How many ribs do I need to cook?

AlaskanC

I've seen the formula for pulled pork, but how do you guesstimate how many racks of babybacks to cook? I think we will have about 15-20 people over tomorrow. How many can I fit in the large.
Also - I want to cook a brisket at the same time. How in the heck am I supposed to pull that off?? It's a teeny bit over 7lbs.[p]Is that enough questions for you?? lol

ronbeaux

AlaskanC,
It's enough to spark my interest. I think I have the same problem, only I have a large and a small. Still would like to know how many racks to cook for Fathers Day. I'm thinking Baby Backs and 3/4 rack per person, for my family at least. So I'm thinking 15 people would turn out to be 1.5 per three people, which would not only start arguments over who had the biggest, but start a free for all on tearing into them that could get ugly. What a problem! Ok, so 3/4 per person, times lets say 15, would be 11.25 racks, but they don't sell a quarter rack, so make it 12. I might be able to swing it using both, but not sure so any help would be great!

Unknown

AlaskanC,
well, it all depends on how large they are and what type of eaters you are having. the ribs you get at most sams are 2.75 and down. I would plan on having about 8 slabs for 15-16 guests and that will allow you enough forlunch on the following day. Put the ribs in a rig rack and the brisket beside it and that all depends on how large of an egg you have too! Remember your cooking times are different for brisket and ribs.

AlaskanC

ronbeaux,[p]Sounds like we are in the same boat. I've got some big guys in my family and they would probably burn through a rack each, but who knows?? I've already bought 5 racks because that's all they had last week, and I am going to get some more.
I would rather have too many, but they are not cheap up here so I don't want to go overboard.
I've got a large egg so who knows how many I can fit in there!! lol

AlaskanC

Josh ,[p]It really is hard to say with my family - we have some big guys that are known to eat alot.... but you can never count on that.
I am going to start the brisket at about 6am (I'm to chicken to do an overnighter), and at 7lbs I am guessing it will take around 10-11 hours. I could shimmy the ribs in there in the last 4-5 hours to cook.
Hmmmm.... what to do...?

tach18k

Josh , I real trick with ribs for large groups. Useing a modifed 3,1,1 method. Plan a day or 2 ahead.
First, do the ribs for the 3 hours, split the cooking in sessions of 6 racks at a time. When they are done place them in a square alum deep dish pan and cover with foil. Once this is done you can start the 1 hour covered cook, just put the pan in the Egg and let them go for about an hour, rotate pans top and bottom every so often so the bottoms dont burn. You can add some sauce or what ever if you want to. When they are done, let them cool down and then place in the refridgerator. Now on party day get the pans back out and just slightly warm them up in the house oven, just enough to melt the fat on the bones and bottom of pans. When your ready to do the last grilling and saucing, they go on the Egg and they come out wonderfull, like you just you did them right then.

tach18k

tach18k, >>>added text for my post...., the ribs not the pans go on the Egg for the grilling and saucing.

mad max beyond eggdome

AlaskanC,
there is a famous picture of chef wil jamming 20 racks of spares in a large. ..baby backs are trickier because of how the curve. .. .you may want to do things in shifts. ..get that brisket on tonight. .. smoke it at 250 for 7 hours, then foil it and put it back on till its done (195 internal temp)... .pull it, double foil it and stick it in a cooler wrapped in a towel or old blanket. ...then start doing the ribs. ...i'd go ahead and stack em up, but then move them around every 45 minutes or so for even cooking. . . just keep doing that till they are done (passing the tooth pick test). .. . just keep on adding racks of ribs if you need to. .. .best idea i have. .. .

Sandbagger

<p />AlaskanC, six racks of ribs on the spiral rib rack with a medium bge grid on top to hold the brisket flat. I cook the flat as usual, then drop in the ribs at the appropriate time. The overlap time with the brisket and ribs is about 1-2 hours. [p]I do ribs per the 3-1-1 method, so when I use this rib rack, I do the foil part in the oven. Foiling 6 racks of ribs on a large egg is to much work for me, much simplier in the oven. I bring the ribs back to the egg for the last hour of saucing and such. [p]This gizmo works but it is a pain to make. Man, I need help, to many gizmos for my vacuum packed brain. [p]Calculating ribs for a group is a tuff call to make. They are always a fan favorite and usually the first thing to disappear. [p]T

SuperDave

Sandbagger,
If ribs are NOT the main course, but a side dish, I think about 4 ribs per person is a good number to shoot for. For some it will be too many, leaving something for additional guests or leftovers for the fridge and a snack tomorrow![p] Baby backs are harder to guess, not much meat on them and I've seen guests eat an entire rack by themselves! Arrggghhh! Kind of a pain when there are ten people and 4 racks you've toiled over for 6 hours!