# Graduation Party



## prov1 (Jul 6, 2009)

My neighbors have had the good fortune to participate in several smoking tasting activities at my house over the last year or so and now they have asked me to smoke a few pork butts and some beef for their son's graduation party!  YIKES!!  I said I would but now that the time is near I have a few questions.

1.  They are planning on 80 people?  Any suggestion on how many lbs of meat to smoke....pre-pulling weight please.

2.  They want to mix in some beef with the pork.....any suggestions on what type of beef to smoke and mix in with the pork?

I will appreciate all of the help I can get......what have I gotten myself into???


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## word (Jul 6, 2009)

Hello!!  Long time lurker and first time poster.  I was a victim of the same thing! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I was asked to cook for a 75 person grad party and this is what I cooked and it was enough.  Let me preface that I did not have to do any side items.

4 butts
9 full racks of ribs
10lb bag of leg quarters
100 chicken wings

You could substitute a few chuck roasts or a couple packers for the ribs.  I can usually feed about 10 people with a nice butt if you need a guideline.

I did all of this on my kick ass Weber bullet smoker(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...evirtualweberb).

 I did the butts a couple days in advance and just kept them in the fridge and reheated them by slowly simmering in hot water on the stove.  Worked like a champ.

Hope this helps!

Smoking it the big ATL.

Word


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## prov1 (Jul 6, 2009)

I am not a first time poster.....it has been a little while though.  Still lurking on a regular basis.  I have smoked butts before and then froze the meat and juice and slowly reheated them and like you said...the meat still turns out perfect!!  I have smoked many butts (but) really never paid attention to how many people feed on a single butt,,,,,I typically try and smoke 10-12lb butts...so that would equal about 8 butts if I figured 10 per butt....thanks for your input.


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## pineywoods (Jul 6, 2009)

As a general rule you can figure you get 50% of the raw weight out of a butt. The amount per person depends of several things such as who is fixing the sandwiches and what the sides are gonna be and how many sides there will be. If you or the host is serving then you can get away with 1/4 lb per sandwich if people are making their own I would figure 1/3 lb per sandwich. As far as how many sandwiches per person that would depend on the sides and whether your feeding kids, adults, young, old. I would smoke some extra and figure on freezing it after the party of course I like to have plenty and I also like having some in the freezer at all times.  As far as the beef I personally would to briskets and if your going to pull them smoke to 205-210 internal. I'd have a hard time mixing the pork and beef together theres to many people that don't like or can't eat one or the other so let them choose which they want or mix it while serving if they want it that way. I would be doing some of Dutch's beans as one side and I do both spicy and non spicy (leave out the japs and dry mustard). 

Personally I would do about 50-60 lbs of butts, 40 lbs of brisket, and a double batch of Dutch's beans regular, and another double batch of Dutch's beans non spicy. I know this would be more food then I needed but as I said it freezes well and I'd rather have to much than not enough.

Good luck with the big smoke and let us know how it turns out and don't forget the Qview


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## mrh (Jul 6, 2009)

ProV1,

Check out my post from a couple months back, we had around 275 people show up and had one roaster left of the pork. 

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=76684

Hope this helps you!


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## prov1 (Jul 7, 2009)

Thanks guys.......I will let you know how it goes next week-end.


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## deltadude (Jul 7, 2009)

Pineywoods 50% sounds about right.  I would suggest that you tell your neighbor you are a traditionalist, and pork is pork, you want to serve a traditional "pulled pork sandwich", and leave the beef out.  Have slaw so those that want the traditional pulled pork sandwich can get it, otherwise it will be a side dish.

Instead of beef, I would encourage the neighbor to go with Chicken, many people are not Beef or Pork eaters and will eat Chicken.  Pulled Chicken sandwich and pulled Pork sandwich, make an easy choice.  The key here is a great slaw, if you have the right recipe both sandwiches will be killer.

Another alternative if he insists on beef, is grilled Tri-Tip, you can either do sandwiches, or to keep it simple do "pulled pork sandwich" and 2 1/4" half slices of Tri-Tip with a drizzle of juice on the side.

I've done all 3 options for family graduations, had no complaints.....


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## capt dan (Jul 11, 2009)

Chuck rolls and pork butts. 12-15 per butt and 30-40 per chuck roll.  this load fed  125  people!



4 butts 2 packers, and 2 chucks (split in half).plenty of food and variety!


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