# How much Brisket to feed 150 people?



## shawnermctasty (Mar 8, 2018)

Hello,

My friend is looking to have his wedding catered with BBQ Brisket and was asking me how many briskets would be needed to feed 150 people. Any thoughts?

I made a 14 Lb. brisket a last summer that fed at least 8 people when cut in full width slices if I recall correctly. I know this could vary depending on each persons serving size or quantities.

Thanks!


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## hillbillyrkstr (Mar 9, 2018)

After loss assume your brisket will weigh half it’s original weight. So your 14 pound brisket was then 7 pounds and fed 8 people. That’s on the height end. 

General rule of thumb is count 1/4 to a 1/3 of a pound of protein per person at a large event like a wedding. Is there any other proteins being served? If not I’d assume 1/3 or even up to 1/2 pound per person. And don’t forget to account for your loss during the cooking process. If your cooking whole packers I’d account for 50% loss to be safe. 

Good luck


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## smokinq13 (Mar 9, 2018)

What other foods are going to be there? Last August i did PP for 80ish people and i still ended up with almost half the food as leftovers. Which i always say leftovers are always welcomed... when it comes to smoking


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## SmokinAl (Mar 9, 2018)

Here is a great calculator for figuring out food amounts.
Al


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## shawnermctasty (Mar 9, 2018)

hillbillyrkstr said:


> After loss assume your brisket will weigh half it’s original weight. So your 14 pound brisket was then 7 pounds and fed 8 people. That’s on the height end.
> 
> General rule of thumb is count 1/4 to a 1/3 of a pound of protein per person at a large event like a wedding. Is there any other proteins being served? If not I’d assume 1/3 or even up to 1/2 pound per person. And don’t forget to account for your loss during the cooking process. If your cooking whole packers I’d account for 50% loss to be safe.
> 
> Good luck



I had cooked a lightly trimmed full packer in a Pit Barrel Cooker and experienced minimal loss, but you are correct as that would need to be accounted for. I think chicken may also be on the menu but not 100% sure yet as they are tweaking their options. 

Thanks for all the help so far guys!


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## shawnermctasty (Mar 9, 2018)

SmokinAl said:


> Here is a great calculator for figuring out food amounts.
> Al



Thanks SmokinAl, I’ll check this out!


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## shawnermctasty (Mar 9, 2018)

smokinq13 said:


> What other foods are going to be there? Last August i did PP for 80ish people and i still ended up with almost half the food as leftovers. Which i always say leftovers are always welcomed... when it comes to smoking



Thanks for the suggestion smokinq13, pulled pork can go a long way. What size butts did you smoke?


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## smokinq13 (Mar 9, 2018)

shawnermctasty said:


> Thanks for the suggestion smokinq13, pulled pork can go a long way. What size butts did you smoke?



They were around 10 lbs.... I think my calculations for the amount of PP i needed was something like this ..... if i have 80-85 people I wanted to cook for 90 people just to make sure i have enough... average meat serving size is between 1/4 - 1/2 lb ... so 1/3 lb per person... meaning I need about 30 lbs of finished meat. Now you roughly get 50% yield out of the meat you cook... so a 10 lb butt would yield 5 lbs(ish). that means I needed 6 butts to equal the full 30 lbs plus I did an extra just to be on the save side.  so to pull it in "algebraic" terms... 90(1/3)= 30/(10/2) = 6 + 1= 7 pork butts.

Now like I said I had a lot left over which isn't a bad thing... worst would be not having enough! Other food we had for the party was scallop potatoes, Green beans/ ham as sides ... veggie trays w/ dip and cheese meat and crackers as starters.. and of course cake for dessert. 

Brisket alone will work but depending on the amount of other food available will determine the amount of brisket you'll have to have.


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## shawnermctasty (Mar 11, 2018)

smokinq13 said:


> They were around 10 lbs.... I think my calculations for the amount of PP i needed was something like this ..... if i have 80-85 people I wanted to cook for 90 people just to make sure i have enough... average meat serving size is between 1/4 - 1/2 lb ... so 1/3 lb per person... meaning I need about 30 lbs of finished meat. Now you roughly get 50% yield out of the meat you cook... so a 10 lb butt would yield 5 lbs(ish). that means I needed 6 butts to equal the full 30 lbs plus I did an extra just to be on the save side.  so to pull it in "algebraic" terms... 90(1/3)= 30/(10/2) = 6 + 1= 7 pork butts.
> 
> Now like I said I had a lot left over which isn't a bad thing... worst would be not having enough! Other food we had for the party was scallop potatoes, Green beans/ ham as sides ... veggie trays w/ dip and cheese meat and crackers as starters.. and of course cake for dessert.
> 
> Brisket alone will work but depending on the amount of other food available will determine the amount of brisket you'll have to have.



Great point! Thanks for the detailed reply smokinq13 it’s much appreciated


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