# How time and store and serve



## BigSmoke00 (Saturday at 3:26 PM)

I have followed Jeff and this site for several years and love the growth of the site. I have made and used the ribs and followed many recipes to my family and guests delight.  However, I need some advice.

I have a group of 8-10 friends that gather 6-8 times per year to play cards and the host house rotates each time.  I am up next month.  Over the years I have done many different options, which the crowd loves, but this year I wanted to try to outdo myself. I wanted to try and prepare several different options. I am thinking beef ribs, poor man’s burnt ends, pork belly burnt ends, maybe some pulled chicken, and/or country style ribs on a stick. Not committed to all or any of those…just thinking out loud.  Well…not really out loud..I am the only one here….lol.  I have a large BGE and 2 ovens and a sous vide. How much can I prepare in advance?  How far in advance?  And best way to hold food or reward…. ovens or sous vide or back to Egg? Or how could I go about smoking all of this to have it ready on a Friday evening?   Thanks for any help and keep up the great work.


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## schlotz (Sunday at 7:43 AM)

Welcome to SMF!  Glad you are here.

Outdoing oneself can come at a cost. Usually by sequestering yourself to the task(s) at hand thereby removing the ability to enjoy the company for a fair portion of the event. Personally I would set things up that are easy yet flavorful and take the least amount of attention.

Hmm...  would pull out a bunch of frozen smoked brisket and make chili for one. Put a 8-9# pork butt on the smoker for two, and three, prepare a large batch on Moinks for an appetizer.  Put them in the smoker at the appropriate time.  Chili can sit and be ready well in advance.  Get the butt done and into a cooler for resting at least 2 hours.  Time the Appetizers to be done and served while the butt finishes up resting.  Of course the other obligatory items like chips, dip, drinks etc. 

Key here is everything can be prepped and/or doing it's thing before the group arrives.  Your involvement at this point would be to pull the Moinks and place out on the counter and the few minutes required to pull apart the butt.  After that it's all self serve.

JMTC


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