My first big smoke need advice

[smoketoomuch]

Word has gotten around work that I can whoop up some good que, now I have been tapped for the end of the year staff party.

I am expecting between 90-100 with about fifteen of that being young kids 11yrs and under. I am more than happy to accomodate, just want to be sure all goes well.

I am planning to smoke 4 butts about 7-8 lbs each and 6, 5-6 lb chickens. The chickens will be halved. I am using 2 MES 40s for this smoke each with an AMZNPS. One for butts and one for the chix. Butts I am smoking at 225 and chix 275. The party is Friday, so Thursday arounfd 6pm I will put the butts on to smoke. Friday morning before work I will put the chickens on, probably around 6:30 am. I should be home to check the chickens by noon.

Now the advice. Do I have enough meat? I figured a 1/2lb a person 30lbs pork, 30lbs chicken. That gives me a little extra.

Am I allowing enough time for the Butts and chicken?  Planning on eating around 6pm, will wrap meat and cooler it if it finishes early. 

I know I shouldn't have problems with the chicken times. If anything they will be done to soon. I am just unsure about the Butts. Planning on between 12 - 18 hrs cook time.

Also going to make 2 large trays of Dutch's beans.

Thats about it. Any help and or advice would be appreciated. Never done this large of smoke before, many 20-30 person smokes. 100 is getting out of my comfort zone.

Thanks

Jon

 

[jirodriguez]

OK... you are low on the meats:

• Butts (and other large cuts) lose approx. 30-40% weight between uncooked and finished product. Also at 1/2 lb. per person you would need 50 lbs. of finished butts, not 30 (.5 x 100 = 50), even then 1/2 per person is a LOT for one serving most large portions are 1/3 lb. per person. Which would bring you back to needing 33 lbs. of finished product. - so if you start with 50 lbs. raw and subtract 30% you end up with 35 lbs. finished product.... and if you want a little more wiggle room start with 60 lbs. raw to get approx. 42 lbs. of finished product.
• Do the chicken by piece. Whole and half chickens do not work well with large crowds, hard to guage how much somebody gets, and a lot of the weight is bone and skin. Figure 1-2 pcs. per person, so you need 150-200 pcs. of chicken if you want everybody to have some... and that's a lot of chicken! Probably gonna fill both smokers with just chicken at least once... maybe twice... not sure how many you can fit in an MES 40 on one go. I suggest doing thighs, they don't dry out on you and re-heat well.
• Dutch's beans are very, very popular, I would hazard a guess you are looking at 3-4 pans, unless you are going to add any other sides. Personally I would add either some coleslaw or potato salad and some rolls... help fill folks up on sides, not just meat.

Now as far as cooking times... cook everything in advance, don't leave anything untill last minute, it will bite you in the rear! Butts can be cooked as far as 5 days in advance, pulled, and placed in gallon ziplocs in the fridge to be re-heated day of party. To re-heat place in foil turkey pans with 1 C apple juice and re-heat in oven or smoker at 200°-225° for 4 hrs.

Chicken can be cooked 1-2 days ahead, placed in foil turkey pans covered tightly with plastic wrap. To re-heat replace plastic wrap with foil and re-heat in oven or smoker at 200°-225°. I suggest that when you put the chicken in the foil pans the first time, that you baste each layer of chicken in the pan lightly with some BBQ sauce, then as it re-heats the BBQ sauce will add moisture and flavor.

Beans cook and re-heat same as chicken.

Best of luck! Don't forget to take some picures!

 

[smoketoomuch]

Thanks JLR,

I usually estimate .5lb as precooked weight per person. I will definitley get some more chicken and butts.

For the chicken I cook them in halves and part it out after cooking. I was just estimating weight per person and not the amount of peices that may be eaten. Other people will be brinig side dishes as well. I was going to quadruple the receipe for Dutches beans but maybe now I will make an even larger batch.

Thanks for the help

 

[jirodriguez]

In my past exp. one double batch of Dutch's beans will beed approx. 25-30 people, but if you have other sides coming then you can probably get away with 3 double batches.

 

[smoketoomuch]

Good to know.

Thanks

 

[scarbelly]

Johnnie is steering you in the right direction. The formulas he has given you are tried and true for an event this big. 

Personally, I would cook the butts a couple days ahead and reheat them the day of the event. You are going to have a lot of work to get the chicken done too and if you can find a large grill, I would precook the chicken to 160 and finish it on the grill. I would also use thighs as they are very forgiving and you can cook a lot of them at a time in the MES. 

Do you have access to a kitchen on site? How are you going to keep the food in the safety zone during serving?   Are you going to have folks serving this or set up as a buffet?  If you do it as a buffet, add 10% to your meats because folks always take too much when serving themselves. 

If you want to chat, send me a PM with your # and I will be glad to help walk you thru this 

 

[smoketoomuch]

The event will be at my house, served buffet style. I think I can get  a large flat top propane grill. I am thinking of smoking the legs and thighs and grilling a bunch of breasts if needed. The grill is huge and can hold a mess load. The problem I am going to run into is that I have to get the legs and thighs on in the morning before I go to work. I won't be home unitl 12pm or so. I am worrid that the chicken will be done before I get home. I guess I can smoke them low temp and hit them with high heat on the grill when people start arriving. That way they are not over cooked before I get home.

 

[pineywoods]

May I suggest that in at least one batch of the beans you omit the Jalapenos and cut the ground mustard in half or omit it. That way the kids and those that don't like spice can enjoy them as well

 

[smoketoomuch]

Thanks, good call. I will definitely cut back on the jalapenos for those less tolerant of heat.

 

[pineywoods]

When the wife and Grand-kids are eating I have to make a batch non spicy and one spicy. They won't eat them with any heat and the rest of us won't eat them without. It's never a problem because they reheat well

 

[scarbelly]

The event will be at my house, served buffet style. I think I can get  a large flat top propane grill. I am thinking of smoking the legs and thighs and grilling a bunch of breasts if needed. The grill is huge and can hold a mess load. The problem I am going to run into is that I have to get the legs and thighs on in the morning before I go to work. I won't be home unitl 12pm or so. I am worrid that the chicken will be done before I get home. I guess I can smoke them low temp and hit them with high heat on the grill when people start arriving. That way they are not over cooked before I get home.

My suggestion would be to do thighs only - the problem with doing too many items is you run out of legs or wings or breasts and folks get disappointed. If you only offer them one choice there is never an issue.  Also - do you have chafing dishes to keep things hot? If not swing by Smart and Final and get a few of the disposables ones. There is a water pan and a food pan and sometimes they come with fuel too. It is really important to keep the food hot and in the safe temp zone 140+. 

 

[smoketoomuch]

I can get ahold of some chafing dishes. Keeping food hot has never been a concern for me when I feed my family. I can barely get the food on the table before the vultures come and pick it clean. When I have family over for birthdays and hoildays I usually feed about 30. With this event food safety is a good call. Thanks for the tip. Don't need any co-workers getting sick.

And the learning continues...thank goodness for this site.

Thanks