Catering questions

[imfree2Q]

Hello all!!
Need some advice, Been asked to cook for 1000 people.. WOW. :shock:
Anyway pulled pork, coleslaw, beans.. Can you good folks give me any idea how much pork I will need? Im thinkin 40 to 50 butts? How about the slaw and beans? :shrug: Thanks for your help.

[bigwheel]

Thousand pounds of bone in butts..1/4 cup of cole slaw and 1/2 cup beans per person. I aint good at math..but whutever it adds up to on the veggies. Use Bushs Sweet Beans in the gallon can from Sams. They will feed 25 folks each. So just divide 25 into a thousand and multiply by one. That should work.

bigwheel

[Woodman]

How much are you charging for this? It would figure into my answer. I would probably want at least 1/3 lb per person which, at 50% yield would figure out at 660 lbs raw. Guestimate at an 8 lb per butt gross weight ,and you are looking at appx 84 butts. You "may" get away with 1/4 lb per person if you are physically serving and doing sammies. Good luck. WM

[sgarza]

i have a benefit question. how many briskets do i need to cook to sell 250 plates.

[jptexas]

i have a benefit question. how many briskets do i need to cook to sell 250 plates.

i would say 12 briskets

[imfree2Q]

How much are you charging for this? It would figure into my answer. I would probably want at least 1/3 lb per person which, at 50% yield would figure out at 660 lbs raw. Guestimate at an 8 lb per butt gross weight ,and you are looking at appx 84 butts. You "may" get away with 1/4 lb per person if you are physically serving and doing sammies. Good luck. WM

Im not sure yet how much to charge. They asked me to put togeather a price for them. I was thinking 7.00 a plate.
I was thinking 1/3 a pound to.. Shoud be a good sizes sammie

[imfree2Q]

i have a benefit question. how many briskets do i need to cook to sell 250 plates.
One brisket should feed 15 to 20 people. Give or take a little.

[Woodman]

Im not sure yet how much to charge. They asked me to put togeather a price for them. I was thinking 7.00 a plate.
I was thinking 1/3 a pound to.. Shoud be a good sizes sammie

Go wit 1/3 lb per person which you should figure at 2/3 uncooked. Looks like you have plenty of room on that pit! Good luck. Woodreaux

[Goat]

100 lbs of dry pintos will give you enough beans for 1000 folks, should you choose to go that route.

sgarza, I would cook at least 16 briskets.

[sgarza]

thanks fellas,that helps me alot::

[sgarza]

thats based on how many lbs per briskets

[imfree2Q]

Go wit 1/3 lb per person which you should figure at 2/3 uncooked. Looks like you have plenty of room on that pit! Good luck. Woodreaux

Thanks Woodman. Im thinkin the pit will only hold 40 to 45 butts And if I need 84 butts I need another pit.. :shrug: Guess I better get busy and build another one.. :roflmaoha0:

[in2dfire]

your butt may average 8 lbs each you will loose around 2 lbs in cooking and in the bone.
you will end up with a butt that will weigh in at around 6 pounds cooked. if you serve 1/3 pound per sammi then you should be able to feed 18 people from one butt. so you devide 1000 by 18 and you get 56 butts i rounded up the half roast at an average of 8 pounds you will end up with 448 pounds of butts. you could do extra to make sure you cover but i think you will be fine at around 450 pounds. also check out this link to give you a better idea of what an average market whole hog will yield in terms of the roasts that you want to cook looks like to me that a 6lbs yield cooked and boned is accurate.
http://www.porkboard.org/NewsAndInformation/News/docs/EstWholeHogSymp02-Stalder.pdf hope this helps you all.

[Goat]

thats based on how many lbs per briskets

10 to 12 pounders

[imfree2Q]

your butt may average 8 lbs each you will loose around 2 lbs in cooking and in the bone.
you will end up with a butt that will weigh in at around 6 pounds cooked. if you serve 1/3 pound per sammi then you should be able to feed 18 people from one butt. so you devide 1000 by 18 and you get 56 butts i rounded up the half roast at an average of 8 pounds you will end up with 448 pounds of butts. you could do extra to make sure you cover but i think you will be fine at around 450 pounds. also check out this link to give you a better idea of what an average market whole hog will yield in terms of the roasts that you want to cook looks like to me that a 6lbs yield cooked and boned is accurate.
http://www.porkboard.org/NewsAndInformation/News/docs/EstWholeHogSymp02-Stalder.pdf hope this helps you all.

