Pulled Chicken for a large crowd.

iceman · March 22, 2006, 03:05:18 PM

Okay guys, help me out on this. I have 450 people coming through for vittles in three weeks. They want pulled pork with BBQ sauce on buns and pulled chicken with BBQ sauce on buns along with all the trimmings. If I sort of split the pork and chicken in half how much of each do you think I'd need? I was going to brine the chicken first but don't have room. I plan on halfing them then shooting a little cajun butter in them then smoking them and doing the FTC then shredding them and vacum sealing the meat and freezing for the event. Any info would be apreciated guys. Thanks. Patrick

Habanero Smoker · March 22, 2006, 07:01:30 PM

You offering more then one choice of meat, it becomes more difficult to plan, unless each person has given you their choice of meat in advance.

Generally one 2.5 - 3 pound whole chicken has 4 portions (a meat portion is 3 ounces cooked). If you think your guest are going to eat more then one portion, buy extra meat. The leg and thigh is considered one portion which there are two (though the portion size is more like 4 ounce), and you halve the breast which give you another two portions (which is also closer to 4 ounces). For pork, figure 3 ounces of cooked pork for each. I once recorded how much weight my 7 pound butt weighed after it was cooked, but I couldn't locate that information. I feel that the dark meat of poultry is better, especially for pulling, but if you are using sauce then you have less worry about dry breast meat. If you go by the the type of portions you will get at a deli or restaurant, you will need to increase your portions by 50%.

I know I'm adding more then you asked for, but when I buy whole chickens, I quarter them and put the white and dark meat in separate trays. I cook the dark meat to 165 (pulling them out of the smoker at 160); and cook the white meat to 155 (pulling at 150). If you find yourself running low on time, and you don't have time to inject, buy kosher chickens; they are already brined.

iceman · March 22, 2006, 07:39:06 PM

Good info HS. This is real close to what I figured out. The chickens I buy are coming in at over 5 lbs. each and the bonless butts are over 10 lbs. each. So far the response is swaying toward pork by a 2 to 1 margin. I figured 5 portions per chicken because of the size and all the side dishes. As near as I can remember I lost about 23% of my weight on boneless pork butt after smoking it. (The green weight was after trimming). I do like the dark meat of the chicken much better but I figured I could mix it together after pulling it. I think smoking the breast meat seperate like you suggest would be the best. Good call. A little extra on the prep side but well worth it. Thanks for that very much. Kosher chickens up here (if you can find them) are iffy at best so I'm sticking with the regulars and injecting them. Time wise I can do all the chickens at once in one smoker and all the pork in the other smoker this weekend so that's not a problem. Did you FTC the chicken and if you did how long. Thanks again Habanero. Have a great day. Patrick

Habanero Smoker · March 22, 2006, 09:47:10 PM

Sounds like you got a lot of work ahead of you. Five pound chickens; Wow! You will get at least 6 portions each, but I hear that the number one rule when serving food, is not to run short.

Give us an update on the amounts and how the event went.

Oldman · March 22, 2006, 11:14:32 PM

Iceman I cannot help but to reply to this topic. First and foremost if at all possible get Kosher Chickens even if you have to ship them in. Why? They are killed correctly and as such all of that nasty coagulated blood in the leg/ thighs is not there. Seeing how you will be pulling the chicken this means you can mix white and dark if you so choose. If you don't mix your white and dark meats then be prepared to run out of white meat long before you do the dark. Next stay as close to a 2 1/2 pound bird as possible. Once you get over 3 1/2 pounds you are getting into a stewing hen. If you cannot get Kosher birds then try to get white skinned chickens. Ya they have less fat in the skin, but for the most part they also have less coagulated blood in the leg/ thighs--at least they do here.

Good Luck!

Olds

Chez Bubba · March 23, 2006, 12:30:49 AM

Vacu-sucking & freezing will not harm the texture for that short of time in my experience with butt. I can't imagine chicken would be much different, but I've never actually done it.

Good luck on your mission, you've got your hands full but it can be done![:)]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

jaeger · March 23, 2006, 01:00:42 AM

Iceman,
Sounds like you are going to have quite a party! I hope you find some good help! I would estimate that you will need 1 1/2 sandwich per adult unless they are majority of men in which case you may need to up the amount slightly. If you are using hamburger buns you will probably have at least 3 oz per bun. I would do a little experimenting soon to give you some close weight estimates. Obviously with cooking the pork you will have some shrink, but by adding with the BBQ sauce you will gain some of this loss back so you should factor the weight of the BBQ sauce as well.
Here is my suggestion, I would serve some of the pork without BBQ sauce and some of the Chicken without BBQ sauce or cajun. Some people just can't handle the spice. They may just want butter or mustard or horseradish etc...
I hope this helps! Have fun and Don't Stress!!! Make it Fun!!![8D]
*One other note, most of the chicken available on the market is pumpled so full of some type of sodium phosphate(up to 30%) you could start brining it tomorrow and in 3 weeks it will not pick up anymore liquid than has already been added. This would not apply to organic or kosher chicken as mentioned earlier. I don't know what availability you will find or end up using.

