First catering gig

[Smoking Duck]

100 ABT's?  You'd better up your asking price  ;D  Course, you know that all the great chefs have to sample the food before serving it to the guests, right  ;)

SD

[La Quinta]

Hey BigRed doing anything "non-smoked"?

[bigredsmoker]

No LQ, my friends are providing the 3 items that I am doing and then guests are to bring a side dish as well, so all they wanted was the main meat dish and a couple appetizer type items.

Terry

[La Quinta]

Sounds like fun BigRed man...I think it's very admirable that you're friends recognize good smoked food...and that you can provide that for a party!!! Let us know how it comes out please...:)

[bigredsmoker]

Will do LQ. The Salmon's in the smoker now, and I am getting ready to slice up 100 Jalapeno's (112 actually but who's counting), and the pork goes in tomorrow.

Terry

PS: I'm kinda hoping this catering thing turns into something, wouldn't mind having to buy another Bradley to keep up with demand. ;D ;D

[La Quinta]

Our friends worry about "carcinogens" from the smoke...takes all kinds!! :)

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

I am just not looking forward to putting together a hundred ABT's.

I think that if you apply the Golden Rule (1 golden beer : 20 ABTs), things should work out.   :D

Arcs_n_Sparks

[bigredsmoker]

Quick update:
Salmon is done and ready to go. The 4 butts have been in the oven since last night at 9:00 and are coming to temp. They are at about 175 so should hit my 190 in a few more hours then it's FTC time. 120 ABT's are in the smoker now. I am thinking a minimum of 4 hours at 220 due to the big load. I have over six hours to give so I think I have enough cushion. I think max load of ABT's in my 4 rack would be about 144. I used 6 racks via the inverted rack method and left the bottom slot open in the Bradley. Decided to hit the ABT's with 2 hours of Pecan. The smell in the house from the Butts is unbelievable, my mouth has been watering all night. At Noon, the butts will have been cooking for 24 hours. LOW and SLOW is my motto.

Terry

[deb415611]

How cool BigRed,  do you get to stick around the party & see everyone eat your food? 

[bigredsmoker]

Yes Deb, they are friends of ours and we are invited to the party every year, only this time I am doing the food.

The party went great, and everyone raved about the food. The only thing I had issues with were the ABT's. After the 2 hours of smoke I left them in the smoker another hour at 210. They did not look like they were going to get done fast enough so I move all of them to my convection oven and set it at 200. After 2 more hours and several rotations of the racks (seemed like the top rack was getting done quicker than the lower ones) I started to pull out the done ones. I would put them on foil in three rows about 8 in each row and then stack another row offset on top of the first, kind of like a pyramid, close the foil, wrap in a towel, and into the cooler. I learned that the key to a good ABT is consistent, thin bacon. I had some thicker slices that didn't wrap well and the ABT kind of exploded and didn't look the best. I used those for the bottom row in my chafing dish. Also, I didn't get the rib of the Jalapeno cleaned out good enough in some of them and they were very hot. People didn't care for those ones as much. In the future I think I would do 3/4 mild and the other 1/4 hot and keep them separated. There were some that loved the hot ones. Kummoks' Salmon also went over very well, and the Pulled pork had great reviews as well. All in all it was a great success and a lot of the credit should go to all of the great individuals on this board that I got recipes and hints from. Thanks all!!!

Terry

[Wildcat]

It is great to hear that your project went well.  Congradulations.  :)

[westexasmoker]

Congrats Terry, We knew you'd pull it off!

C

[La Quinta]

Way to go Terry...And I'm very impressed you have chafing dishes!!! You must be a party animal!! We have 3 and we know how handy they are when doing parties!! Nothing worse then cold food...unless your guests are blotto...and then...they don't care!! :)

Be proud of yourself dude!! Very kool!!

[Habanero Smoker]

Terry;

Congradulations! Glad everything work out so well.

[Kummok]

Glad to hear it went well, BigRed!! Guess you'll be looking for a booking agent now?!?!?!  ;) :D