# Fundraiser for 175 on the Lang 84 - lots of QView



## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

We just did a Fundraiser for a private school.  About 175 people we figure.  There were 160 RSVP.

We did:  100# butt, 100 sausages and 50# chicken.  Here's how I calculated - tell me if I was off the mark:

100# butt - 55% after cooking - 55# = 3 sandwiches per pound = 165 sandwiches
50# leg and thighs quarters - about 100 pieces = 1 piece per person
100 - 8" Sausages cut in half = 200 pieces

I figured everyone could have 1 sandwich and 1 sausage and most would have a chicken opportunity.  Didn't sound like enough, but we had BOATS of leftovers.  We sent people home with tons.  I bet we had 30# butt left over, 5# sausage and 10# chicken.  45# of food is a LOT of leftovers.

Now, some of these folks were not heavy eaters.

We were fine, and we never want to run out, but the leftovers were ginormous.

any tips on how I could calculate better?







4am






loading her up 






sit around, eat a bagel












add the chicken at 11 - for the 1pm eat






Part 2 - more QView  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...threadid=23811


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## bmudd14474 (Oct 3, 2008)

When I cook for alot of people I take down the amount of meat per item per person because I know that people will want some of it all so each serving will be smaller. There was a post on here that had a excel file in it for helping to calculate for catering. If you cant find it PM me and I might still have it. Good looking Q there.


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## pineywoods (Oct 3, 2008)

Looks awesome 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 I would guess the reason for so many leftovers was lots of children and women in attendance. The same amount of food for the local mens golf club you probably wouldn't have had near the left overs. Hard to figure how much but always better to have the extra than to run out.


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## ronp (Oct 3, 2008)

On my last butt smoke for 12 people I had 8 pounds raw and was plenty. Got about 24 sammes from that with beans. But I had a pretty good yeild, 6 pounds out of 8. So, 6 pounds at 4 0z per sammie worked out good. I did add the juices back in to the meat.

I suppose it depends on the time smoking the meat and the time foiling. I usually do a 6 - 7 hour smoke and foil to retain yeild.

Nice job.


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## big game cook (Oct 3, 2008)

hum. to better calculate. just send all leftovers you dont eat to me. that should square ya up.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





awesome set up glad ya fed the masses and didnt run out. better to much that a few sad folks with no plate.

and im no expert. but i would say with burger buns your looking at more like 5-6 sammies per lb of pulled pork. not everyone eats like me lol. i might get 3 per lb. but my wife. she could make 6-7 per lb. most folks dont have the meat falling out of the bun on all sides like i would. i know 50 guys that could have ate it all lol. and 200 who couldnt come close.

what kind of sides were there? that makes a difference too. me. i would have had a sammie and a sausage and a chicken to sample all. then prob one more of the best tasting.+ sides. my wife. one sammie or a chicken breast. and a lil side. she would been done. just depends on the crowd.


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## capt dan (Oct 3, 2008)

Nice job champ, love to see a Lang full of butts, 1 counted 27, is that close? Better to have extra. I know it kinda ruins the  profit margin, but you can use the info and come closer next time.If 30 more had shown up, you woulda been still set OK.

Hope ya raised alot of funds for the school.


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

BMudd,

I do have that spreadsheet.  Lots of great info there for sure.  

Hard to judge the Men, Women and Child thing out though.  It was $230 of meat for butts and chicken, the sausages were donated, so they can't complain about that - and didn't - in fact, they LOVED the leftovers.

Thank you for your input! Brad


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

Piney,

Golfers of Gophers?


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

Ron,

I had to "microwave" this.  So we did a 3-3.5 technique.  Foiling really helps AND you get the juices.  I added about 1/3 can of Coke to each Foil - really makes a difference.

Then my spritz was Root Beer, Brown Sugar and Beer.  Really don't know if that does a durned thing, but it looks professional.

The foil gets opened and I pour the whole mess into the bowl, pull, add a little Famous Dave's blue label and some rub.  Makes it great.

Does everyone do that with butt?


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

Big Game,

You are a Rock Star!

You know, that was one of the problems - everyone brought a dish.  Too much food for sure.

I wonder what 10# of pulled pork FedEx Same Day Air would cost?


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

Capt Dan,

That was probably about right.  I got the Tyson? ones at Wally - they were a bit more expensive - about 1.78 if I remember correctly.  They only had 2.  So I got some boneless Sirloin Roasts (those are awesome).  They come two to a wrap - and they have that netting over them and a meat probe I think.  I cut the net and have two smaller "butts".  I got 50# of all that.

So I went to Food Lion (slow store here), but he asked how much I need - I told him I was 50# short, so he comes out with this box - 54# = $1.50/lb.

