Question about holding......

This is what we have come up with at our place.
Rule 1... Don't hold pulled pork over 150 degrees. You will cook the flavor out of it. You did not hear it from me BUT>>> 120-140 is best. Yes, it is safe. see below
Rule 2.... Don't use metal pans for you Q if it needs to hold for a long time, It will take on a metallic taste. Use the Lexan type pans.

If you want to hold your butts whole. Wrap in foil and hold at 150-170. THere is no need to add moisture(like sauce) to it while holding it. I reccomend that you pull it and hold it--it is MUCH easier when it comes serving time. My suggestion to you is this for pork, if you have access to power then get an electric water warmer(full size pan size) or 2 that has temp control. You can find them at the restaurant supply place for aboout 120-150 bucks. They are worth every penny.
If you hold your pork at higher temps(140 and above) after you have pulled it, stir often and and hope you are moving it fast. Again, you will "cook" the flavor out of it. USE THE LEXAN! If you make very saucy Q then holding at the higher temps will not have the same effect as it does on lightly sauced pork. The reason is that the sauce is the flavor and not the meat, generally speaking. Hard to cook the sauce flavor out of it.
Beef---it is a bitch! We foil ours after cooking and let cool in the fridge. We then slice it and re-heat it in a microwave to serve. This keeps it moist and it is as fresh as when it was first pulled from the smoker. Since that is not an option I can tell you this, beef especially brisket dries out VERY easy and QUICK! Hold it at a lower temp 120-140(again, I didn't say that) or so and keep it wrapped up. If you don't you will have a very dry product. If you get warmers like the ones I suggested then you will have steamers too. It is all in the pan configuration. If you steam then do it at as low of temp as you can get away with and use weak Au Jus for steam---so you don't get watery meat.
Ribs are easy. Hold at 140 and sauce them as you serve them and only at the customers request. If you have to serve them sauced then that is ok too. Wrapping them in foil doesn't hurt them but is not neccesary. They should hold for atleast a few hours without any risk of drying out.
I don't know all the tricks, but am just telling you what we have learned from our own experiences.
I hope this helps you, Buddy!
Best wishes and good luck!
Zeb

Zeb,
Thanks that was a lot of great advice, I appreciate the guidance! I can run the catering aspect with the times, and schedule when everything needs to come out to be ready....but, this bar set up has me somewhat nervous...
I contacted the supply outlet and ordered a steam set....and I am gonna go with the commercial microwave, as long as I dont lose that "mmmmmph" I am sure that it will suffice, at least until I can get the customer peak times down.

Thanks again, and look forward to sittin in your shop here in a couple weeks and bs'in

Rob

I was tought a long time ago to use plastic rap when ever I worked with high acidic foods. Cover first with plastic rap then with foil. Do'nt worry that the rap will stick to the food becuase it wont. Just hold up foil to the light after heating and holding tomatoe sauce and you should see holes. The other advantedge is the moisture can't escape. I've made lots lasagna in my time and not once did the plastic mess up the product. I hope I helped a little I'm not comfortable yet with computers in general. I'm a hands on person.
Good luck
Boz

Bozman,
I agree, wrap with plastic, then with foil was what I was taught also. But now they say plastic wrap isn't a good thing to have next to your hot food. And I can't think paper would be any better. We can tell people the dried out meat they received on their hands is healthier. And which hand would like to receive the baked beans?
I'm sorry, I had a bad day!
Peggy

I hold the que in half pans, we take the dippings from the smoker, cool them and skim off all the fat and then we have a really nice broth, we just put a couple of ladles full into the pan and cover them and put them back in the smoker at a low-temp and they hold no problem through a typical 3-4 service window and the broth steams back through the meat and makes it taste pretty damn good.

u2,
thought i might weigh in on this one.
for about 150 resturant equippers has a half cambro food holder. it will hold 4 four inch hotel pans. my experience with them has been good. they keep food warm about three hours with no degradation in quality.
nice thing about them is if you take a 4" hotel and freeze water in it and then put in the cambro it will keep things cold about the same length of time so you get double duty for the same money outlay.
other thing i have done is hold a few butts whole in wrap as they hold thier heat longer. then when you hit a slow time just start pulling. people will come up and talk so you can have a nice time while you work and most of the time you get another line started so the profit goes up.
just a few ideas
hope it helps some
jack

Thanks, I have a cambro, and in all honesty, never considered the ice thing. I may have to try the commercial microwave for the brisket, wrap and hold some of the shoulders, cool and chill some, pull and nuke gently the others........it is going to be a little trial and error.....the ribs I am going to be starting about 3 each afternoon, full load, once done, wrap em in plastic wrap, place in cambro, then finish them up as ordered w/o and with sauce on the grill.....phew, this is gonna be a trip, thanks for the advice all!!!

U2
Calm down and make a list is what always helps me. Let us know how it goes.
Peggy

U2, I went back and reread your original post. You are cooking brisket, pork for pulling, and ribs. Any other items in the smokers?
Peggy

No, that is all that I am going with out of the smoker. The side that we are starting with is slaw or potato salad and a small bag of chips.
I think that we got the pricing down too finally, where I can at least make something for the effort. The main problem that I can forsee now is just rain days...the bar cant put up a tent outside...so heres to the prayer to the BBQ gods that it does not rain this summer like it snowed this winter......
and yeah, I have started the list, and then the list covering the 1st list...lol..
Thanks a lot guys!

U2,
I hope a nice day or lots of nice days will come to you.

If it looks like things are slow, bag up some of the q and freeze it right away. 1 lb. bags sell great to working moms. Take a sample to offices. You'll get up a list of orders. If you already have the meat frozen in 1 lb bags, you're ready to go. I try to sell what I have frozen within the week that Jack cooks it. If it doesn't sell, I use it for Brunswick Stew.

Peggy

Peggy,

Thanks a lot you guys for the assistance, maybe now I can move back up to getting 5 hours sleep instead of the tossing and turning all night with all of this running through my head. Then again, what is the fun in that!

Rob