2011 March Of Dimes Event

[walle]

Hey SMF, this is will be the second year I've helped a local March of Dimes group with a BBQ fund raiser. Last year I smoked 10 butts and 108#'s of chicken thighs. We had a great turn out and support from the community - even a couple of members  (Mr Bassman and Mr Bbally) attended  - so we are ripping the lid off of this thing this year with 20 butts and 25 to 30 whole chickens which I'm hoping to accomodate with two new shelves!

Rubbed the butts yesterday afternoon and gave each one a full shot of Creole Butter and loaded them in the smoker right at midnight thrity this morning for a pork pulling party this afternoon.





Here we are at the 6 hour mark and pritzing with AJ and Buttershots. Wheew... that stint from 3:00 to 6:00 was a MUTHA!




Chickens will go on Tuesday morning to be chopped and served straight away.
Updates to follow!

thanks for checking out my March of Dimes post.

Tracey
 

 

[rbranstner]

That's looking great. What are you plans for the PP since you aren't serving it until Tuesday?

 

[rp ribking]

Wowzer, that is a lot of butt!!!! It's nice that you are helping with this event. They look mouth watering in that 2nd pic.

 

[Bearcarver]

Again Tracey---This is Great of you to do this---I can't believe it's been a year since I remember the job you did last year!

Time sure flies, when we get over the hill !

Keep us posted the best you can.

Thanks,

Bear

 

[rdknb]

Great way to raise money and have fun too

 

[walle]

Thanks everyone!  It's one of those hard but fun projects that you can't wait to start... then can't wait for it to be over!!

Here we are at the nine hour mark - panned and foiled and waiting for 195* to kill the smoker and let them sit a while.

RB - We are going to vacuum seal and freeze, then pull them out Monday night keep in a cooler for the reheat Tuesday morning.  That's what we did last year and it worked like a charm.  Heated them up slowly in big electric roasters with about 1 1/2 cups of the liquid from the pan for each roaster.

Haven't found a way to re-heat chicken back to to the quality it is fresh smoked, so I'll be getting up early and doing those the day of.







 

 

[tjohnson]

Great Job Walle!

Todd

 

[the dude abides]

Kudos to you for doing this for a great charity!

 

[walle]

Thanks everyone!!  Here's and update after I got some sleep!

I started the fire at 11:45 pm on Friday and had the butt's in by 12:30am Sat morning. I smoked them at 235* for nine hours and then panned and foiled them until 1:30 when the largest but was at 188*... stay with me here folks... At that point, I just killed my fire and let them set until 4:30 pm and we started in on the pulling.

188*? in the past, when I've taken butts to 200*+, I've been a little disappointed with the "mushy" texture - especially if it's a large batch to be reheated. By cutting the fire and letting them set in their juices for another 3 hours, they were perfect. Still pulled excellent, and ended up with a "good bite through" on a test samich last night...

So, like anything, it's all up to personal preference, but I thought the results were note worthy for anyone planning a large feed with a known re-heat in the end. If I were able to go straight to the table, I probably would have pulled at 195*.

Here's the "pulling line"


Had excellent smoke penetration. I using Hickory and Oak.


Ended up with seven heaping pans of pulled pork. Each pan received a small drizzle of Salt Lick, Sweet Baby Rays (maybe a 1/4 C. each), and little shake of Rudy's rub, were mixed, then we transferred to gallon zip locks which were flattened, iced down, and are now in the freezer.



Wheew!! Gotta clean up the smoker and get ready for brining chickens tomorrow night for the Tuesday morning smoke.

THANKS for checking out my post and all of your support. M.O.D.'s is a great cause

 

[Bearcarver]

Awesome Job Tracey!!!!

I'm proud of you!

Bear

 

[bassman]

Congratulations on getting all of that smoked and pulled, Tracey.  Sorry I couldn't be there to help.  I had really planned on it.  See you on Tuesday.

 

[scarbelly]

Thank you for taking the time and expending the effort to support this great cause. This is really an example for all of us on how we can give back in some way. Congrats my friend

 

[beer-b-q]

They Look Great Tracey...

Also a "BIG THANK YOU!" to you and your helpers for taking time to do this...

 

[walle]

Wheew!! Got the smoker cleaned up and ready, and started in on Tuesday morning on the chickens.

Cleaned Sam's Club out with 22 whole chickens and 3 more flats of thighs just in case.



Half-Spatched by cutting the backs out for an easier chop.


 

Chickens out of Slaughter House Brine for approx 12 hours and sprinkled with Rudy's and Salt Lick.





Pork thawing for the re-heat.



Loaded in the smoker and smoked with cherry and apple for an hour at 300*, then I backed it down to 275* I was really surprised at how they varied in cooking time. I started pulling them at 170* - and pulled roughly 1/3 off at a time. Placed them in foil pans, foiled the top, then started chopping when the last pan came off. Having cockspatched them made the cutting very easy and clean. Two of us chopped up these chickens (eight pieces per) in right at 15 minutes. I don't think it had much effect on overall cook time, which I thought it might. Took between 3 and 4 hours on this batch.

Ready to eat!



The crew



And finally part of the crowd!! Look close, I'm sure there is a Bally and a Bassman in there somewhere!



Wheew! One hell of a smok'en weekend!
160#'s of pork, 22 cockspatched chickens, and 3 flats of thighs

Made over $2,100 in just over an hour!!!

Thanks for checking out my post.
Tracey


 

 

[pineywoods]

Tracey you did an outstanding job again this year for a very worthy cause and it all looks awesome 

 

[Bearcarver]

AWESOME !!!!

Way to go Tracey!!!!

I'm proud to know you !

Bear

 

[bbally]

Great Job Tracy, the food was excellent.  Your work to help these children is very important!

Thanks for a great feed!

 

[roller]

YOU DA`MAN !!!!!!!!