How much Boston Butt do I need?

Byrdo

Can someone tell me how many lbs of Boston Butt I will need to make Pulled Pork for 10 people? Is there a rule for lbs of BB per person and at what point do you start cooking multiple pieces of meat? I have seen in past posting that a 8 lbs Boston Butt (not 100% sure if butt or picnic) only yielded 2 lbs of pull pork, is this common? I know the size of the grill will effect how many pieces of meat you can cook at one time - I have a Large Egg.[p]Thanks,

Big-R

Byrdo, our rule of thumb is 3/4 lb for adults and 1/2 lb for children over 8 years old. Women will eat 1/2 lb and men will pick-up their 1/4 lb and eat a pound. Teenagers are the wildcard. My knucklehead 15 year old will eat only PP and suck down up to two pounds. We always do some for leftovers. 10 adults, we would do two 5 pounders, 8 for party, one spare and one leftover.[p]Never run out yet.........[p]Randy

Stogie

Byrdo,[p]Your figures on an 8lb. butt producing only 2 lbs. is way off. Plan on 50% waste. This is with a bone-in butt.[p]I always plan on 1/4 - 1/3 lb. per person, depending on how many other foods are served. Also, these are PP sammiches, not just plain meat. So, plan on every guest eating a 1/3 pound sammich...which is a lot of meat![p]Based on 1/3 lb. and 10 people you would need 3 1/2 pounds(always round UP when doing this) of cooked meat, which means you should cook a 7 pounder to yield enough meat.[p]Hope this helps![p]Stogie

Wise One

Byrdo, Here's something someone gave me some time ago:
HOW MUCH MEAT?
For pulled pork, a typical sandwich (or serving) is 4 oz of cooked meat. For adult males, you might want to plan on 2 sandwiches per person. For women and children, plan on one sandwich per person. The average butt loses about 40% of its weight while cooking. So, to get 6 pounds of cooked pork (24 sandwiches) you would need to start with 10 pounds of butt (2.4 servings per LB of uncooked meat). So a simple little formula is all you need:
Number of men (men or large eaters)= M
Number of women and children (lighter eaters)= W
Pounds of Butt to buy = B
B=(2M+W)/2.4
So if there 5 men and 5 women,
B=(2*5+5)/2.4 =15/2.4 = 6.25 Pounds[p]

Marv

Wise One, Very good break down. That is excatly my formula when I cater.[p]Marv

Sundown

Marv ,
I just had a MAJOR flashback to high school and one of my math teachers. An imposing woman who too great delight in making me recite theorems and do problems on the slate black board! I still have nightmares about her...and you guys give me the willies with that stuff![p];>)

Byrdo

Just wanted to tell everyone thanks for the info. I'm still a newbie and this is my first PP adventure, so wish me luck.[p]Wise One,[p]Love the formula.....