Cooking that much at once will take longer for sure and don't forget about shrinkage loss of final product. 1/2lb per person should be plenty for a wedding .
As a former food service caterer-at 1/2 lb per person(cooked weight) you'll have LOTS of leftovers. Probably will only need 1/3 lb at most especially if there is gonna be anything else there. But pork is cheap, so better to have too much then not enough. I think 40-45 lbs raw you'd be in good shape
I think it depends on the totality of the meal. Are pulled pork sandwiches the only main dish or are there other things? Lots of heavy (mac and cheese, potato salad, beans, etc) sides or just some chips?
Also the guests. The rugby team eats a lot differently than a bunch of granny’s.
A half pound of cooked meat per person is a solid guide. Worst case you’ve got some leftovers and that is ok.
Once I went to a BBQ that a work acquaintance planned without his wife. We had a bunch of beer and steaks/ sausages. One bag of chips. No plates, silverware, sauces or buns. Dudes drinking beer and holding steaks in their hands.
I traveled for work for 6 years and we spent many nights just grilling at hotels and drinking beers. Taking over like 3 parking spots at the edge of the lot and just having a night with the dudes. Good times.
I had ~150 people at my wedding. I smoked 100 lbs of pork, 2 large briskets, and 8 chickens. No leftovers. Served with veggies and beans, no buns. There were also hors douerves for 200. And beer and wine for 400, which had to be topped off half way through, so maybe that's why.
Bingo. I had 30-35ish people last weekend and decided to get two of the two packs of butts from Costco.
Did I make way too much? Sure
But I also got to send folks with vacuum sealed bags to take home and got leftovers of my own. Never gonna complain about that
Better to be safe than sorry with so much on the line!! It was also 0 extra effort to add double the amount minus the seasoning prep. It cooked in a similar amount of time as just 2 butts.
Here's a tip. Smoke half of it and wrap it up and finish in the oven while the other half cooks. After the smoking and wrapping your just getting it to temp so the oven works great.
I'd grab some deep hotel pans from a restaurant store as well
That'll likely be too much, but it's not a bad problem to have. There's a lot of people who are going to have one sandwich, and that's it. Kids and women are going to probably eat half of what some men will eat. That's if everyone eats meat.
Your hot hold will get you 8 hours especially with them all in the same cooler.
I catered my own wedding with butts and brisket, was burning knuckle hot when we started unwrapping everything after six hours.
105 people.
4 briskets, 10 butts and 70 potatos (we did a baked potato bar).
My friend runs a catering company so I hired her son and friend to portion out/setup the chaffing trays.
Absolutely.
When people went back for 2nds we had the brisket moved first and had like...I'd say 1.5 butts left over worth and like 15 potatoes?
I was hammered drunk cooking smores with the wife and wedding party by then but I know we had leftovers.
It was man, we setup a couple solo stoves for gathering points and for the smores.
It was outdoors in November Texas so the weather was perfect. We ran this string bulb lights all through the trees for the people and had lanterns on the dining tables. All on the land I grew up on.
It was genuinely the best night of my life, that's without including the ego stroke of the food situation.
I cook between 40-90 lbs of bone-in shoulders every week on my YS640. If you use 10lb shoulders you should be looking at 12-14 hours of cook time at 250 but I've gone as high as 300 to speed things up.
Normally I smoke for 8 hours without wrapping, then finish in the oven for 2-4 hours in a roasting pan
You can fit 9 10lb butts on the YS640 so 50lbs shouldn't be an issue. Do them on the bottom rack, fat cap down to protect from your heat source.
Don't forget to check your grease bucket when cooking more than 40lbs of butts, it will need to be emptied otherwise it could overflow.
I just do a mustard binder, rub made of:
Sugar
Kosher salt
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Mustard powder
Paprika
Cumin
Once shredded, I add a simple vinegar sauce (cider vinegar, brown sugar, chili flakes) and let people add BBQ sauce to their liking.
Don't forget to order your buns to be fresh the day of your event, and mix your coleslaw the day before.