I think you would end up short at 448 pounds of raw butt's.. I think raw weight should be closer to 600 pounds.. Where as 1000 pounds of raw butts would be over kill by 400 pounds.. I think woodman is right on at his 660 pounds of raw butts. 84 butts..

Next question.. I can only put 42 buts on the pit at a time.. What will be the best way to hold 42 butts while 42 more are on the pit? 3 days of pit cooking..

[imfree2Q]

10 to 12 pounders

:offtopic:

[Goat]

I guess I was answering an off topic question.:idea:

[jptexas]

I guess I was answering an off topic question.:idea:
believe your right goat

[Goat]

i would say 12 briskets

Just like yourself. :popcorn:

[Woodman]

There are actually two concurrent threads running here so, technically, niether are off topic!:thumbs:

[bigwheel]

Well I think a person is going to have more that 2 lbs of waste and shrinkage out of an 8 lb butt. Know the bone weighs about 3/4 lb on most of them I have bothered to weigh over the years in the 7-8 total weight range with a fat content of somewhere around 20% or thereabouts..and some are fatter than others and this not counting the gristle and other inedible parts. Think you find a cooked yield real similar to packer briskets which is 60 to 40%..calling it 50% for the sake of argument which translates out to a thousand pounds of raw untrimmed bone in butt should provide a thousand folks with about 1/2 lb of cooked meat each which corresponds to about two 4 oz sandwiches each if you have a pinche caverone in charge of portion control at least on the first pass. If it be helpy selfy all bets are off. You just juse small plates and buns..have a lot of sides..put the meat at the end of the serving line and pray a lot that you don't run out.

bigwheel




your butt may average 8 lbs each you will loose around 2 lbs in cooking and in the bone.
you will end up with a butt that will weigh in at around 6 pounds cooked. if you serve 1/3 pound per sammi then you should be able to feed 18 people from one butt. so you devide 1000 by 18 and you get 56 butts i rounded up the half roast at an average of 8 pounds you will end up with 448 pounds of butts. you could do extra to make sure you cover but i think you will be fine at around 450 pounds. also check out this link to give you a better idea of what an average market whole hog will yield in terms of the roasts that you want to cook looks like to me that a 6lbs yield cooked and boned is accurate.
http://www.porkboard.org/NewsAndInformation/News/docs/EstWholeHogSymp02-Stalder.pdf hope this helps you all.

[imfree2Q]

How many gallons of slaw to feed that same 1000?
As far as the pork goes the plan is to serve 1/3lb per sammie. So that equates to 666lb of raw meat. a half pound pre sammie is tons. The food will be served by elks club. So the dish will be.

Pulled pork
coleslaw
bag of chips

Thanks for the input.

[bigwheel]

1/2 cup slaw unless your also having tater salad then it can be reduced to 1/4 cup. Folks will normally hit the tater salad twice as hard as the slaw. If you give them enough meat they won't hit either very hard.

bigwheel

[Goat]

I will inject this and I also believe this is where BW is coming from, it is never good to run out of food. There is not one person on here that can tell you the exact number of butts to buy with no leftovers. Any extras can be raffled off. Portion control will be the key to making this all come together.

[Woodman]

I usually measure slay by weight and figure 2 oz per person. Always end up throwing out bag slaw too! It is pretty cheap!

[imfree2Q]

Thanks,

so if I do 40 to 50 gallons of slaw I should have some left over. If I do 90 butts or 732 pounds raw that should do 1/3 lb per sammie.. And have lots left over.. I agree Goat I DONT want to run out.. Im sure I can get rid of any extras..

