Porkpullooza 2018

[jbellard]

Hey folks!

A friend of mine in the Air Force asked me to cook up some pork butts for a squadron picnic tomorrow for 450 people!! I’ve never cooked for that many people so of course I said yes.

Supposed to rain with thunderstorms here tomorrow so they backed down on amount of meat but still have 21 butts on the smoker, about 225lbs worth.
Meat has been on for about 3 hrs now and starting to look and smell yummy.
Here are some pics of this experience!
There are 9 butts on the bottom rack left side and another 8 on the top rack left side. The right side has 6.
Enjoy!

 

[dcecil]

Thanks for hookin up our vets, that’s an awesome gesture. Great lookin smoke goin on there.

 

[jbellard]

To be fair, they did give me a bit of money to cook it but we served as missionaries over in Germany with US military kids and their families for 9yrs. so the US military family holds a special place in our hearts.

 

[Geebs]

Looks pretty awesome so far! Mine 1 butt I am smoking tomorrow doesnt compare to that haha!

 

[jbellard]

Thanks Geebs! You know it’s really all the same principles just takes longer to get them seasoned, foiled and stuff.
Just gotta keep the fires going in the right range and you’re good to go.
I may have to move some of the butts around as some are closer to the firebox which is about 50 degrees warmer than the other side. But I can live with that.
Just hoping it will all get done before the wee hours of the morning.

 

[browneyesvictim]

OOOHHHEEEE! That's a lot of pork! And them look good!

 

[normanaj]

A friend of mine in the Air Force asked me to cook up some pork butts for a squadron picnic tomorrow for 450 people!! I’ve never cooked for that many people so of course I said yes.

I am an Air Force vet and spent some time in TX.Back in the mid/late 80s I went to many "Wing Command" parties where there were literally 500-600ppl,a couple times maybe even more.My love of smoked goodness came from those get-togethers.
Most of all...HAVE FUN!!!

 

[jbellard]

Norman, thanks for your service! I’m not sure how big the picnic will be because I am only cooking them. Several guys will come and pick them up in the morning and pull there.
These butts will be good though, I can smell it!

 

[jbellard]

Thanks Browneyes! It’s especially a lot when you have to season all those bad boys and get them onto the smoker.

 

[jbellard]

Well here we are at 5 hrs and 15 min.

Looking good

 

[yankee2bbq]

YEAP!!! Looks real good!!

 

[flatbroke]

Looks pretty dang tasty

 

[jbellard]

Thanks guys!

 

[jbellard]

Smoker is in a groove. Just the heat signature. Gotta love it

 

[Geebs]

Getting a nice bark on them. I will love to see the final product. Glad I checked my WSM tonight before I started my smoke in he morning, thing had about 4 inches of water in the bottom, rusted grates and some white mold. Yuck!

 

[jbellard]

Get a weed burner and blast that sucker!

 

[jbellard]

Well just wrapped the butts. Bark is great and the few pieces that “fell” off tasted amazing. Gonna keep a lower temp for awhile and check the meat temps around midnight. If they are done, they will go into coolers. If not I’ll keep them on for a bit more.
Guys will pick them up in the morning around 8:30am.

 

[Geebs]

I blasted the bottom and middle piece with a low pressure power washer, didn’t want to loose all the seasoning. I decided since it has sat idle all winter I threw in a 1/3 bag of charcoal and have the lid and door off to cook all that crap off.

 

[Geebs]

Those are looking great!

 

[jbellard]

Good idea.
What are you cooking in the morning?
Thanks!