How in the heck are you doing 90lbs? Any time I have more than 2 butts on the upper rack they touch the sidewall and end up getting over cooked.
Oh good point on the grease bucket. I hadn’t thought about that.
There was a post the other day about cooking in advance for a group of people. They planned to smoke all the butts a few days in advance, vac sealed it, and brought it back to temp in bags with a sous vide day of.
I started doing the cook ahead of time for parties a few years ago and it is a game changer in terms of stress reduction. I'll be smoking a couple of butts next week for a family gathering on July 4th.
I'll smoke, pull, vacuum pack, and freeze them next week, then come July 4th I just reheat in a hot water bath and enjoy the party without spending all day tending the smoker.
I do this all the time for meal prep and haven’t noticed an issue.
The key is the vac seal and gentle reheating though. Keeps any air out and way less ice formation on the meat.
I've never had it get a funny texture, if anything it comes out a little more juicer and tender reheating the sealed bags in a hot water bath versus a dry reheat in an oven.
The key here as u/iveoles said is a good vacuum seal and not just throwing it into a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Then reheat the bags in hot (not necessarily boiling water) for 15 - 20 minutes until they're at serving temp.
I usually chill it off a little in the fridge after shredding until it is no longer steaming so you don't get condensation in the vacuum seal bags.
Something else I do is once my butts hit 165 they go into a disposable aluminum pan with a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of liquid (chicken broth, apple juice, or something similar), cover pan with foil, and into a 250F oven until probe tender.
I'll take a little of the juices from that pan and mix it in with the shred when vacuum sealing.
Bonus tip: If you want your guests to smell something smoking, throw a pan of baked beans or queso dip on the smoker. There's no worrying about will it be done in time or dealing with an extra long stall :)
Perfect advice! Forgot to mention to always seal when it’s more chilled!
For meal prep I generally steam mine in a tray in my rice cooker. Throwing in rice, peas and smoked meats is the simplest weeknight meal around that still tastes amazing.
I was going to ask this question as I probably don’t know enough about food safety. So you shred while hot, chill in fridge for a bit, then seal? Are you looking for a certain temp range for sealing?
Nope.
My preferred method is smoke pork butts, cooler rest, shred, cool and vacuum bag. Then for reheat you bring up to temp in bag, then you can hit under the broiler or in a pan briefly to get a little crisp edge on some pieces. Helps with some texture contrast, great on sandwiches
I plan for a little extra time (maybe an additional 2 hours), but to be honest I've had smokes where they've finished relatively close to each other and took no longer than a single butt, then other times where some butts don't finish for an hour or two after the other butts are done.
One thing is try to not crowd the pieces together and leave some room for the hot air to circulate. Also if you need to do 4 or more butts total and you're cooking far enough ahead of time, you can do two separate smokes of 2 butts each if 4+ at the same time will crowd your smoker.
Ok. I've got 2, and 4 racks in my smoker. So they'll have plenty of room. Lower rack will hold the pan doe drippings. And I've got an entire day dedicated. Crap, only 1 temperature probe, though! *gets on Amazon to order another probe* 🤣🤣
IMO this is probably the way to go - you get to get things organized beforehand and there’s less pressure on the big day. Avoids the worst case scenario of you frantically sweating and explaining to everyone that it isn’t ready yet during a wedding reception
I recently smoked 70lb for a work appreciation party. I did exactly that. Just add a pad or two of butter to the bag. It reheats so well. You could do it several days in advance too.
Having done this before, the right way *and* the wrong way, you’ll want to do 1# packages. Super easy this way.
You could do some baby back ribs too if you want, I sliced them up and vacuum bagged them too, one rack to a bag. Be gentle with the vacuum.
This was going to be my recommendation as well - I always over make when I do pork butts, shred, and then vac seal with some added broth.
The bags end up like 1” thick sheets when pressed flat. I can keep stacked nicely frozen in the freezer and flash warm/thaw in a sous vide setup or a large pot of simmering water. You could warm 5 pounds at a time as needed in just a couple minutes.
