Pork Butts the easy way

[jmusser]

Kinda weird to post on SMF but I am looking for some honest advice. So I decided to make some Pulled pork sammies for a homeless encampment in my town here. I just feel like I need to do something. Got someone donating buns, a crew to pre wrap and a cooler to keep warm. Okay.. enough. Didn't wanna post as a "nice thing", etc. Just cook advice.
Bought 9 butts today(roughly 90 lbs.). 6 bnls. and 3 bone in. No way I can smoke em all. Thought maybe SV? and some Oven? Not overly concerned with flavor/ moisture/look/etc. Just need t fill bellies. Looking at options. Wanna deliver Sat or Sun. Based on experience I want to continue.
1) Anyone SV a butt yet and have luck? 120qt cooler and SV?
2) Oven temp and time?
3) ANy advice on serving, cooking, etc.?

Thanks in advance,
Jarod

 

[noboundaries]

Can't help with sous vide. Never done it. But, you can salt and pepper the butts, set the oven at 350F, and cook them in shifts in HD aluminum covered roasting pans. You should be able to get 2 or 3 to a pan. Depending on the size of your oven, should be able to get two pans in it.

If a pan has more room with 2 in it but 3 won't fit, cut one in half. You can pack them in the pan because they shrink as they cook. At 350F they should be probe tender in about 5-7 hours.

You can also debone the butts to save space and increase the amount of meat in each pan.

Sauce goes a long way for adding flavor. One of the big jugs of Sweet Baby Ray's should be more than enough. Buy two if you want to ensure plenty. Mix it with the pulled pork and serve sauced.

Good on you for serving those less fortunate.

 

[jmusser]

Thank you. This was the type of advice I was hoping or. Appreciate sir! Hoping to serve Saturday. Connecting with a community group to make sure good timing.
Thanks,
Jarod

 

[Fueling Around]

I've participated in many meals for the homeless.
Keep the spicing minimal and I would just oven roast.

noboundaries gave great instructions for an oven roast. Removing the bone saves little space so leave it in for the flavor and indicator of done. Once the bone pulls cleanly, the pork is ready to pull into shreds.
You need to enlist others to donate oven space and get it cooked for the soup kitchen line up. The bone in is the indicator, but luckily, pork shoulder is the most forgiving piece of meat for overcooking.
I've had mixed results with volunteers to actually do something other than be there for the photo op.

Don't add sauce to the meat. The juice you catch in the pans is more than enough to keep it moist. If the recipients want sauce, let them add it.

 

[tallbm]

I'm right there with noboundaries .
A regular sized oven with 2 pans and 2 racks in the pan you should be able to cook at least 4 in there.
If you can get another 4 in your smoker then that's 8 total.
The last one you may be able to fit in oven or smoker that has the extra room, if no extra room then take one of the boneless one and cut it into like 1 inch strips/chops and just grill em until tender.
That's 9 butts done!

Seasoning can be simple like SPOG + Paprika. None of that should be too spicy unless you have amazingly fresh hot black pepper. You can cut the paprika if you like and go SPOG and it will still be amazing!

Also if you cut all those butts in half and season them all the way around and then cook them, they should get enough seasoning and smoke on them that you don't need to worry about flavor and mixing sauces much. If you need more flavor when shredded shake in more SPOG+Paprika. It mixes in and flavors well with no oddness.

Finally, when cooking in the oven at 350F you can leave uncovered the whole time and you will get way better flavor and bark than if you cover at any point. Same goes for the smoker.

Good work feeding those folks. Plenty of people are in need of a meal at the moment so what you are doing is good stuff :)

 

[bill1]

Assuming you have some sort of outdoor smoker, you can count that as oven space and then alternate the butts between oven and smoker. If at any one time you have 6 in the oven and 3 in your smoker you can keep them moving to maintain 9 done at about the same time. Heavy smoke for 1/3 the time works out to light smoke in my book and that sounds about right for your clientele.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Some great ideas have been mentioned here! Just one more to throw out since you also mentioned sous vide. Whether you are smoking them or just using oven they can be done ahead of time and then reheated. Did that earlier this year, double smoked a couple hams then on day of the gathering put ham in cooler with sous vide going, had family traveling so wasn't exactly sure of sit down time to eat. When time to leave, took sous vide out, and took cooler along to dad's, meat was perfect and hot. Now you're working on a larger scale so not sure of time schedule for reheating that much meat with sous vide but there is also crock pots or roasters if available to aid in reheating. Only reason I bring this up is Murphys law, would be a bad time to have your oven crap out on you!
Best of wishes on your endeavor!

Ryan

 

[sandyut]

sounds like you have solid cooking advice, so I will steer away from that and just say this:

It is wonderful and giving to help feed those who need some assistance and a good meal. You are a good man!

 

[jmusser]

Thanks! I knew I could count on my SMF brothers. Appreciate all the help fellas!

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

The instant pot is also a great cooker for just tender meat. You may actually know 9 people that have one or you can easily cook one of those butts in an instant pot in 90 minutes to 2 hours each. Any combination of oven/instant pot would be your best bet. For those that can't handle the flavor of smoked meats this would be your best overall solution. I just want to commend you for taking action on a need. I'm glad that there are people like you that can and are willing to help. If I ever win the lottery I plan on feeding a lot of homeless folks from my own obsession with barbecue. I would love to perfect my brisket technique and believe I would make one every single day until they came out absolutely perfect every single time. I can't eat that much but there are always plenty of people who are unfortunate enough not to be able to feed themselves. I would love to be able to give that back to the world every single day. I applaud you.

G

 

[Gonna Smoke]

....I've had mixed results with volunteers to actually do something other than be there for the photo op....

After the cook, pulling/shredding the pork will be a big task and that's where you'll need some good help. I've noticed also that good help can be hard to find when it comes to hard work.....

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

After the cook, pulling/shredding the pork will be a big task and that's where you'll need some good help. I've noticed also that good help can be hard to find when it comes to hard work.....

I actually have found that you can get super fast shredding results by using a Kitchen Aid type stand mixer with the paddle attachment. If the pork is well done to that shred able state then it only takes about 30 seconds to get three or four pounds of meat ready for a foil pan.

G

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I actually have found that you can get super fast shredding results by using a Kitchen Aid type stand mixer with the paddle attachment. If the pork is well done to that shred able state then it only takes about 30 seconds to get three or four pounds of meat ready for a foil pan.

G

These work well, also and what I use when doing more than one butt. Easier with a good drill motor with an axillary handle...

 

[civilsmoker]

I've done pulled pork sandwiches for about 50 at a girls camp my wife "volunteered" me for.... I did the pork the day before, then on the day, just a couple of huge pots on the camp chef to heat up. Slick as a whistle. Cook the pork and do the sauce just like NoB says, simple and many many shops do pulled pork this way. If you want to speed the cook time cover them.

 

[jmusser]

Well this has kind of grown. Planning around 50# trimmed, pulled pork for sandwiches. Serving with baked beans in little styrofoam containers. Planning dinner Saturday. Butts in oven currently. Will pull and reheat.

Gonna check the situation tomorrow with 20 qts of chili and trays of mac n cheese . Leftover pork, brisket, various sausage, etc. from the deep freeze along with venison burger made for about 15# meat. Lot of cans of beans and tomato sauce! Everything was vac sealed so just sous vide and into 20qt stockpot. SO much easier to de-fat. That is a big ole batch of chili!

 

[civilsmoker]

Looks like your in biz now....good luck on the execution on Saturday!

 

[Hamdrew]

I'd chunk them up and cook in deep pans as often done for carnitas.

Temp wont matter too much, since there will be so much fat rendering out.