Short notice, short-cut pulled pork for 85 people

[sky monkey]

I was asked to do a pulled pork lunch for 3 shifts at our shop for a morale booster. Total of 85 people over three shifts (50 on day, 15 on swing and 20 on weekend) serving at three different times. I didn't have a budget so I tried to get a caterer to do it but no one could handle the 2 day notice so I was stuck with it. I love to smoke and cook for family and friends but this was stretching that definition by a country mile. So I took some shortcuts that I would of never done for my own table but the finished product came out pretty darn good so I thought I'd share.

Started with (6) ~7.5 lb pork shoulders from Costco.
Cubed them into roughly 3"-4" cubes
Seasoned them with the only decent commercial rub I could find at Costco (I don't use many pre-made rubs) it was Kinder's Steak Rub - they had Traeger's brand rub 2 weeks ago which isn't bad for a commercial rub but nothing like that this time shopping.
Let rest overnight bagged up
In (2) 22.5 lb batches I put in the smoker at 225 over hickory for 1.5 hours
Then I moved them to the pressure cooker with 1 cup OJ and 1 cup beef broth, 2 onions roughly chopped and 6 cloves of garlic roughly minced
Brought up to pressure and cooked for 45 minutes. Let the pressure bleed off naturally.
Pulled it, vacuum-sealed it at about 5 lbs a bag and put in the fridge.
Before serving time I dropped in the sous vide at 145 for an hour and half to warm back up and toasted the buns on cast iron griddle over a 3 burner camp stove
I mixed up some of Chef Jimmy J's finishing sauce to toss in and served with coleslaw and tater salad.

Lot's of happy fabricators despite my shortcuts. I served 11am and 8pm Thursday and again at 11am Friday. The shop ended up buying me a Cabela's Deluxe Event Grill to say thank you so now I have a new piece of cook equipment :)

 

[noboundaries]

Great instincts and adaptations!!!!

Congrats on the successful smoke/cook AND the new outdoor appliance!

 

[MileHighSmokerGirl]

Looks good

 

[chef jimmyj]

Great thinking! Sounds like a little Anxiety paid big Dividends in happy, full Bellies and your New Cooker. Glad the guys liked the Finishing Sauce...JJ

 

[DRKsmoking]

I could feel the pressure as I was reading. You came through even if
not the way you would normally do it up.

And all was happy and a new cooker for the family of appliances

David

 

[JLeonard]

Strong work. Adapt and overcome as they say. And a new toy to play with also.

Jim

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

Bravo! A little creativity went a long way. Nice outcome!

 

[chopsaw]

Very nice work . It's good to work somewhere that gives a crap about it's people .
Really good business sense . A little bit goes a Long way in attitude and production .
Again , nice job getting it put together , and kudos to your employer .

 

[sky monkey]

Thanks everyone! It was definitely more stressful than a normal cook for me. I've never done that amount of meat before but thank heavens for that 32 qt pressure cooker.
Chef JimmyJ - thanks for the recipe on that sauce!
DRK - cute doggo! I have a mostly chihuahua breed myself :)
Chopsaw - It really is a great place to work, going on 11 years for me. They really do care about their people and that in turn makes us care about the company.

Appreciate the likes everyone, here is a pic of that new grill they got for me.

 

[Bearcarver]

Awesome Sky Monkey!!
Looks Great & a very good original way of doing it!!
Nice Job!!
Like.

Bear

 

[DRKsmoking]

DRK - cute doggo! I have a mostly chihuahua breed myself :)

Thanks sky monkey, that is my little girl Gabby. She is gone now had to let her go 2 years ago just after her 16th birthday. She was with me almost everyday for all those years, still miss her dearly. We still have 2 of her sisters , but they are getting up there also in years 15 and 12.

That's a great cook top they gave you for all the hard work, you did good

David

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Monkey, you done good...