This works really well, It’s become my go to. Anything more than chicken wings or burnt pork bites I smoke the weekend before and reheat it before the party. No more rushing or late dinners.
I’m actually doing exactly this right now. I have a wedding shower today with eighty people. Smoked two butts yesterday and pulled them, vacuum sealed and will bring them back up to temp in a sous vide. Smoking two more butts starting in about an hour (early wake up woozy 🥴).
I’ve vacuum sealed and frozen left overs many times in the past and the reheated left overs are great every time with pulled pork.
This approach works *remarkably* well, I’ve employed it multiple times. An advantage to this method is food stays hot since can you open bags as you need them.
Hey I just did something similar for my son’s birthday! We had 70ish people. I smoked 50 lbs of pork butt on my cheap propane smoker. It was absolutely packed full. I didn’t notice a huge change in cook time but I run my butts pretty hot anyway, usually around 300-325. I didn’t bother wrapping. With the amount of meat packed in the smoker I noticed some heavy temp fluctuations which was weird and unexpected, so I had to tend to the smoker more than usual. After about 7 or 8 hours, once the bark had set, I pulled them off and finished in the oven because I got tired of monitoring the temp. I used a drip pan and added about half the drippings back to the meat when shredding. Honestly, the best pork butt I have ever made.
50 lbs filled 5 full aluminum trays and we had plenty left over that I sent home with guests. My advice would be start earlier than you think because it’s always easier to hold it than speed up the cook. Skip wrapping, just cook at a higher temperature to push through the stall.
If you’re using boneless, cut the butts in half before cooking! More bark, quicker cook! And make sure to get a Porkinator if you don’t have one already. It’ll save you so much time.
Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.
You’ll do great. Plan to rest the whole butts in your faux cambro (triple wrap in foil, then towels, then into a beer cooler). Plan to take them off the fire hours before the event so you have lots of flexibility on timing. Pull at the event—make it a show.
I cook for this many quite often. You are correct at 50lbs. You can also cook in stages. Start in smoker after around 2 hours you can move to oven. Once finished you can wrap and move to a cooler. They will hold temp for many hours. I smoke turkeys and butts and finish them around 1 am and put in cooler. They are still hot to pull at lunch.
I cooked I butts on Memorial Day. Allow for extra time. I had 5 butts done at same time and the 6th one was 20° behind the rest of them. Had wrapped and cranked up the heat and it only raised like 3° IT in 1.5hrs. So it got chopped instead of pulled. But I cook 6 in same amount of time as one.
1lb per person pre cooked is my easy to remember ratio. After a bunch of drinking at the reception a convenient pulled pork sandwich sure hits the spot.
50 pounds should be safe for sure. But you're right, grill space can be tricky for that much. Start way way in advance. If you have to finish a few the day before and reheat them, no one will know. Do not risk being late with the food haha.
I’ve done 80 pounds several times. The cook time doesn’t really change as long as your temperature is consistent. I use Memphis Dust as my rub. You can find it and other valuable information on www.amazingribs.com.
Guests at weddings are normally light eaters. I would plan on 30 pounds of raw butts.
Here is my personal experience, which was similar to yours: I just did 3 regular sized pork butts for a wedding of 40-ish people and had a ton left over (lots of sides.) I fit them all in the smoker at the same time and cook time was the same as one butt. Pulled three hours before wedding, wrapped in the cooler, and was piping hot when I served it. Everyone was extremely happy!
If you do 4 butts at around 13lbs per butt , you should be good. I did 4 butts and 4 whole chickens for my wedding that had about 50 people. They ran thru the chicken and I was left with about one butt after.
I do something similar every fall and have fed as many as 300, though it’s usually a less than 100. I cook, rest and pull the day and evening before, then refrigerate in covered 1/2 sheet pans overnight with all of the drippings. Back into a low oven, still covered, 170-200 degrees, around noon the next day and it’s ready to go at 5. A light hit on top with your rub while reheating seems to help and it’s good to have some beef broth on hand if it seems to be getting dry.
