having some people from work over. Help!

Unknown

I am having ten people from work over in two weeks. I want to cook three things: butts, ribs and AZRP's The Chicken. However, I am struggling with the logistics. I am thinking about cooking the butts overnight, then the ribs (a la Car Wash Mike style), then the chicken. Does that order make sense? If I do it that way, how will I keep the ribs good while I cook "the chicken". Anybody have any ideas? Thanks!

PS This is Jackrob3, but I have never been successful to register/confirm through the new site yet. I use a mac, so maybe that's the problem.

Michael B

You must be nervous; you're stuttering.
Sounds like you have a good plan though… it should work fine.

To keep things warm:
- Prep a cooler by placing a heavy towel in the bottom and pouring a quart or two of boiling water in it.
- Double wrap the meat in heavy-duty aluminum foil, then a dry towel, and place that in the cooler.

If you have a low setting on your oven you can place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack, pour some water in that, and place your H-D foil wrapped meat on the upper racks.
(My oven accepts settings down to 140*)

AZRP

I wouldn't leave a wet towel in the cooler, the towels around the foiled meat create a dead air space which insulates. If that towel becomes damp, it will become a conductor and no longer insulate. I think the boiling water thing is to warm the cooler, but I would dry it before adding the meat. -RP

gdenby

Its not that you have a mac. The new forum is elaborate. I have several macs, and use several browsers on each. Every session is different to some extent. Maybe download a new browser version and try again.

Your plan seems workable, altho pretty ambitious. When the ribs are almost done, ready for saucing, I'd put them in a cooler. When "The Chicken" is being sauce cooked, I'd place the ribs back onto the grill, and finish cooking those.

If the three items are not seperated into sections, you will be cooking for maybe 24 hours (?). That's a long time to not mess up. You might consider cooking the butts in advance, in order to make your job a little easier. I've re-heated pulled pork both straight in the microwave, and in a slow cooker with Coke, and the results have been almost as good as fresh. Some fresh slaw, and hot sauce will give really good results with a re-heat.

AZRP

You might want to consider making the butts days earlier, vac seal and freeze them. They can be warmed up in simmering water and they taste as good as just pulled. That will take some pressure off of you too. The BBs are a 5 hour cook and will keep just fine wrapped up in the cooler for the 2.5 hour chicken cook. -RP

Car Wash Mike

I don't know how long AZRP's chicken takes. I cooked for 24 about 3 weeks ago. Ribs were done 2 1/2 hours before serving. I cooked as usuall, sliced. Then placed in an aluminum foil pan with 6 oz. apple juice. Covered with foil. In the oven at 250 until time to eat. Might have been better that way.

Mike

FlaPoolman

All above is great advice but as for the Mac thats what I use and am computer stupid but have not had the problems with the transfer's that most had. Odl safari had problems but went to Firefox and I almost look smart :P . Keyword almost.
Good luck

Pat

Michael B

I've done it many times, successfully. Seems to do better than just a warmed cooler. I do use very heavy bath towels that hold enough water that they are still only damp. If there is a question whether the towels are too wet, you can really wet them down with boiling water, wring them out well, and then place them in the cooler.
I did forget to add that I place a sheet of H-D foil on top of the towels before adding the food.

AZRP

The foil over the wet towel will prevent what I was talking about. My concern was the towels around the meat getting wet. I had a beer cooler that I carried in the back of my pickup for years. At some point the inner liner cracked and the foam between the inner liner and the outer shell became saturated. All of the sudden a cooler that used to hold ice easily for 2 days, couldn't hold a bag of ice for even two hours. -RP

Michael B

Good point, and good catch.

BobS

I am not sure what grill you have, but if you have a large, you can probably cook more than enough butts and ribs at the same time. I'd probably get the butt going for about 6-7 hours and then add the ribs on a higher grid level.

You could keep these warm while you do the chicken.

metrylee

the thing to do is buy another egg
and you will be happy