twilliams It came in a styrofoam-lined box with frozen ice packs in it.
Cooking pulled pork for a wedding
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Ok meat family im hear again to ask your advice. Im smoking pork butts for pulled pork sandwiches for a wedding in august. 160 guests. I am wondering how many pork butts are needed. Im guessing 1/4lb per sandwich and probably 2 sandwiches per guest. Thoughts/advice?
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Tex_77 Team Blue Power User Traeger Primo Grills PK Grills Canning Sous Vide Community Moderator last edited by
Its not how many pork butts you need, its how many pounds do you need. Id figure half pound per guest uncooked. You’ll lose alot of weight in cook. I did I think 200#'s for my wedding. My advice, cook ahead of time and freeze then just put it in a roaster oven to heat it up.
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Yes, you want 80 lbs, post-cook.
Working backwards, expect to lose about 40% of the pre-cook weight to cooking loss and the bone, so you want 133.33 pounds pre-cook. Call it 135 for ease.With that amount, you’re probably buying case price per weight, so just see what your supplier will do for you. Butts average around 8 lbs per, but they can easily get up to 10 or down to around 7, so just picking a number is rather risky.
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Tex_77 you know how many guests you had? You had plenty to go around?
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Tex_77 Team Blue Power User Traeger Primo Grills PK Grills Canning Sous Vide Community Moderator last edited by
I’ll have to ask the wife, we had plenty of leftovers.
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Chef Canning Dry Cured Sausage Primo Grills Team Blue Regular Contributors Sous Vide Power User last edited by Chef
I always use the bone in butts. I find they taste better. 80 pounds should be about right. I have 120 pounds on my pit now, should come off late this evening. Biggest trick I have found is low and slow, 215’ to 225’F until the meat reaches about 190 to 195’F. At that point, the meat will easily come off the bone. I do wrap mine when they reach about 145 to prevent them getting too much smoke. The connective tissue in pork butt, with a longer time and lower temperature is converted into sugars which give a very natural sweet flavor. I have also found at event, pulled pork sliders are really the biggest hit. I use the King Hawaiian Rolls, and a bit of a sweeter barbecue sauce than I would use with beef, with one pickle slice. Stab it with a fancy toothpick and people go wild. In that case you only need about 1/4 pound per person with sides and still have left overs. This is a case of perceived greater value while maintaining cost. It has never failed me. Typically people eat 2 to 3 sliders each.
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glen Regular Contributors Team Grey Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt Power User last edited by
Chef You almost described exactly what I do about 3 times a year for family holidays.
Always a hit -
Chef Canning Dry Cured Sausage Primo Grills Team Blue Regular Contributors Sous Vide Power User last edited by
glen Don’t break what’s not broken…
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Tex_77 Team Blue Power User Traeger Primo Grills PK Grills Canning Sous Vide Community Moderator last edited by
twilliams Hell the wife doesn’t remember, maybe 200?
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Tex_77 must have been a wild night…lol
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Tex_77 Team Blue Power User Traeger Primo Grills PK Grills Canning Sous Vide Community Moderator last edited by Tex_77
twilliams Well we had a band and open bar, so yeah it got a little western!
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I’ll add in that 1/2 pound of cooked meat per guest sounds like a lot when you figure in that they are sandwiches and expecting that you have sides. I would bet that you had a lot left over, but that might be just what you want. It’s a matter of how generous you want to be or what the client wants and is willing to pay for.
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