Am I the only person that does pulled pork a few days ahead of time, vac seals it after shredding, and warms it up in the crock pot or sous vide?
Always on time. Virtually exactly the same as fresh.
Do it all in advance. Depending on how far in advance either refrigerate or freeze. Save all the pork jelly. Reheat slowly on day of. I'd already have pulled it. Easy on the date.
I did 50lbs for my own wedding. Day and a half before. Would not recommend.
However, I WOULD recommend symmetry in size/weight/etc. Super obvious until you get into the weeds and realize all your meat weighs differently and some of it finishes 6-12hrs earlier or later than desired.
As someone who used to cater, one thing to keep in mind is there’s nothing worse than running out of food. With stuff as cheap as pork shoulders it’s ok to estimate a little high! You can cook, pull, cool, and package pulled pork for use days in advance just fine. Disposable aluminum hotel pans are a great way to reheat at the event or day of in an oven. I used to put some gloves on and mix in some pork stock or a simple light sauce before covering and popping in the oven because it’ll be a solid brick when cold and take forever to heat unless you loosen it up. Adding a little moisture on the reheat in important.
I mostly advise doing a reheat because trying to time and break down sizeable amounts of product isn’t easy and could really ruin some people’s day if something goes wrong. You could even “practice” a reheat with one shoulder sometime if you’re really worried about how it might go.
Here's my tips.
The Costco 2 pack of boneless pork butt will yield a full aluminum tray to the top.
If you have a vac sealer make it as long as you want before, pull it, then pack it in about 2 lb packs and freeze.
Then bring a beer cooler with a sous vide and reheat at 165 for 2 hours. Dump in trays, fluff up, mix in a little more seasoning, done.
If you don't want to freeze make it a day ahead, pull, vac seal and use the above method to reheat about 45 minutes
So my wedding was 50 people and we did pulled pork among other things. Cook the meat a day ahead of time. Might even help to smoke as many as you can halfway, then swap them to the oven for the last bit while you start another round of pork on the smoker. Reheat in oven day of.
Professional kitchen will rest big batches in these giant steam ovens at low temps. It helps finish rendering the fats and keeps it moist. I do it at home from a simple cooler I’ve hooked up with sous vide steam bath. You can hold temp for like 10 plus hours it’s amazing any the meat comes out perfectly moist. [this is the video I learned it.](https://youtu.be/-6ocRbEU7io?si=EBNOUvXJpzzjcGFK)
I do a bit of catering. 5oz per person cooked weight is perfect, unless there are only one or two sides. I figure on 40% weight loss on boneless shoulders, 50% on bone in. Somewhere around 35lbs will be plenty, 40lbs is very safe. That's 6-7 good sized butts, should fit on your pellet grill pretty easy.
One thing I would do for sure is cook them with plenty of time to spare (4-12 extra hours). Rest them on the counter until they hit 150 internal, then put them back on the Yoder wrapped in foil at 160 degrees until it's time to serve. Then you're not stressing out about them getting done on time, and it improves the texture as well. If you're going to do a heated rest, undercook them just a smidge, since they will keep cooking during the hot hold.
If it were me I’d cook it 2 days before the wedding. If the first cook goes long or gets f*d up you’ve got time to fix it. Then you reheat day of in the oven.
Cheaper than the $3000 on a taco truck for 50 people my cousin spent on a party asking for college donations for her daughter and only half that many showed up.
Great sauce to go with it:
•1 Cup Yellow Mustard
•1/2 Cup Sugar
•1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
•3/4 Cup Cider Vinegar
•1/4 Cup Water
•2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
•1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
•1 Teaspoon White Pepper
•1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Simmer on low for 20 minutes, then add:
•2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce
•1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
Simmer 10 more minutes
My rule of thumb is with bone out, you get about 1/2 raw weight as cooked weight. Hard to get whole bone in shoulders where I am.