Good savings, but the Smithfields had at least 1/2" fat cap on them that had to come off.  I figured it would insulate the meat and no barQ, so that shtuff got whacked - but that added mucho time to the process.  I won't do that again if I can help it.

Then I cut those bad boys in half - to make two smaller chunks - the only way to go.  Then I scored the top, Glued and Rubbed.

I had a ton of juice the next morning.

The two smaller chunks got me much shorter times, but i was still way under 200 - about 170s.  Flavor is there, but I had to meet my deadline, so we pulled some (fell apart) and some we had to chop.

Bottom line is no one could tell - it was great with RAVE reviews - this wasn't a competition, but you and I know it would have been better at 200.

Got to do what you gotta do when you have 175 mad, crazed, PTO people wanting to eat, right?  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





How can you blame them?  They were smeeling the hickory for hours at that point.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





100# / 8# per = 12 - cut in half = 24-ish, probably a few more - some were smaller and those Sirloin Roasts are only 5-6#s.

Good times, good times.  Brad


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

With the food and silent auction, we raised around $15,000.


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## sweet_magnolia (Oct 3, 2008)

Wow!  So much good looking food!  And I love the picture of the smoker and the early morning fog.


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## Dutch (Oct 3, 2008)

Champ- it was the additional dishes brought to the event that gave you the extra left overs. When I used to do caterings, it was always set in writting that I as the Caterer was responsible for providing ALL the food for the event. Outside dishes were never permitted. It sounds kind of harsh but it was to protect my butt, i.e-if little Johhn Jones got sick and died from eating Mrs. Smiths 'tater salad and Mr. & Mrs. Jones decided to sue me, the jury would see the death of Johnny as my fault because as a "trained professional" I failed to ensure the safety and quality of ALL foods at the event.


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## workoutchamp (Oct 3, 2008)

Great point Dutch and something I didn't even think of.

Somebody's watching my butt.  We can't see all these icebergs - we have to watch out for each other.  Thank you.

Brad


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## meandmytwodogs (Oct 3, 2008)

Invite me next time. You'll have WAY less leftovers!

Dave


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## bigredq (Oct 3, 2008)

Looks great Brad,  curious tho is there really such a thing as left over Q. always considered the extra as the next course of the meal.  

Looking forward to sharing some Q time with ya soon.


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## smoking gun (Oct 4, 2008)

Hey I'm in KY I coulda helped with the leftovers.


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## workoutchamp (Oct 4, 2008)

Gun,

We might be having a throw down this fall - you in?

I've got a few people from Lexington and a guy from Danville so far.....


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## chris88 (Oct 4, 2008)

Hi workoutchamp that's a lot of q. It all looks great. I have a question for you. In one of your post you said meeting your deadline. What would you do if it looks like you won't make it? I have smoke some butts before but never that much and for a big group of people. The last one I did hit that plateau and man that was a long smoke.


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## workoutchamp (Oct 4, 2008)

We weren't anywhere near 200 degrees.  We were at like maybe 170s in some, 190 in others.  You roll with it - the show must go on.

We pulled them out starting at 1 for a 1:30 meal and pulled what we could and chopped the rest on a pizza box. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   Next time I will have cutting boards.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   some were falling apart, some were not.  They ALL tasted wonderful.

I had smaller chunks of meat (butts cut in half and those smaller sirloin roasts), so I assumed we'd be close in 6 hrs.  Again, some were, some weren't.

The Lang has good thermal mass, but so does 150# of ice cold meat.  

I started at 250/260-ish, then once foiled, I cranked it up to 300-325 and "nuked" it.

I had to add chicken towards the end, so I couldn't put that on when I wanted, I had to guess when to put that on.  So we calculated/guessed 2hrs on.

I normally do chicken leg quarters for 4-5 hrs at 225-250-ish.  That is great that way.  The 2 hrs at 300-325 we had to do to make the timeline wasn't near as good.  Color wasn't as good, flavor wasn't as good, tenderness wasn't as good.

They all loved it - and it was infinitely better than the past two years were they catered hot dogs and hamburgers for $6/head and ran out BOTH times.  This cost them about $1.50/head for the meat and beans.

We busted our *** to get this all ready at the last minute, but it worked out just fine.  We were heros.

The secret is:

1 - start earlier and let the temp on the cooker die down and use that as your holding oven
2 - have a place to hold the food warm till serving (I didn't) - the deluxe warming oven on the 84 Lang doesn't hold 150# meat plus 100-8"links  
3 - don't worry, be happy, have a home brew
4 - bring a bunch of help


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## chris88 (Oct 4, 2008)

Thanks for the reply my friend.


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## smoking gun (Oct 4, 2008)

Just let me know when and where and I'll do my best to be there. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  I have a busy schedule this time of year but if I know in advance I can most likely work it in. I'm about 20 miles east of Louisville.


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