Wedding Reception Cook

Also, forgot to mention I'll also be cooking pork loins as well for this reception. Bride's mother wants enough brisket and pork each for 150 people, really need help on brisket side.

Thanks in adavance,
Toolman

I try to stay out of the cater side,as it is too much work when you don't do it often.

When forced,many of us have used Elizabeth as a bbq guide as she does q as a living.

From our FIND tab above a search gives me her response.

Elizabeth's cater Portions

If mostly adults,I'm thinking 1/4 lb cooked/lean brisket should get you there.

If you figure 50% loss on packers,that should be about 75 lbs for 150 1/4 lb portions.

In the South the crowd may lean towards the pork and the SW towards the brisket.I like to cook one extra packer to be sure and it is always welcome in doggy bags.

If you have kids there,they often fill up on all the assorted junk and some hotdogs are always a good fallback.

My teammate,Ribdog ,does many more caters and he may chime in directly-altho he is involved in one right now.

Hope this helps a little.

Are you doing this for fun or to make $$$? They buying the meat or are you trying to figure out costs?

"typical" planning is 50% food loss in briskets (I'm running 45 to 55 at the restaurant).

So, first you need to figure out how much you want to serve each guest. 4 oz? 6 oz?, maybe 3 to 4 of each but some will want only one type.

Then multiply by the # of guests.

4 x 150 equals 600 oz. Because of the % loss, double that amount or 1200 oz. Divide that by 16oz to get #s or around 75 lbs.

Doing this "cook" as a favor for my wife's aunt and her daughter for this wedding. I think will figure on getting the full packers from Restaurant Depot which average about 16-19 lbs each, so will cook 6 to be on the safe side.

Thanks for all the advice,
Toolman

That will give you jusr under 160 5oz portions. I'd smoke an extra brisket for the wiggle room...someone will eat it

Toolman,

Just make sure you have a server on the brisket who knows how much the portion size should be. It does not take too heavy a hand by the server to cut into your reserves very quickly!

Well ol' friend,does that mean all your work is done?

Yes, but the cleanup still needs to be finished up and you know how I am with that!

One more tip on setting up your event. If this is to be buffet service without someone serving the meats, place the meat at the END of the line after all the sides and use small 'dollar' size rolls. This leaves much less room on the plate by the time they get to the meat and guests tend to take less on the first trip. It also places the meat closer to the sauce which for some reason always ends up at the very end of the table.

Good Luck!! And get used to not for profit catering. You'll get lots of requests.

Great points Guys!