Gonna help a buddy cook ribs for 25 people for a rehearsal dinner. Looking for some advice. Should we cook them ahead of time and warm them for the dinner. I was thinking 18 to 20 lbs of ribs so probably 2 seperate smokes. I estimated we could get around 16 lbs in at once. Mine has 4 racks, so if we did 10 lbs per smoke it'd leave us room for the bacon drip on top. Could smoke for 3-4 hours then wrap in foil and move to the oven on low then start the second batch.
I would think smoking the day before should be ok. Smoked meats taste better if you let them sit a while. Moving them to the oven after 4 hours of smoke would help speed things up for sure. Is the dinner gonna be at someone's house where you can finish them off on a grill?
I would cook ahead and warm them up... lots of people - too much risk for me... That does not mean I would not have the smoker running at the event however - maybe a little chicken or scallops etc for a variety that can be completed fairly quickly. ???