.... pulled pork!
I'm having a bit of a crowd over on Sat. and am planning an all-night smoke session. We're having 8 people and I was wondering how big a butt to buy. I'm thinking about 1lb. per person (pre-cooking weight), so maybe 8 or 10 lbs to be safe. Any thoughts?
I am sure 8 to 10 lbs would be plenty as I'll assume they will be chowing on more than butt. You could do 2 and then send them home with smiles on their faces and doggie bags in hand.
I figure a 1/2 pound per person ought to be enough for the main meal, plus leftovers. Don't know what type of crowd you're serving, but I think with a pound per you'll be eating through the night and well into the morning.
Have fun and post some pix. Of the meat. And of the party. I need to live vicariously these days...
"How much pulled pork is enough?"
One more sandwich worth than you have. ;)
Seriously though you need to account for fixins as well. If your gonna serve a couple of sides and dessert it will be less than if you just serving pulled pork sandwiches.
I usually do 1.5 pounds / person and keep the left overs or send doggy bags home. It keeps well frozen.
Steven
Thanks for the advice.
I agree that 1/2-1 lb per person should be plenty.
Quote from: Consiglieri on July 04, 2007, 08:16:46 PM
Have fun and post some pix. Of the meat. And of the party. I need to live vicariously these days...
I know how you feel, how is your little one doing?
I served 18lbs <uncooked weight> of pulled pork for 15 and we had an entire butt left over. You can easily feed 8 people out of one 9-10lbs butt. People went back for 3rds and we have enough leftover for my wife and I for a good while :)
That's kinda what I was thinking - 1 lb. per person. At 8 or so lbs. I'm planning on a 16 hr. cook. I the last one I did was smoked for 4 hrs. and then transferred to the oven and boated for the remaining time. Turned out beautifully - it fell apart just from looking at it.
Thanks for asking begolf:
Little guy is doing great, although its HOT out here and that makes him housebound. On the 4th had another one of those "lawn dart moments" thinking about what the boy will likely be doing 8 years or so from now... Those Piccolo Pete experiments... and any number of empirical tests involving firecrackers.
How's yours?
The few times I have weighted and compared an uncooked bone-in butt to it's weight when it was finished, I averaged a 40% decrease in weight.
Your pretty much dead on HS about the decrease in wieght. Also something to think about. 1lb of meat is alot of meat, especially pulled pork. Usually caterers figure on 2-3 servings per lb.
I'm locked in at 7.5 lb. Butt is rubbed and in the fridge. I figure at two 2hrs. per lb. I'll throw it in at midnight, let it smoke for 4 hrs., and continue to cook until 3pm the next day. Then about 3 to 4 hrs. FTC and it's time for supper. :P
The most success I've had with PP is by boating it in some apple juice in the oven at 195F for the full time after the initial four hour smoke (similar to Icerat's rib method). On Saturday though, if it's as hot then as it was today, there's no way I'm using the indoor oven, so I'm a little concerned. I'll have to keep the apple juice spray nearby.
I planned to the hour on my feed as well. Funny how the meat will let you know who is boss. :)
I ended up allowing plenty of time after that first attempt. Now it is a matter of when I take it out of FTC.
Steven
Woohoo! The weather forecast is for a nice 21C so I can use the indoor oven and a boat after the smoke is done. That really makes it easy - no FTC required.
Good luck NorthernSmoke, hope everything works out as planned.
Quote from: Consiglieri on July 05, 2007, 09:36:09 AM
Thanks for asking begolf:
Little guy is doing great, although its HOT out here and that makes him housebound. On the 4th had another one of those "lawn dart moments" thinking about what the boy will likely be doing 8 years or so from now... Those Piccolo Pete experiments... and any number of empirical tests involving firecrackers.
How's yours?
He is doing great. Starting to sleep a little longer at night which is great. I also find myself thinking about what he will be like when he gets older. But from what everyone tells me that will be here before we know it.
Begolf, glad to hear the young 'un is coming along nicely. Got to be concerned that once the baby starts sleeping through the night, you will not have an automatic alarm clock for you to check on your latest smoke. :P
Well, the butt went in last night at midnight and is now transfered to the oven, boated, juiced and foiled. I got up at 4am just to add some water and check to see if everything was cool. Quite the adventure. Oven is now set at 195F and the meat is sitting at 171F at 12:30pm. 5.5 hrs. to go and everything is looking good. I've made up a vinegar based sauce, a tomato based one, and will be putting together a mustard one, so hopefully there's something for everyone.
Anxious to find out how it turned out Northern. Can't wait for the follow-up.
It was a massive success! Not a single scrap left over. The whole thing was a hit: the story of how it was started at midnight, how I had to get up in the middle of the night to check on it, the long and patient wait for it to hit the magic 195F (I made it sound very dramatic), and the final pulling of the pork, held the whole crowd in awe. It was, without even vaguely close competition, the best meat we have ever served in our house. We made creamy coleslaw and macaroni salad to go with it (both recipes from the Smoke and Spice cookbook), and I managed to get some really fresh, white, soft buns. We played the "O' Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack for some good southern background music :) . I believe I may have carved myself a place in supper history amongst our group of friends. And I'm not just tooting my own horn: many here deserve some of the credit. This couldn't have happened without the help on this forum - thanks to everyone for the great advice!
Great to hear everything was a big hit. ;D
Heh, re-reading my post above from last night, I'm a little embarrassed. Some of that was the wine talking, especially the "carved in history" part :-[ :D But, still, things did go really well. I'm hoping that there's a picture or two that I can post. A couple people took photos, so I may be able to get them off of their cameras before they leave today.
Congrats on the great outcome! Do not concern yourself with the wine talking. The rest of us were not there (in body) and can tell by your excitement that it was great. Keep up the good work.
Hey NS. Good job on the smoke. Just a question though, why did you finish it in the oven? Glad to hear you had a good smoke!
Well, two reasons. One is that I can precisely control the temperature in the oven. We have a digital convection, so I just dial it in at 195F and it stays steady, rain or shine. The other reason is that I've been boating my pulled pork in a foil roasting tray with about 1/8 of an inch of apple juice in the bottom and sealed up with a foil tent over top. It worked so well for ribs (thanks Icerat) so I'd thought I'd try it will pulled pork, and it works great. The smoker's only needed for the first 4 hrs. of smoke and after that it's just easier to do the rest inside. This way I get the smoker all cleaned up and the meat finishes up indoors - I don't worry about rain, cold weather, etc.
Glad it was a success!
Thanks, guys. BTW, I just realized that I've been saying that I adapted "Iceman's" rib boating method, when I meant to say "Icerat's". Sorry about that.
Ahh ok. Neat to see everyone do the same thing so different. Whatever produces a full stomach, i am all in :) Glad it worked out so well. leftovers are good too if you ever get any!!