount. PP freezes and reheats really well. So if it were me. I'd fully cook it, shred it and freeze it with a vacuum sealer. If you don't have a vacuum sealer then Zip locks will work. If they're vacuum sealed then reheating in a pot of simmering water works really well. You can also reheat in a deep pan on low heat in your oven. Stirring occasionally. The trick is to have enough juice in the pan so the PP doesn't dry out, but not so much that it gets mushy.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Chris

Edit: I'm not sure if Ziplock bags can be used in simmering water.

 

[LoydB]

I'd go with tortillas, way easier to deal with than crispy.

 

[uncle eddie]

Ditto above:

I shrink-wrap all PP leftovers. You can always add a dab of water when reheating.

Shrinkage from fresh weight is real. Make your plans on cooked weight.

 

[DougE]

For the average person Bruce ( 02ebz06 ) has you covered. However, if your feeding a bunch of high school boys you may want to increase your amounts/person. Same goes for if you feeding a group of senior citizens. You may need to decrease the amount. PP freezes and reheats really well. So if it were me. I'd fully cook it, shred it and freeze it with a vacuum sealer. If you don't have a vacuum sealer then Zip locks will work. If they're vacuum sealed then reheating in a pot of simmering water works really well. You can also reheat in a deep pan on low heat in your oven. Stirring occasionally. The trick is to have enough juice in the pan so the PP doesn't dry out, but not so much that it gets mushy.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Chris

Edit: I'm not sure if Ziplock bags can be used in simmering water.

Pretty much what these guys said. I think Bruce's numbers look pretty close, but you can always up that on the side of caution and refreeze what's left for later use. Cook ahead, shred, vac seal, freeze. Reheat in foil pans with plenty of liquid (save the drippings from the cook and chill to separate the fat out and keep it to add no matter how you reheat it), or toss the vac sealed bags in a pot of water, or sous vide.

 

[fxsales1959]

lots of good information above. I agree with the soft taco shells. They are less likely to overload and waste. I can' imagine more than 2-3 oz. of meat per taco. I only cook a couple of butts a year and Mama puts what we don't eat in suck bags. (vac-seal) We've pulled out well sealed bags that were in freezer 6months, and they were still great. She never adds anything to the bag but about a lb. of meat. it's inherently kinda oily, per se', so ours doesn't dry out. If your fixin on another gathering soon, you could get by with zip-bags, but i don't like the crystals that form. If you don't have a suck machine it would be a good time to invest. I buy quart bags 200 at a time on amazon fairly cheap. We use ours for everything, even do 3 oz beef balls for smash burgers to save time when i get a whim. sound like a good party. hopefully an open bar.

 

[MICHLITCHSPOKANESPICE]

I agree with previous comments. Put in portion sized bags and freezing is a way easier option, as far as how long you can freeze, in my opinion, no longer than 1 year. After about a year things start to taste weird.