Smoker for Catering BBQ help

[forsenpork]

Hello,

   Some friends and I are thinking about starting up a local BBQ catering service.  We plan on mainly smoking pork butt and brisket and of course all the fixin's to go with.

My question for the forum is what kind of smoker do you suggest we get?

Our projected size of our catering events could range between 100-200 people to start out with.

Thanks in advance for your help.

brian

 

[SmokinAl]

Your talking about a major investment to cater a group that large. You could easily spend a few thousand $ on a big trailer rig. You may want to start out with a couple of WSM's & see how the business goes. My WSM 22.5 will hold 8 butts.

 

[roller]

Yep start small and grow.....

 

[fpnmf]

Welcome..

This site has tons of info.

I would suggest you spend some time reading all the different forums and the WIKIs.

Then use the handy dandy search tool for specific interests!!

Have a great day!!!

Craig

 And sign up for the awesome free E-Course!!!

http://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-basics-ecourse.html

 

[oldschoolbbq]

  Forsenpork, I have a Tejas 2040CC and love it,I did my Son' wedding for 250 people last month.WE had no problems in the process. I did the Pork on one day,pulled and packaged it for the fridge, and computated the length of time the Briskys needed and did the next day,wrapped in foil and re-heated at 8am the day of the Wedding,wedding ws at two o'clock.We had plenty of time.

  If you have to do the sides,I went with Gordon Food Serv,.good products and with a vendor's number,it's discounted and no tax.

  The reception went great and the "Que" was a great hit.

  Any questions are gladly answered in trade for friendship

Have fun and,

I did these and 5 Briskys:

 

 

[mballi3011]

You The Man there Stan. If you are smoking for that many folks I would recommend a Lang 84" maybe. I do own a Catering bussiness and I also do alot of smoking and have a large home made smoker that can crank out some good Q. I do however find that depending on what your smoking you can get alot smoked in a smaller unit. I smoke meat for 30-40 and use my smoke vault 24" for it. If you are serving alot of pulled pork it can be smoked days in advance and re-heat it and it will come out great and juicey too. I use a steamer contraption that I made out of a chafing dish and I can re-heat 10lbs of meat in about 30 minute or so. But I would look at a smoker that will fit your needs and abilities and go with that one. Folks around here have their favorite smokers like me and Stan. He likes the Tejas and I like the Lang.

 

[forsenpork]

Great info!!

How do you guys determine how much meat to cook?  Is their a set number of butts and briskets to cook for x number of people?  We are looking to provide smoked pork and brisket.

 

[mango habenero]

Man, those sure are some good looking butts....How far in advance is it okay to start cooking before an event? What would be a good temperature to reheat? I was told if you keep the meat at a constant 140 degrees when saving it over night, won't cook the meat, but would act like a refidgerator except it's not cold. It seems like that would only work for an over night scenario though.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

   Mango, that's why some of us do the cooks in shifts. PP is a natural for chilling and re-heating(sealed in bags or in a Crock Pot.Beef, I leave wrapped in the foil I had wrapped them when I removed them from the Smoker,place in the Fridge and give them a reheat at 225*f .The IMT should always be at or above 160*f to be safe.that's cooked meat,raw meat should not go below 45*f.So once cooked,it's easy.

   Have fun and...

 

[smokey mo]

Your talking about a major investment to cater a group that large. You could easily spend a few thousand $ on a big trailer rig. You may want to start out with a couple of WSM's & see how the business goes. My WSM 22.5 will hold 8 butts.

Agreed, start small.