Wedding catering meat pt. 1 of 2 ( 15lb chuckies)

[smokinq13]

Alright so i am incharge of doing the meats for a wedding two weeks away, tonight/tomorrrow i am smoking the chuckies, then resting them and then vaccum sealing them to go into the freezer for the time being. Pt. 2 will be the pork butts next week. We are expecting around 80 people so i beleive 30 lbs of beef and i got 3 or 4 pork butts will be plenty. Sides are bbq beans and mac n cheese( not my duty)

Chuckies:

Man oh man has everything gone up in price, never would i expect to pay close to 200 bucks for chucks but hey such is life!

Rub is Everglades A.P with paprika for color and then cactus dust for the main rub( love myself some Everglades!)

Rubbed:

Then i injected them with a simple beef broth, Worcestershire, little garlic paste( garlic can be overpowering), and little of the rub

Now they rest for a little bit probably gonna start them around 1030! Plan is to smoke then til morning and then wrap them and finish in over, using my pellet grill so the smoking tube is gonna need to be filled probably twice

 

[smokinq13]

The beginning:

Anyone else have the same trouble as me? Too many grills not enough space

 

[pineywoods]

Sounds like a plan good luck with the smoke.
Personally I'd go with at least 4 butts and probably 5 I know it might be a bit to much with the beef but with my luck 80 people would want pork and beef and I'd be short on pork.

 

[smokinq13]

Sounds like a plan good luck with the smoke.
Personally I'd go with at least 4 butts and probably 5 I know it might be a bit to much with the beef but with my luck 80 people would want pork and beef and I'd be short on pork.

I've been contemplating this as well i might get another one to be safe, just crazy to think 30lbs of beef and 40 lbs of pork might not be enough lol, but better be safe than sorry!

 

[smokinq13]

Alright one more picture

I just love how the smoke rolls out from under the roof!

 

[pineywoods]

I've been contemplating this as well i might get another one to be safe, just crazy to think 30lbs of beef and 40 lbs of pork might not be enough lol, but better be safe than sorry!

I hear that but it happens I did a wedding awhile back and smoked like an extra 25 lbs of brisket figuring that we would split it up with the people helping us out when we were done and they ate every bit of it. There was chicken and pork there as well and they ate about what we had figured of those but we had people going back for thirds on the brisket I have no idea where they were putting it with all the food we served. Wedding was for 250 and we cooked for more like 300 and added the extra brisket on top of that and they fed them appetizers for about an hour to hour and twenty minutes while pictures were being taken and they still ate that much food when it was served

That smoke is looking perfect how many smokers do you have fired up?

 

[smokinq13]

I hear that but it happens I did a wedding awhile back and smoked like an extra 25 lbs of brisket figuring that we would split it up with the people helping us out when we were done and they ate every bit of it. There was chicken and pork there as well and they ate about what we had figured of those but we had people going back for thirds on the brisket I have no idea where they were putting it with all the food we served. Wedding was for 250 and we cooked for more like 300 and added the extra brisket on top of that and they fed them appetizers for about an hour to hour and twenty minutes while pictures were being taken and they still ate that much food when it was served

That smoke is looking perfect how many smokers do you have fired up?

Just one smoker, my austin xl just rolls it though lol

 

[smokinq13]

2:30 update: great color based them with a.c vinegar checked internal, still at 120 sp a way to go!

 

[smokinq13]

5:30 update

Almost there, well til i wrap, they are around 140 internal and have the color they need

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Looking good, can't wait to see the final product. What is your goal for the chucks?

 

[smokinq13]

Looking good, can't wait to see the final product. What is your goal for the chucks?

Pulled for sandies for a wedding in two weeks. I'll take them up to finish temp then let them rest a good long time( half the reason i did a overnight cook) then vaccum seal them as close to whole as possible. I'm not gonna shred them til the day of the wedding cuase keeping the peices as whole as possible holds more moisture in

 

[smokinq13]

8:00 am update

Just pulled both of them, wrapped in butcher paper and into a 250 oven to finish

Looking good!

 

[Wurstmeister]

Outstanding work my friend! They look great.

John

 

[tx smoker]

Anyone else have the same trouble as me? Too many grills not enough space

Being as how there's no such thing as too many grills, that means the only problem could be not enough space...and yes, I have that problem Nice job on the chuckies. Can't wait to see all the pics of the whole shebang being served.

Robert

 

[smokinq13]

Alright so 12 noon and they hit a internal temperature of 180( little above), went ahead and turned off the oven for them to just ride it out, should finish from the residual heat, stay tuned for the finished product!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

 

[smokinq13]

5pm update: the finish product

Just look at that bark! Chucked them up in quarters and letting them steam out in the vaccum bags before i seal them and put them in the freezer. I will have to admit this is probably the best beef i have yet to smoke, the juiciest, flavorful, just look at all that liquid gold I'm saving for the warm up! Went ahead and tried to get out all the big particles now just waiting for the fats to separate, and then I'm gonna freeze it as well.

So calculating time! I ended up with 17lbs and 6 oz of finished product, that means i should get anywhere between 68 and 51 sandwiches out of it, 4 to 3 sandwiches per lb of meat. This plus the pulled pork, mac n cheese, cowboy style beans( like that has 5 different beans, ground beef, bacon etc in it) do you think I'm in the clear? Or should i get two small chucks to smoke along with the pork butts next week? We are expecting around 80 people

 

[Deeez]

smokinq13
Thanks this was very helpful and interesting. May I ask, when you pulled it at 180IT, what was the meat texture like pulled pork ... Was is falling apart of you could still do steaks cuts with them? And would you say, it had just a little bite to it?
The reason I ask is because, I've smoked it a couple of times and at195ish it had some bit which is what I was looking for, but when I hit 203, it basically fell apart which is great for pulled pork, but not steaks. Did I do something wrong?
I would love to hear from the pros here.
Thanks again ahead of time for any input you folks may have.

 

[smokinq13]

smokinq13
Thanks this was very helpful and interesting. May I ask, when you pulled it at 180IT, what was the meat texture like pulled pork ... Was is falling apart of you could still do steaks cuts with them? And would you say, it had just a little bite to it?
The reason I ask is because, I've smoked it a couple of times and at195ish it had some bit which is what I was looking for, but when I hit 203, it basically fell apart which is great for pulled pork, but not steaks. Did I do something wrong?
I would love to hear from the pros here.
Thanks again ahead of time for any input you folks may have.

When i say pulling it at 180, i didn't take it out of the actual oven but just turned the oven off and let the heat stored in the oven finish it up. It wasn't pulling apart like pulled pork but it did slice good like brisket and then you could easily bit off pieces. The pulled prok texture usually doesnt come til you get above 200 temp

 

[Deeez]

Thanks so much and appreciate it. So its safe to say, we cook to 180-190IT, we can get some bite if we slice it into steaks. Much appreciate it.