[bigwheel]

Give em sandwiches..sweet beans and tater chips. Folks do not come to bbq's to eat crappy coleslaw and tater salad from Sams. They turn into carnivores. The veggies wind up where they belong which is in the trash.

bigwheel

[Texas 1836]

Give em sandwiches..sweet beans and tater chips. Folks do not come to bbq's to eat crappy coleslaw and tater salad from Sams. They turn into carnivores. The veggies wind up where they belong which is in the trash.

bigwheel

BW, that quote belongs in the BBQ Hall of Fame!! Well said my friend, well said.

[imfree2Q]

Give em sandwiches..sweet beans and tater chips. Folks do not come to bbq's to eat crappy coleslaw and tater salad from Sams. They turn into carnivores. The veggies wind up where they belong which is in the trash.

bigwheel

Okay how many gallons of beans if I cut out the slaw? Same 40 to 50 gallons for 1000? Problem is I dont think I will get anymore than $7.00 a plate. So Im stuck on price. Also the slaw would be home made and NO tater salad.. Slaw on a sammie is mighty good..

[Goat]

I would suggest at least 47 gallons of beans. That is figuring 6 oz per. That with a bag of chips and some pickles/onions for the sammies will make for a feast.

[carnivore]

Give em sandwiches..sweet beans and tater chips. Folks do not come to bbq's to eat crappy coleslaw and tater salad from Sams.

THEY TURN INTO CARNIVOREs.

The veggies wind up where they belong which is in the trash.

bigwheel


Hey, lets don't go gettin personal here..

[bigwheel]

Yeah seems like them gallon cans of Bushes Beans have wrote on the side they will feed 25 folks per can..with a typical serving size being 4 oz or 1/2 a cup whichever way a person want to measure it which should bring you to about 40 gallons. Figgering 6 oz each should give em plenty and some breathing room in case they hit em harder than anticipated. Sam's is also good about taking unused stuff back in case you dont need all of em. Or so I heard..never tried it. Slaw as a dressing for the sandwiches prob a good plan...maybe some eat it on the side but doubt it be a big mover. Never has been on any of my deals anyway. Don't forget the pickled japs and a nice selection of different kinds of sauces. If you want to do dessert you can feed 50 folks on one watermelon if you cut it right. Also cookies from the day old bread store. Old boy named Pigman Jim splained the trick on the watermelon. If you want to use it give me a holler and I try to tell how to do it..less you got other plans of course or not gonna do any dessert.

bigwheel

[Goat]

If I ordered them in advance, I could get fresh buns from the day old bread store cheap. They have all different sizes of buns, from small to large. Here they will leave them in those trays and you can bring the trays back when the gig is over. Result is no smashed buns. On that many, they might deliver.

[Woodman]

Yeah seems like them gallon cans of Bushes Beans have wrote on the side they will feed 25 folks per can..with a typical serving size being 4 oz or 1/2 a cup whichever way a person want to measure it which should bring you to about 40 gallons. Figgering 6 oz each should give em plenty and some breathing room in case they hit em harder than anticipated. Sam's is also good about taking unused stuff back in case you dont need all of em. Or so I heard..never tried it. Slaw as a dressing for the sandwiches prob a good plan...maybe some eat it on the side but doubt it be a big mover. Never has been on any of my deals anyway. Don't forget the pickled japs and a nice selection of different kinds of sauces. If you want to do dessert you can feed 50 folks on one watermelon if you cut it right. Also cookies from the day old bread store. Old boy named Pigman Jim splained the trick on the watermelon. If you want to use it give me a holler and I try to tell how to do it..less you got other plans of course or not gonna do any dessert.
bigwheel

I always figure 20 peeples per can!

[imfree2Q]

Thanks for all the great input.. You guys are a lot of help.. :thumbs:

[PitBull]

My magic catering planner says that you will need 666lb of uncooked boston pork butts for pulled pork or 513lb of uncooked boston butt for chopped pork at 1/3 of a pound per serving. It's around a 55-60% yield for both.

[Dirty Ron]

I looked back at some notes....I cooked 500# raw weight, served about 8-900 for a church picnic, had a little extra. On another occasion, pushed 600# for 1100 ish, was close. The problem wasnt the amount of food, but the timing. That much cold pork will suck the living heat out of your cooker, and extend the cook time by a bit. Make sure you start WAY earlier, you can always slow things down / shred / prep if you get ahead. Being behind, no comment - we have all been there...