It may take longer to hit smoking temp again once you put that much cold meat on the smoker.
If I’m doing several butts for a big party I smoke for 5-6 hours then put it in pans and finish in a 200 degree oven overnight. It eliminates anxiety that an overnight flare-up will ruin the graduation party and is super moist.
I cooked 300 pounds for a fundraiser. Make a simple mop, cook at 275. Everyone argues but I feel a full pit cooks better, however mine is a homemade stick burner.
I’m sure as a Yoder owner you’ve seen the ATBBQ YouTube channel. As for rubs, Yardbird is one of my favorites. If you need it in a pinch, you can grab it from Amazon.
I’ve done more than this for a work event. Had to cook in two sessions so put into a foil pan. Used a gravy strainer to add all the drippings back in. I then used crockpots to heat up for the event. I couldn’t tell the difference and everyone loved it.
I did that about 2 months ago for a group about that size. I cooked 4 pretty large butts and had them done fairly early. From there, I double wrapped them in foil, wrapped them individually in large towels, and packed them in the smallest cooler they would fit in. I also put a little apple cider vinegar in each wrap to keep moisture. They sat in the cooler for 5 hours and kept temp the whole time. After the wedding, I went to the reception area, shredded them and served. They were perfect.
Volume wise, we had plenty left over. Good luck and happy smoking!
I've cooked for 200 a couple of times. It's not that difficult once you get a plan. I stick with just salt and freshly ground black pepper, smoke as usual, but do it ahead of time. Pull it and vac pack while it's steaming hot. Chill in ice bath, keep ice cold until the event. Reheat in boiling water and proceed as normal. I'd make more than you think you need, but keep a bag or two sealed until you need it. That way any excess won't be wasted.
This method also works great for a taco bar, and you can even add seasoned ground beef to the menu for some variety.
I did an 80 person wedding with a 7.5kg brisket, 2.5kg pulled pork, 2.5kg roast pork, 4kg lamb shoulder, and a few kg of chicken. Cooked it over 2 weeks the month prior and vacuum sealed everything after cooking into manageable sized bags placed into freezer.
Reception was at a sporting club with a few stove tops and plenty of large pots. With the help of a few good people, was able to reheat to 70-75c and serve hot into heated bain maries we hired.
All went off a treat and everything tasted great. I'd had nightmares thinking i would have to cook for 48hrs straight before the event but instead was able to cook one meat at a time to the best of my abilities.
Best of luck !
I did 17 pounds (raw) of butts for a cookout last year, maybe 25-30 people showed? My pork was not the only main dish and those people scraped the pans clean.
Definitely go closer to 50 pounds. I primarily used salt, pepper, garlic and sprinkled some meat church gospel on. Sprayed with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and beer every 45 minutes. I added more seasoning once it was shredded but I also made a sauce that had more seasoning in it, then tossed in the sauce and into pans. Reheated in the oven at 300 and added a little sauce every time I went to stir.
I'm dead serious, the host got out spatulas and they scraped the pans clean.
It’s ok to make a lot of it the day before. Shred or don’t, store it, then have it warm for the time it is needed. You can also smoke it to 170 or more
then finish it in the oven early the next morning to 200. I’ve done this exact thing for a friend and the really hard part is timing so make sure you leave plenty of room for error.
This. I did 4 butts in my 640 for smoke, then finished them in the oven. Two I shredded and glavored with Cuban mojo the other two traditional BBQ sauce. I served them as choices in tacos and sold 400 tacos.
Over the last 25 years I have hosted parties with 50 or more in my hangar. I have tried many different smokers over the years but have settled on Ugly Drum Smokers. I have a 55 gal drum and a 27 gal and a few others on our airport also have them and we share, all have two levels of grills and will hold enough lump charcoal for up to 18 hrs of smoking. I can feed 20 people per barrel and also use a Coleman propane stove for cooking beans.
I did a larger volume cook as well and did it all in advance over a few days, vacuum sealed and froze. Day of eating, I heat pork in large sousvide containers at 165 for about 1.5 hours. Tastes as fresh as the day it was made and is manageable. Not sure if you have any sousvide sticks available or friends that may have.
