pulled pork for 80

timmyd18 · April 2015

First post after almost 5 months of egging.

I've had success with pulled pork to feed large family gatherings, and now word has spread - I've been asked if I can do pulled pork for a church gathering next month, expecting around 80 for lunch.

Before I say yes, any tips or warnings? I'm thinking will need to do six shoulders, split into 2 batches on my large bge.

Chubbs · April 2015

What gear do you have for the large? Any friends with eggs close by? Mainly adults or kids?

timmyd18 · April 2015

It will be almost all adults. I only have the placesetter for the large at this point, but view this as an opportunity to pick up any toys that would be useful.

This may be the cook that drags the vertical propane smokehouse out of the shed it's been living in since the egg showed up, but I'd like to take care of it on the egg if possible.

tarheelmatt · April 2015

timmyd18 said:

First post after almost 5 months of egging.

I've had success with pulled pork to feed large family gatherings, and now word has spread - I've been asked if I can do pulled pork for a church gathering next month, expecting around 80 for lunch.

Before I say yes, any tips or warnings? I'm thinking will need to do six shoulders, split into 2 batches on my large bge.

You will likely need two rounds or another cooking vessel.

When you say six shoulders, what do you mean exactly? Whole shoulders, or the butt?

What other items will be there? Is the Q the only protein? How many kids? Big eaters?

You're going to need roughly 50-60lbs of meat is my estimate.

Black_Badger · April 2015

I'd say you'll probably want to FINISH with 60#, so you'll probably start with closer to 90#. This would be a lot easier with an AR so you could drop the stone and cook at the grid and up above. I'm still not sure you could do it in one go with a large, but an Xl could eat it up.

Any way you slice it, this is a BIG cook! I hope you enjoy it and I hope it turns out great.

Cheers -
B_B

tarheelmatt · April 2015

tarheelmatt said:

timmyd18 said:

First post after almost 5 months of egging.

I've had success with pulled pork to feed large family gatherings, and now word has spread - I've been asked if I can do pulled pork for a church gathering next month, expecting around 80 for lunch.

Before I say yes, any tips or warnings? I'm thinking will need to do six shoulders, split into 2 batches on my large bge.

You will likely need two rounds or another cooking vessel.

When you say six shoulders, what do you mean exactly? Whole shoulders, or the butt?

What other items will be there? Is the Q the only protein? How many kids? Big eaters?

You're going to need roughly 50-60lbs of meat is my estimate.

Note, my estimate is raw product.

Estimating 5.6oz per person and 40% reduction/shrinkage. 90 lbs would be way too much.

AHawk · April 2015

I've cooked for about 40 and mixed adults and children. I cooked 3 butts with lots of sides... Cooked in Egg for about 7 hours to get good smoke rings..then transferred to Oven wrapped in a foil pan on big rack and pan full of apple juice then covered with foil. All said about 22 hours of smoking and cooking.
I had a little left over but not a lot. Get some help... and I'm thinking you'll need 2 eggs and 6 7 lbs butts. Good Luck and have fun!

Black_Badger · April 2015

I'd say 60# for 80 people is a little on the scant side of things.
60# X .6# finished/starting = 36#. If you really have 80 people that came to eat BBQ someone is going away unsatisfied. That said, if there are going to be lots of sides, desserts, etc, and you have a population of adults that is not skewed towards big hearty eaters ((read as: men) you might get away with it. Personally I'd err on the side of leftovers, which is why I'd consider cooking more.

6 x 7# is only 42#, which is only going to yield about 25-26#, meaning you're going to have some ticked off church folk on your hands...

Whatever you end up doing, have fun with it. I do like the idea of using the egg + oven methid if space is an issue. Remember, meat is going to suck up all the smoke flavor it'll take in about 90-120 minutes, and after that you mostly need heat (and one could argue moisture).

Cheers all -
B_B

tarheelmatt · April 2015

Black_Badger said:

I'd say 60# for 80 people is a little on the scant side of things.
60# X .6# finished/starting = 36#. If you really have 80 people that came to eat BBQ someone is going away unsatisfied. That said, if there are going to be lots of sides, desserts, etc, and you have a population of adults that is not skewed towards big hearty eaters ((read as: men) you might get away with it. Personally I'd err on the side of leftovers, which is why I'd consider cooking more.

6 x 7# is only 42#, which is only going to yield about 25-26#, meaning you're going to have some ticked off church folk on your hands...

Whatever you end up doing, have fun with it. I do like the idea of using the egg + oven methid if space is an issue. Remember, meat is going to suck up all the smoke flavor it'll take in about 90-120 minutes, and after that you mostly need heat (and one could argue moisture).

Cheers all -
B_B

OP likely isn't that worried about it as he hasn't interacted since posting.

Guess if he wants massive amounts of leftovers, go right ahead with 90 lbs. That is a lot of meat! People eat less that what one would think. My calculation is based off 5.6oz per person. Even increasing to 8oz per person doesn't come to 90lbs.

At the most, you'll get 4 butts on a large with extender.

lkapigian · April 2015

For me 40lbs would do as you will have other foods- 4 butts- when you would normally foil, foil as usual , put those 2 in the oven to finish, they have plenty of smoke, put the other 2 on the egg and finish- will work with no hassel

timmyd18 · April 2015

Thanks everyone. I'm looking at getting the costco boneless shoulders (they come 2 in a pack), and hopefully will have less loss going the boneless route. Also close to pulling the trigger on an AR with an extender - in hope of getting 4 on the large at a time. In my head, that math works out to 8 shoulders (4 packs) in 2 turbo batches for one interesting night - around 80 pounds, but I have not been back to costco in a while to check the weights.

Sides are whatever I get - potato salad, salad, and baked beans should skew cheap and filling.

Many of the eaters will be on the older side, so I'm assuming they may eat less. Either way, bbq should be a nice surprise - the last event was catered with subway.

DaveRichardson · April 2015

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/46/4kesfnovjbzi.jpg

Get a cheap grid for a weber kettle and some stainless steel bolts and nuts and washers.... and build a DIY raised grid that will give you 2 layers of cooking goodness. Helped me when I had to cook for a Dave Ramsey FPU Class graduation for over 100 people a few months ago.

lkapigian · April 2015

One other easy way would be start 2 on the egg 2 in the oven at the same time rotate @ the halfway, you'd be missing it anyway

jstang · September 2015

DaveRichardson, that's a pretty sweet setup. Do the bottom washers on the posts just sit on the BGE grid?

pulled pork for 80

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