Doug

Oldman · March 23, 2006, 03:03:45 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">*One other note, most of the chicken available on the market is pumpled so full of some type of sodium phosphate(up to 30%) you could start brining it tomorrow and in 3 weeks it will not pick up anymore liquid than has already been added. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> If you cannot find ones that have had liquid added already then go to a place that sells fried chickens. ie. Church's Fried Chicken is a good place. They will have by the case non injected white skin chickens.. whole and around 2 1/2 each. Or try a meat wholesaler.

Olds

ChefBill · March 23, 2006, 10:18:10 AM

Iceman,
Go to a chicken wholesaler, you can get whole or halved chickens just picked and packed on ice in boxes. Nothing added..
Borrow a concrete mixer if you're going to make cole slaw, you'll need it.[:D]

ChefBill
If you can eat it, you can smoke it.

Habanero Smoker · March 23, 2006, 02:45:39 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ChefBill
 Iceman,
Go to a chicken wholesaler, you can get whole or halved chickens just picked and packed on ice in boxes. Nothing added..
Borrow a concrete mixer if you're going to make cole slaw, you'll need it.[:D]

ChefBill
If you can eat it, you can smoke it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Wooden crates of whole chickens pack in ice, gives me flashbacks of when I worked as a cook's assistant at a summer camp. I never knew there was so many ways to cut up a chicken. Depending on the cook's mood, butterfly, quarter them with backbone in, quarter backbone out, cut it into eight serving, and the list goes on[|)]

Olds brought up some good additional points about the benefits of using kosher poultry. I just want to point out, kosher poultry is dry brined is kosher salt. They are not placed in a brine solution, or injected. I was shopping for kosher chickens this morning, and I couldn't find any "fresh", just frozen. That's unusual for this area.

iceman · March 23, 2006, 05:25:15 PM

Well it's off to the food wholesale houses tomorrow. The feed back I'm getting from them is not looking good for Kosher both because of price and availability. I neglected to mention I always serve the BBQ as a side, never in the meat. Like you've mentioned some just like something different. Good advice all around from everyone. I'll try to get smaller birds like Olds said. Makes sense to me for getting a better tasting chicken. I'll let you know what I come up with price and product wise. Keep the ideas coming in and thanks again for all the help.[;)]

nsxbill · March 23, 2006, 11:53:31 PM

Considered Turkey legs? Pull like pork, and almost as good, and much healthier than pork. Yes, I still do pork! Fred Pirkle sent me this picture (BBQGURU), of his Caldera smoker as he prepares pulled turkey for company party. You could probably get a great deal at butcher on cases of these for your large group.

This is my next smoker. I want to use for large smokes and jerkey production.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

rraming · March 24, 2006, 08:00:09 PM

Hey Iceman

How long have you been smoking food - I saw some where in here photo's of your set-up - huge to say the least.
Is that a commercial refrigerator you converted into a smoker ? What did you do for a vent at top ? Does the smoke generator create enough smoke for that or did you add a interior fan ? just curious -
I'm impressed

http://www.midwestinteriors.com

iceman · March 24, 2006, 09:15:06 PM

Nice picture there! I also do alot of turkey legs up here for the fairs and other events but I don't pull them. They sell for over $6.00 a piece and are a huge hit. Last year at the state fair I sold over 2000 legs in two weeks. What a pain in the batootee to keep up with. Sure had some fun though.I brine them then smoke them for about 8 hrs. The next day we just reheat them on the grill and serve them up with what ever sauce they want.[:D]

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by nsxbill
 Considered Turkey legs? Pull like pork, and almost as good, and much healthier than pork. Yes, I still do pork! Fred Pirkle sent me this picture (BBQGURU), of his Caldera smoker as he prepares pulled turkey for company party. You could probably get a great deal at butcher on cases of these for your large group.

This is my next smoker. I want to use for large smokes and jerkey production.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

iceman · March 24, 2006, 09:37:12 PM

Hi rraming; Welcome to the forum. I've been smoke cooking food for many, many years. The unit you saw on this site was built from scatch but I used doors from a commercial refer unit to save time and money. I use two smoke generators on the three door units I have and one on the two door unit. They seem to work out great. I've found in the course of things you have to smoke a little longer because of the size of the cabinet. I use circulating fans on these units just so I don't have to rotate the racks. Sorry I didn't show the side with them on it. The vents are on the back of the cabinet right at the top and can be adjusted as needed. On the unit I use for sausage I installed a steam generator to finish cooking the product without making it shrink up. Chez can fix you up with just about anything you need. Check his site out. The man knows his stuff. Have a good one. Patrick[;)]<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rraming
 Hey Iceman

How long have you been smoking food - I saw some where in here photo's of your set-up - huge to say the least.
Is that a commercial refrigerator you converted into a smoker ? What did you do for a vent at top ? Does the smoke generator create enough smoke for that or did you add a interior fan ? just curious -
I'm impressed

http://www.midwestinteriors.com
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">