pork butt questions

Ribhead

OK - hosting a 4th of July party this weekend and plan on doing pulled pork! My first big cook! I plan to cook the day before ! Here are my plans:

-Rub butts in mustard and cover in dizzy dust course - cook at 250 degree until the temp hits 195 - pull them - wrap them in foil and towel and place in cooler overnight! pull apart the next day, throw some more rub on and place in a warming pan!

does everything above look correct?

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and now my questions:

1) How many porks butts (around 8lbs a piece) will fit on a large egg (I have seen people stack em, but I do not have 2 grids) - thinking I may have to do 2 cooks!

2) if I do 50lbs of raw meat - thinking I should have around 30lb when done - does this sound right!

3) Thinking about 3 sandwiches per pound - so thinking bout getting about 100-120 buns! is there a meat/bun ratio to go by.

4) I heard to always get pork butts with the bone in it? does this make a difference?

5) do you guys mix in bbq sauce w/ meat or just let the patrons put on their own sauce?

6) apple or hickory wood?

Thanks for your help and sorry for the long post!

At last years party - everyone had sloppy joes - Kinda thinking they may like this years main dish a little better!

civil eggineer

You can comfortably get 3 - 8 lb butts on one level and possibly 4. Three butts would serve around 50 people if additional salads accompany. Rub with whatever (Byrons Butt Rub?), cook indirect at 250 dome temp until meat hits 195 to 200 internal temp which will take around 17 hours. Pull, wrap in foil, and place in cooler for 1 hour rest minimum. Butts can be kept hot in a cooler up to 5 hours if covered in towels, newspapers, and preheat the cooler with hot water.

Prior to cooking, calibrate your dome thermometer and monitor the temperatures throughout the night, every couple of hours, to prevent a catastrophie. Fresh cooked butts are superior to ones re-warmed. Finished meat to raw meat is about 60%. Serve bbq sauce seperately. Get bone-in butts, better flavor.

hornhonk

I did 2 8# butts last weekend using mustard and coarse Dizzy Dust. You are going to love it!

thirdeye

A mustard slather works fine, I thin mine with Wooster and paint on a thin coating.

Your might want to bump your pit temp to 275°, this would make the actual temp around 250°, which is easy to control.

Barbecue until tender, don't rely on time or temperature alone.

Overnight is a long rest in the cooler, 4 or 5 hours is a reality.

With some creative positioning, you can get 3 butts on a single rack. I prefer two.

The yield of meat on a butt is around 60%, I estimate 50% just to be on the safe side.

1/3 pound sammies is a good guesstimate, I generally buy the normal sized buns (or loaves of Texas Toast) and have cole slaw to go on them too.

I prefer bone-in butts, I think they are more flavorful and the bone is a good indicator of doneness.

Sauce at the table is nice, but if all of the served up pork will be used on sandwiches, mix some sauce in with it. This will make it sticky so it will hang on a bun better. Then they can add more at the table if they want.

Both apple and hickory are good choices. Apple will be milder. I prefer cherry myself.

fishlessman

your looking at two batches. overnight in a cooler is a bad idea, reheat in a big disposable pan in the oven and add the fresh pull from the second batch as it comes off the egg during the party if possible. im not picky with bone in verse boneless, you can pack more boneless butt in an egg. when prepping i cover with rub, then mustard and work that into the rub, then dust with more rub.

ranchonodinero

I did a butt this past Saturday/Sunday and used the Naked whiz method and seasoned with dizzy dust and steak seasoning. I used a V-rack and place setter with a drip pan. My temps were 220 then finished at 270 and pulled at 200. I would highly recommend a maverick ET-73 remote thermometer. I was able to set the temp and watch the temps from a distance. I did an 11 lb one-came out great, but with teenagers in the house, it is already gone!