Birthday Party on Sunday

[CadillacKing3]

So Sunday we are expecting 20 or so people for a birthday party. I am planning on cooking up some chicken and tri-tip roasts in the bradley for the event. I was hoping to get some advice on pre-smoking the chicken and then warming them up on the grill the following day and cooking the tri-tip Sunday at a rate which would maybe allow for me to attend a baseball game at 2:05.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

[DTAggie]

What kind of chicken.  You should be able to smoke day before and reheat.  I am not a chicken expert, someone should be along to help you.  

As for tri-tip, not enough info to let you know when to start and expect to finish. How many, how big?  If you want to attend a game then come and feed, maybe you should smoke the tri-tip ahead of time as well.  Beef reheats very well.  In fact is usually tastier the next day.  I have sliced after smoking then sealed and reheated in a covered foil pan with either the drippings from the cooking or some beef broth.  Always very tender and delicious.

[Habanero Smoker]

It is safer to fully smoke/cook the chicken. You don't want to partially cook chicken, then refrigerate it for later. If your chickens are halved or butterflied, you can easily reheat them around 350°F on the grill that has a cover, and not have to worry about drying out. If they are chicken parts, you are better off reheating in a foil pan that is tightly covered, then hit them on the grill for a short period to improve the skin texture.

[CadillacKing3]

Thanks for the advice guys. This is really helping me out in my planning for the party.

I think I am going to go with around 4 tri-tips and 3 chickens for 20 people. Cook the chicken in halves on Saturday and then cook the tri tips on Sunday.

[muebe]

That is a good plan. I would pre-cook the chicken the day before as you plan to then finish it in the oven. The tri-tips should be cooked at 225F. In my gas smoker I can get a 3 pounder done to a IT of 140F in about 4 hours when smoking at 210F. If your doing several tri-tips in the Bradley then make sure to allow yourself extra time for the smoke and FTC. Most people do not like med rare to rare meat so for a group of people I will take my tri-tips to 145F to 150F IT(I like 130F to 140F). The great thing about tri-tips they are still very moist and tender even when cooked to 160F. And their shape allows for several different cooked cuts from one piece of meat. You could always take each tri-tip to a different IT so everyone can get meat cooked the way they like it ;D

[CadillacKing3]

What would be the purpose and benefit of doing FTC on the tri-tip rather than taking them out and letting them rest for 20 min and then cutting into them?

[muebe]

What would be the purpose and benefit of doing FTC on the tri-tip rather than taking them out and letting them rest for 20 min and then cutting into them?

This process allows the tri-tip to retain moisture. As the meat cools it will draw in the moisture to the center of the meat. If your carve it before this happens your cutting board will be full of tasty juice after carving...

[ghost9mm]

I wonder how well the birthday party went, hope it was a great success...

           Gary

[CadillacKing3]

 Cooking tritip as we speak