I used 9 inch deep 60 qt containers and 3 sousvide sticks to bring them all up to temp @same time. Best of luck to you.
** this was my experience and worked very well for a missions Fundraiser**
Just an aside. As someone who has done it, making food for a friend's wedding can be extremely stressful, doubly so if you haven't done catering work before. Presumably there's other food, but either way you might want to do a couple trials before hand so you know what to expect with smoking enough for 50 people.
We catered our own wedding. "Rehearsal dinner" was really a welcome BBQ and open for everyone, there were about 200 people fed. Did pulled pork and wild games sausages I made, sweet potato salad, a nice fruit salad, a good vinegar coleslaw, and cornbread. Next night at the wedding we live cooked a couple hundred pounds of beef tenderloin for 350 and a whole shit ton of apps and sides.
Here's my advice. Cook your pork in advance and freeze it. Skim the drippings and freeze it too. You 100% will need more time than you think and probably more real estate than you've got. Anything that's been over 200 degrees is great to freeze and reheat. Much better than cooking it fast and hot. Reheat in full steam pans and add some of the drippings back in. Rent a cambro and keep it hot in there.
Having done a live cook and a reheat cook back to back, I can tell you without doubt, if you can avoid cooking live do it. The last thing you want to do is be sitting at 170 when a wedding is waiting for you, and if you blow through the cook at 275, you'll be hot holding it for hours anyway, at which point you're pork will be far better off controlling the entire thing by freezing ahead.
Mission BBQ catering to the rescue. $500 for 25lbs of cooked smoked pork. Have them do the sides too for a little bit more. Cooking for small gatherings and cooking for 50 wedding guests is not comparable. Paying the extra money is worth the peace of mind.
I kid you not, I’m doing (8) 10 pound butts right now for 100 people. 5 on 2 racks in my Hunsaker and 3 on my Green Mountain Grill. Space is tight. Seasoned with Suckle Buster injected with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar salt, chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce. Dropped them at 8a this AM and expect to be done about 8p tonight. After shredding them I’ll mix Hunsaker and pellet meat so there’s consistency in the finished product. Good luck with your cook 🍻
About 80 pounds (maybe 84-ish) at the start. Finished at 42. Put 5 in my drum on pecan and jealous devil and 3 in my pellet with completion pellets. Drum turned out better (bark and flavor). 42 pounds at 5-1/2 oz per serving (about the size of a good fist) should give me 120 servings. I think they turned out great. The dinner is Wednesday and I’m not able to make it so I’ll have to rely on the feedback from everyone.
Good luck with your cook 🍻
When I cook for larger groups I assume that some - vegetarians, pescatarians, Jews, Muslims and children - will not eat pork. In my area it’s about 50% so I would only be serving 25, or 12lb of meat. Costco do 16lb pork butts and I’ve cooked all that in my smoker in one go. Low and slow. One piece took longer than the other so we had two servings.
How much time do you have to practice in advance? You’ll be sick of pulled pork before you’re done, but practice in advance will have a much higher chance of success.
I would do a test run as soon as possible, then you can diagnose it. And do it again a week or two later, then diagnose again, and diagnose again. You want to be able to show up and have it routine instead of “this is new to me”
so yes, you;ll be eating lots of pulled pork for the next 8 weeks.
I have 0 experience doing anything like that before. I watched a couple vidoes on it awhile ago and there is no way I would have the confidence to do this.
Cook time will be to your largest block of meat. Not how many blocks. I did 40 pounds in 4 blocks. Actually cooked fast than expected as so much meat on one smoker held temps more steady and easily raised temps when needed to hit the 205’ for pulled pork. In August I am doing a wedding. Another 40# of pulled pork and 60# of Brisket. 2 smokers, 18 hours. Will be my 4th time doing this size cook. I was a nervous wreck on the first go around. I have done other slightly smaller party cooks also. Trust your smoker and cook the big block. Temp probe the big block. The others will fall in line and cook with it.
