quote:
Originally posted by redoakNC:
Is that a typical size BBQ gig for you? What's the smallest group you take on?
How long did it take to pull that much pork? Was the resulting 250# about what you prefigured?
White/red slaw?
How many people helped prepare food?
As a catering gig, I normally will only do onsite cooking for 100+ people, but this year has been so slow that I'll do it for 50 people if it's local and I like the people. I do delivery for 25+ all the time with pork, brisket, chicken, etc. I cater a lot of sports teams this time of year at their place of play. The soccer/softball teams especially like this since they don't have to go wait in line at a restaurant and then rush back to the fields when they're playing a tourney.
The fundraiser jobs I do vary as to their delivery method. Within the BBQ realm I do BBQ plate dinners, take home family packs (2# of BBQ[packed quart], a couple of pint sides, 8 pack of buns, and dessert), and whole butts. It all depends on what the org wants. I would say that most of those fall between 300-500 meals, but some can hit 1000+. It depends on the location of the event, the timing, the food being offered, and how hard the org works to promote it. BBQ always sells in NC, but in the fall Brunswick stew is popular also, as are fish frys, shrimp boils, and oyster roasts. Flounder and peanut oil have gotten so expensive that fish frys are hard to make money with unless someone donates the materials, but whiting can still be sold for a reasonable price and that's good too.
I did two fundraisers for a hockey team last fall that sold about 900 family meals each event. That's 900 x 2#, plus all the sides and desserts. So that's about 3200# of raw weight in meat. About half of that was cooked in my Amerique and 008, and then mixed in with purchased meat from a local commercial BBQ producer. I ran my Amerique and 008 pretty much 24/7 for a month at the absolute limits of their capacity. And then I did it again for the same team 4 months later. Worked flawlessly. (The meat in these packs was sold frozen for food safety, and also because there's no way for me to produce that much meat inside a serving window) The team then "assembled" the packages for pickup at their home rink.
The meat this weekend was partially pulled and partially chopped(mixed) which looks really nice on a plate. It was an ongoing process, but the first batch of 24 butts took about an hour to process, then panned with sauce and placed in a cooler waiting for service. The last batch was pulled from the cooker as needed about 6 at a time.
I'm guessing about finished weight. I've done enough of these where I did weigh the finished meat that I know what my yields are going to be. I started out with 417# actual weight, and I figured for 58% yield cooked to 190* internal. 58% would have netted me 242#. I must have been pretty close based on final sales and the other sides being pretty close at the end.
White slaw. I wanted to offer red too, but the church thought it would confuse people. But I did put out some mustard sauce just to see their faces. They used about 1/2 gal, so someone must have tried it.
One person helped with food prep. He chopped and pulled meat, and made most of the brownies. He got there as the meat was coming off at 8:00am and he was a chopping/pulling/brownie making machine for the rest of the day. 4 other people came in at 4:00ish to help serve. 1 each for meat, beans, slaw, and dessert. Bread and drinks were self serve. I did everything else.
There is a big high pressure burner mounted on my cooking trailer that is behind the cooker (couldn't see it in the picture) At 8:00am when the second batch of meat went on, I brewed the tea on the burner. While it was steeping, I made the lemonade. Then I pulled and sweetened the tea, finishing 20 gals, and then fridging the remaining concentrate for later.
When tea was finished, I put on a pot of sauce. Vinegar, spices, simmer for 1/2 hour, then add water and other ingredients. (I had to do these things sequentially because I only have one big stainless steel pot. I have a bunch of aluminium pots, but I think they make the tea taste funny, and if you make sauce in them they fall apart after a few batches from the vinegar. So I need to spring for a new SS pot soon.)
While the sauce was simmering I mixed up the slaw. Pre shredded cabbage, carrots, mayo, vinegar, sugar. 120# of slaw in 30min. Done. Lets see Rachel Ray do that! (Pre shredded cabbage is available nationally from restaurant produce suppliers, most of which will sell to the public if you pick it up. This is different from the stuff in the grocery store. I can get as little as 10# at a time, with a bag of shredded carrots and purple cabbage included. Beats doing it by hand for sure)
My helper started brownies about 12:noon. The church kitchen had double ovens and I brought 12 half sheet pans so it was just a matter of mixing the batter and baking 4 pans at a time for the next few hours. A few minutes to mix, then 30 minutes to wait.
While the first load of brownies was in, we had lunch. I tossed a couple of cajun spiced chickens in on top of the butts with the 8:00 load and they were ready, so we dined on chicken, slaw, and beans from the can. Tasted pretty good.
After lunch, I chopped 5# of bacon and browned it in my giant braising pan. Then I sauteed off 5# each of onions and green peppers in the bacon grease. When they were soft, I added the juice from the bean cans, brown sugar, mustard powder, corn starch, and a gallon of dark, sweet, and smokey BBQ sauce. I don't remember the brand. Anyway, this thickens up nicely and is then added to the beans which are in a cooler, then mixed. I used a combination of Bush's baked beans, generic pork & beans, light red kidney beans, pinto beans, and giant butter beans. Then these are portioned into full sized disposable chaffer inserts and placed in the oven after the brownies are finished. (I should point out that everyone EXCEPT Pags, likes my beans
)
We were pretty much finished by 3:00. I went home and took a (much needed!!!) shower and came back at 4:00 looking and smelling much better. Pre shower, there was an hour or so where the flies were starting to form a fan club for me.
), mixing 120lbs of slaw, and making 5gals of sauce. Friday while the meat is cooking, I'll make the beans and brew 60gal of tea and 20 gals of lemonade. Bread is store bought. Unfortunately, the only item being cooked on my CS this time are some ribs I'll slip to the pastor when nobody's looking.
I'll post some pictures after the cook.
Sounds like work!!
No Christina, just one 4oz spoodle of beans, not three please dear! 
But after everything was counted, about $4000 was raised for charity.
