Need some advice for party planning

[jirodriguez]

OK... so middle of next month my wife is graduating from college, and we are planning a BBQ party day before. I will probably have around 30 people and my menu is looking like pulled pork w/ potato rolls for PP mini PP sandwiches, sliced brisket, coleslaw, and baked beans. The party will be on Saturday and my plan is to do all the smoking and food prep. on Friday.

Pulled pork: gonna cook qty. 6, 8-10 lb. bone in pork shoulders. Pull them and put in fridge overnight. Reheat the pulled pork the next day with the de-fatted drippings from pork.

Beans and slaw easy no worries there. Gonna do Dutch's beans and reheat on Sat. Coleslaw no worries.

NOW... my question is going to be re-heating the brisket. I am thinking I will put it in a covered foil pan when it hits 165 internal temp. Then pull it from the smoker when I get to 190-195 internal temp. Then on Saturday I will be re-heating everything in a 200° oven till I get it all back up to 165° (thinking will take 2-3 hrs.). My thought is the oven time will cook the brisket the rest of the way(?) and reheating it in its own juices will keep it moist and flavorfull?

Questions, comments, ideas,..... snide remarks?

 

[mballi3011]

Now I haven't re-heated in the oven before so I'm not really a good one to answer that part of your question. But I have catered many pretty large gatherings. I would smoke everything fully and then re-heat saturday but with a steamer pot/ pasta pot. Either or which ever you might have. If not a good size collander would work too. It wouldn't let your meat dry out like I believe the oven will do. So give it a shot and don't forget the Qview. Congrats to the wife too.

 

[jirodriguez]

Unfortunately the biggest (and only) pot(s) I got are (2) 4 quart pots with no steamer inserts or anything. I am hoping to do all this using primarily those disposable foil hotel pans you see used on buffet lines sometimes. I am thinking I will rent some of those sterno fired warming trays to keep stuff hot during food service.

 

[pineywoods]

Using averages from your butts you'd be smoking about 54 lbs which should yield 27 lbs cooked then if you figure about 1/3 lb per sandwich your looking at around 81 sandwiches (if i can do the math its late) and thats not even figuring the brisket or briskets I think your over on the butts unless you want lots of extra. Personally I would smoke it until done then pull and slice and reheat the day of.

 

[fired up]

I am with Pineywoods on this one, 3 8-10 pound butts should be more than enough, especially if you are doing briskets too. Maybe do 4 if you want to have some leftovers.

 

[greely]

I agree on the 3 butts is enough and 1 brisket and you will have left over. Vacupak left overs and freeze. When you take the meat off the smoker wrap with saran wrap. When you reheat wrap in foil, leaving the saran wrap. It will not dry out. I would also suggest cooling down quickly in a cooler full of ice so as not to warm your fridge up much and also bring them to 41* as quick as possible.

 

[scarbelly]

I agree - if you do not have a Vac Sealer ( go get one ) you can use 1 Gallon bags and double seal them - reheat the meat in hot - not boiling water - another way to do it is to buy the disposable chafing dishes and use them to reheat - make sure you are not using dry heat like an oven without some kind of moisture to heat or it will dry out big time - If you have to use an oven- add a mixture of some kind to the meat to keep it moist - lots of folks use apple juice - captain morgan - any mop recipe will do

Good luck - Might be worth the $20 at Wally world to get a big pot with a steamer

 

[jirodriguez]

Cool... good info! Thank you all

I think I will do 4 butt's then, and the brisket. My plan is to fully cook everything on the day before. Pull and bag the pork - save the liquids. Cook the brisket, rest it for 1 hr. in cooler, save the liquids, then wrap and into the fridge.

Day of party I will be using the disposable chafing pans. Put pork and pork liquids in one pan, cover tightly, put in 200° oven. Put unsliced brisket in other pan with saved liquids and maybe some au-jus, once the brisket is warm slice it, and put back into liquids in pan and cover tightly.

To help things out I think I will put a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of the oven. I am planning on practicing on a brisket this weekend or next.

 

[pineywoods]

Personally I would put foil tight over the top of the pans you use to reheat with the juice/au jus/finishing sauce whatever your going to use. Once you do that the pan of water in the bottom of the oven is not needed and won't do anything for you. If your smoking the day before I'd just pull right into the disposable pan and foil tight no sense in wasting the bags.

 

[jirodriguez]

I had thought about pulling straight into the pans, but was afraid of the fridge drying out the pork. Most fridges have a feature to de-humidify stuff to keep moisture from building up in the fridge and ruining food.

The real fun part is going to be finding room in the fridge for everything... lol.

 

[pineywoods]

If you seal it tight with foil or saran wrap it will be fine. When doing large party's lots of coolers and ice is nice

 

[macbillybob]

I just did a party of similar size. I served a variety of sausages I have made, most of which were fresh not smoked. I grilled these just before serving.
I also served one of my Pastrami briskets. I brined these some time ago and smoked them to 155 IT, then to the freezer. I thawed and put it in a steam pan (I use one of those stovetop smoker do-hickeys) on the grill around 4 hours before serving. It was fantastic. So were the sausages. Got rave reviews.

Also did a double batch of my BBBB (buckboard bacon beans)

 

[kevntri]

Scrounge up a electric roaster from someone.(lots of people have them in their basement).... oven is a no no
Fill the bottom with water and apple juice and heat to 275 to 300 degrees.
use something to keep your pan of meat above and steam steam steam....