first time doing PPB for the office - advice sought!

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tasunkawitko

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
May 27, 2008
2,397
26
Chinook, Montana
hey, all - here's my situations. suggestions and ideas are always welcome.

we're having an office potluck this coming thursday (the 23rd) and i've been tapped to bring pulled pork barbecue. i bought a 6.7 lb butt section of pork shoulder and will use RIVET'S awesome finishing sauce.

questions:

would i be better off waiting until wednesday night and doing this starting at about 1800), or should i do it here tonight and then ziplock/vacuum/seal the pulled meat in sauce and then freeze it until thursday morning, putting it in a crock pot that morning to heat up?

there are only 10 folks in the office, so that's about half a pound apiece - or should i assume shrinkage/loss of weight and get another one, - say a picnic shoulder?

one of the staff offered to bring the slaw, but it's planned to be the mayo slaw. is this going to be OK to serve with PPB on buns?

answers to these questions and any other advice or thoughts are of course welcome. i've never done one for anyone besides family, so this will be new territory for me.

when i start the smoke, i'll open up another thread with q-view.
 
Hey Tas.
If it were me I would just do the butt and package it until Thursday to reheat. I think pp is one of those things that is just as good after being frozen and reheated as it was fresh.
Just make sure not to put too much sauce in it, you don't want the vinegar to break the meat down too much.
As for the coleslaw, it should be fine. I have had pp sammies with mayo based and it was good, not as good as a vinegar based slaw but that's just my personal preference.
If only 10 people even with shrinkage I think a precook weight of 6.7lb should be fine.
Good luck with it.
 
The rule of thumb is that a butt will yield about 50% of its raw weight. I find that I usually get a little more than that but not much.
The mayo coleslaw should be fine as long as its properly handled and not left out too long
I would smoke it and pull it when it was convenient pulled pork is one of those things that may taste better after being frozen and reheated. I wouldn't add the finishing sauce until reheating and that will also add the juice to keep it moist
 
Hi Tas~

Good to hear from you again! You have gotten good advice upstairs^^^^^ I would make it ahead of time, pull it, vac it and freeze it. It rehaeats perfectly. Just don't add the finishing sauce until after it is reheated. The toss it in with the meat in a large pan and let the rave reviews come!

Personally, I wwould make an extra butt. Nothing is more depressing than running short of food when you are in charge of making sure evryone is fed. Since this is an office thing, you don't want to ration the goods~ besides, you , the chef, get to take home all leftovers!

No worries on the mayo slaw. Back home all coleslaw on PPB is mayo based, I never ever recall having a vinegar based slaw on PPB or any BBQ for that matter. Just keep the coleslaw COLD! It's really better that way.

Good luck buddy!!
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When I've been asked to do pp for a group I do the butts ahead of time and then reheat in a crockpot the day of the event, makes it easier for me. The slaw that I serve with it is Tip's and it has mayo in it, goes very well with the pp. The mayo helps cut any heat from the rub or sauce that is on the pp. Don't sauce the meat until you are reheating it.
 
I'm with all of ^^^^^^^^ them above. Smoke it, pull it then freeze it. then re-heat in crock pot and then put in the finishing sauce. Then after everyone eats get ready for the real praise from all that you have feed.
 
Pull the pork, and get the sauce in there. I found my pulled pork drinks up the finishing sauces when its pulled fresh.

Then re-heated its very very tender.
 
thanks for all the advice, guys - i went through town today while going to my fishing hole (only caught two perch but they were good-sized ones). and i bought a picnic shoulder to go along with the butt, so now it's basically a full shoulder and should be all good.

i'll smoke it tomorrow along with a fattie i am trying to think up at the moment (i'll start a new thread in a minute) and maybe a few CSRs for tomorrow's supper, then pull etc and reheat the day of....

thanks for the advice on the slaw - i am not a slaw person except for a very good asian slaw my wife makes and so have no idea what to do with it.

any more suggestions and advice would be appreciated, but i think we've got it figured out pretty well. i plan to simply slather with mustard, then rub with durkee's pork rub, then smoke using an occasional sprits with apple juice/cap'n morgan as needed....or maybe orange juice and teriyaki? i'll figure that ut tomorrow morning!

thanks again!
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