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Cooking for 125

Tomhusker

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My son is getting married this Saturday. He and his fiance asked the wife and I to cater the reception, selecting pulled pork and my wife's homemade tater salad. They'd also like a couple of briskets as well.
I started smoking the pork this past weekend, smoking half a dozen boston butts, then freezing them after pulling them. I'll start the other 6 when I get home from work on Thursday. I figure I need 50-60 lbs, cooked weight, in addition to the brisket.
I've never tackled anything close to this amount of food. But the first batch turned out amazing and I'm feeling confident in the rest of it. I can fit up to 10 pork butts in my smoker at a time. They run anywhere from 14-18 hours in the smoker.

I'll post pics of the spread once everything is set up, before anyone gets into it.
 

Wunder.Noid

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My son is getting married this Saturday. He and his fiance asked the wife and I to cater the reception, selecting pulled pork and my wife's homemade tater salad. They'd also like a couple of briskets as well.
I started smoking the pork this past weekend, smoking half a dozen boston butts, then freezing them after pulling them. I'll start the other 6 when I get home from work on Thursday. I figure I need 50-60 lbs, cooked weight, in addition to the brisket.
I've never tackled anything close to this amount of food. But the first batch turned out amazing and I'm feeling confident in the rest of it. I can fit up to 10 pork butts in my smoker at a time. They run anywhere from 14-18 hours in the smoker.

I'll post pics of the spread once everything is set up, before anyone gets into it.
Briskets and butts are pretty close in the low and low.

Use whatever seasonings/rubs you like and low-n-slow brother.

You'll know it's done when the temps are right and the probing action fells like butter imo.
 

Tomhusker

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Briskets and butts are pretty close in the low and low.

Use whatever seasonings/rubs you like and low-n-slow brother.

You'll know it's done when the temps are right and the probing action fells like butter imo.
I prefer a basic kosher salt and fresh ground pepper rub. I have multiple remote probes that I can monitor on my smart phone. I set the probes to 200 degrees and the alarm wake me up when they hit that temp.
 

Wunder.Noid

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I prefer a basic kosher salt and fresh ground pepper rub. I have multiple remote probes that I can monitor on my smart phone. I set the probes to 200 degrees and the alarm wake me up when they hit that temp.
We talking briskets or butts here?

If briskets I agree. If you're talking pork, you're doing it wrong my brother... :suds:
 

Tomhusker

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We talking briskets or butts here?

If briskets I agree. If you're talking pork, you're doing it wrong my brother... :suds:
I inject pork with an apple juice based injectin . I've tried rubs, but haven't found any that I like.
 

ATL96Steeler

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My son is getting married this Saturday. He and his fiance asked the wife and I to cater the reception, selecting pulled pork and my wife's homemade tater salad. They'd also like a couple of briskets as well.
I started smoking the pork this past weekend, smoking half a dozen boston butts, then freezing them after pulling them. I'll start the other 6 when I get home from work on Thursday. I figure I need 50-60 lbs, cooked weight, in addition to the brisket.
I've never tackled anything close to this amount of food. But the first batch turned out amazing and I'm feeling confident in the rest of it. I can fit up to 10 pork butts in my smoker at a time. They run anywhere from 14-18 hours in the smoker.

I'll post pics of the spread once everything is set up, before anyone gets into it.

Do it man!

Sound like some seriously good eating and a good time.

Congrats on gaining a daughter in law!
 

Tomhusker

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I could go with S&P as a base rub on pretty much any meat, but I like a little twang, a little sweet heat myself on pork and for me brisket as well.
I don't mind it once in a while. I can get heat and sweet from a sauce if I want it. Plus, I don't have to worry about screwing up a dozen pork butts if the rub I make doesn't taste very good. Like I said, I haven't found any that I like.
 

Wunder.Noid

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I don't mind it once in a while. I can get heat and sweet from a sauce if I want it. Plus, I don't have to worry about screwing up a dozen pork butts if the rub I make doesn't taste very good. Like I said, I haven't found any that I like.
This makes sense if you don't like the rubs.

I don't use usually sauce my pulled pork so I rely on the flavor and color/bark the rubs adds during the smoke.
 

ATL96Steeler

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I don't mind it once in a while. I can get heat and sweet from a sauce if I want it. Plus, I don't have to worry about screwing up a dozen pork butts if the rub I make doesn't taste very good. Like I said, I haven't found any that I like.

Exactly...bbqing is not an exact science..you can get great out comes a number of different ways...part of the beauty of it imo.

Enjoy the feast!
 

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I have found that extended cooking of butts can make them mushy.
You might try, at another time, 6-7 hrs at a higher temp. probably around 350

Fully cooked, fat rendered, firmer texture.


But don't change until after the wedding. It's too important to mess up with experiments.
 

Tomhusker

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I have found that extended cooking of butts can make them mushy.
You might try, at another time, 6-7 hrs at a higher temp. probably around 350

Fully cooked, fat rendered, firmer texture.


But don't change until after the wedding. It's too important to mess up with experiments.
I've read up on the higher heat /shorter cook time method. Thought about trying it this time. But, like you said, this is too important to be experimenting .

Just got the last 7 butts on the smoke. Might pull them out at midnight to finish in the roasting pans overnight.
 

Wunder.Noid

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I've read up on the higher heat /shorter cook time method. Thought about trying it this time. But, like you said, this is too important to be experimenting .

Just got the last 7 butts on the smoke. Might pull them out at midnight to finish in the roasting pans overnight.
I've done that before. Got home on a Friday night, smoked a butt for about 4 hours and finished it in the oven (wrapped) overnight at 200. It turned out awesome the next morning. :suds:
 

Tomhusker

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I just pulled the briskets off a few minutes ago. They were on the smoke for 23 hours. I hope they turn out OK, as they didn't get to 200 degrees internal temp. I decided to pull them after I couldn't get them out of their stall.
I went to bed at 10:30 last night with them at 185 degrees internally. Woke up at 6:30 and they were still at the 185 mark. My temp graph showed no fluctuation for either brisket all night.
They looked OK, but won't know the results until they rest for two hours and we slice.

I'm never doing this much smoking at one time again. The stress might kill me....
 

Wunder.Noid

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I just pulled the briskets off a few minutes ago. They were on the smoke for 23 hours. I hope they turn out OK, as they didn't get to 200 degrees internal temp. I decided to pull them after I couldn't get them out of their stall.
I went to bed at 10:30 last night with them at 185 degrees internally. Woke up at 6:30 and they were still at the 185 mark. My temp graph showed no fluctuation for either brisket all night.
They looked OK, but won't know the results until they rest for two hours and we slice.

I'm never doing this much smoking at one time again. The stress might kill me....
Don't blame you man, that's a lot of meat!
 

Tomhusker

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First brisket is sliced. Kinda dry, but not too bad. It developed a thick, hard bark on the bottom. Maybe 1/8 inch thick. Not sure what made it do that. The second one doesn't appear to have that problem. Weird....
 

Wunder.Noid

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First brisket is sliced. Kinda dry, but not too bad. It developed a thick, hard bark on the bottom. Maybe 1/8 inch thick. Not sure what made it do that. The second one doesn't appear to have that problem. Weird....
Offset smoker? Maybe it was closest to the heat?
 
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