Football team party ideas

SPRIGS

My oldest son is a senior this year and his football coach is trying to have monthly team get togethers for team bonding, etc... The coach picked our place for a bbq next Thursday. Would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on my plan.

There will be about 28 kids, 5 coaches and perhaps 20 parents on the high side attending. More than likely, 40 people tops. My plan is to cook 2 packer briskets and chop them a few days in advance. I will mix in some thinned down sauce and keep in fridge. Day of - just reheat in a large roaster and serve on buns.

Day of I will be cooking a bunch of wings and sausage. I have an XL egg with AR so I should be able to get a bunch of wings done.

Buddy is bringing over his XL egg to do sausage the day of. Figured I would just get a bunch of polish sausage or kielbasa, cook, cut up and they can dip in bbq sauce.

Thoughts? Should I do some other kind of sausage? What do most bbq restaurants use for sausage?

Thanks.

Foghorn

Sounds like you have a good plan.  For the sausage I would suggest Johnsonville Original brats be part of the mix.

 

 

SeahawksEGGHead

Queue up the Super Bowl, have the team watch Seattle do it right.

SPRIGS

SeahawksEGGHead said:

Queue up the Super Bowl, have the team watch Seattle do it right.

That isn't gonna happen - I'm a Bronco fan.  Ha. It was painful enough the first time!!!!!

SeahawksEGGHead

Are you in the Springs too?

SPRIGS

SeahawksEGGHead said:

Are you in the Springs too?

Not following you, sorry.

SeahawksEGGHead

ah, thought you might have been in  Colorado Springs.  Lotta Broncos fans here.

SPRIGS

Ah..... Nope, Nebraska.

Jstroke

I gotta be honest, i would do pulled pork. Less likely to dry out over a couple of days. I might do the sausage and put in a crockpot with some sauce. I would do the wings as you suggested and corn maybe a half an ear per person. Plus salad etc

SPRIGS

I thought about pulled pork but I am thinking with chopping the brisket and mixing it with some thinned down sauce it will be ok. Maybe not.

Biggreenpharmacist

Im thinking pulled pork, too. More room for error.

DMW

For # or food per cooking sq inch, pulled pork is one of the best ratios. Its also one of the best priced meats for a large group. With FTC to holds the butts as they finish, you could easily do the wings and sausage while they are waiting in the cooler. This way you wouldn't need to worry about reheating at all. If you want beef, beef shoulder clod may be less expensive than brisket for pulled/chopped. Similar ration of meat to grill space as butt.

minniemoh

@SPRIGS - That's going to be quite a troop to feed. My guess is that those boys will eat close to a pound of meat each - some will eat more than that. (I coached high school football and wrestling for 8 years and I've seen how these kids eat when the food is good). Then you have parents and coaches on top of that. If I were hosting that cookout, I would make more than two briskets even considering the added wings and sausage. 

As recommended above, I might consider pulled pork due to the larger margin for error and get it done a few hrs beforehand, then just FTC until serving time. Then I would fresh pull it straight to their plates just to see the smiles on their faces as they get a whiff of the goodness. They will come back for 3rds and 4ths and not be shy.  

Good luck with whatever you decide. I'm sure it will turn out great. If all goes your way, you'll be a legend when it comes to the team meal.

keepervodeflame

Get some big pieces of bread and some sides, Brother. I was a high school principal for 20 years. I once saw 9 basketball players eat 18 pizzas in the blink of eye and then take a collection so the guy who drew the short straw could go pick up some Mickey D's. Those boys can eat. 

SPRIGS

They for sure can eat. I just have no way of cooking the main meat right before and then serving it off the egg or from FTC. Have to work. That is why I was planning to cook the main meat Sunday. Perhaps butts are the better option. I believe my meat guy has clod. Perhaps I will look into that. Not opposed to pulled/chopped pork though either. By the way there will be lots of sides as the underclassmen all bring stuff. Thanks for all the feedback.

Legume

When my boys played, they had team dinner like this every week, night before a game. Your chopped brisket plan is good, so is pulled pork. We did a big fajita cook a few times as well, grilled it all the night before, wrapped in foil and just reheated in same foil in table top warming oven day of and sliced just before they arrived.

Lots of sides, potato and pasta salads are great, big crock pot of beans and we would buy boxes of ice cream sandwiches and hand them out after they ate, usually 2 each. Amazing what they put down, especially this time of year with two a days and the heat.

Have fun, make sure you take it all in as well, watching them together as teammates is amazing.

ChillyWillis

Well if your working that day then I'd definitely agree with the butts over brisket line of thinking. It's much easier and more reliable to reheat.

stemc33

I'd do the butts. For me it would be because that's what I would be most confident doing, plus the price.
As far as the sausage, look to see if one of your local butchers makes it. Sometimes the locals like food made close to home.
We just had a carry-in at work and we got polish dogs from a local sausage maker. Don't really know if they were better than ordinary polish dogs, but people acted like they were.

SeahawksEGGHead

and make sure they teach proper technique.  Head's Up!

SPRIGS

You guys convinced me. Gonna do 5 or 6 butts. Chop, mix with a little thinned down sauce and ziplock bag it until Thursday. Reheat gradually in roaster. Will have 4-5 big bags of wings, gonna try to find hot links or will just do some Italian sausage, polish, etc...

minniemoh

Good call. You're still going to be a hero for making a great meal and you won't have to stress about it so much. Enjoy the evening with the team and their families - those will be some great memories for sure.