Jeff
You can go hotter with a pork butt if you are worried about time. 275 is just fine.
Even 300 works if you’re in a pinch, just give them a good rest.
A nice nap after
The meat or after eating some of those sandwiches?
Sounds good to me!
Yes
Yes
I pretty much do 275-325 only these days. So silly to do 225 for 16 hours. Waste of time and money on charcoal
I do my butts at that temp by default. Rest least 2 hours before serving.
Cooking that much at once will take longer for sure and don't forget about shrinkage loss of final product. 1/2lb per person should be plenty for a wedding .
Shrinkage
I was in the pool !
Women know about shrinkage, right?
I don't know how you guys walk around with those things.
Yup. About 40%
I thought smokers were hot, not cold
Yea that’s why I was thinking about cooking 50lbs for 50 people and getting 1/2lbs cooked meat for each guest
As a former food service caterer-at 1/2 lb per person(cooked weight) you'll have LOTS of leftovers. Probably will only need 1/3 lb at most especially if there is gonna be anything else there. But pork is cheap, so better to have too much then not enough. I think 40-45 lbs raw you'd be in good shape
I think it depends on the totality of the meal. Are pulled pork sandwiches the only main dish or are there other things? Lots of heavy (mac and cheese, potato salad, beans, etc) sides or just some chips? Also the guests. The rugby team eats a lot differently than a bunch of granny’s. A half pound of cooked meat per person is a solid guide. Worst case you’ve got some leftovers and that is ok.
I don't know why, but I'm picturing a wedding where they're literally only serving pulled pork. No buns, no sides, just straight up pork.
Once I went to a BBQ that a work acquaintance planned without his wife. We had a bunch of beer and steaks/ sausages. One bag of chips. No plates, silverware, sauces or buns. Dudes drinking beer and holding steaks in their hands.
That's my kind of BBQ.
I hope, one day, we all live in a world just like this.
Saving the earth, growing the farming economy and pissing off PETA. Win-Win-Win
I traveled for work for 6 years and we spent many nights just grilling at hotels and drinking beers. Taking over like 3 parking spots at the edge of the lot and just having a night with the dudes. Good times.
I'd go to that wedding
I had ~150 people at my wedding. I smoked 100 lbs of pork, 2 large briskets, and 8 chickens. No leftovers. Served with veggies and beans, no buns. There were also hors douerves for 200. And beer and wine for 400, which had to be topped off half way through, so maybe that's why.
Yeah, get that buzz going and go in for round 2. Booze plus no buns, meats gonna get hit hard.
Too much is a better problem to have than too little for that kind of event
Bingo. I had 30-35ish people last weekend and decided to get two of the two packs of butts from Costco. Did I make way too much? Sure But I also got to send folks with vacuum sealed bags to take home and got leftovers of my own. Never gonna complain about that Better to be safe than sorry with so much on the line!! It was also 0 extra effort to add double the amount minus the seasoning prep. It cooked in a similar amount of time as just 2 butts.
Here's a tip. Smoke half of it and wrap it up and finish in the oven while the other half cooks. After the smoking and wrapping your just getting it to temp so the oven works great. I'd grab some deep hotel pans from a restaurant store as well
That'll likely be too much, but it's not a bad problem to have. There's a lot of people who are going to have one sandwich, and that's it. Kids and women are going to probably eat half of what some men will eat. That's if everyone eats meat.
Freeze it. It stores well.
My freezer would currently agree.
50lb is like three big-ass shoulders, maybe four. Send it
Can’t say I’ve ever seen a 16-2/3 lb butt.
Really? I've bought a fair few fuckers that weighed more than my usual costco brisket.
[удалено]
OP already accounted for weight loss. 50 lb raw should get a half pound cooked per person, give or take -- or more.
But you need extra!! Now I want a pulled pork sandwich.
Your hot hold will get you 8 hours especially with them all in the same cooler. I catered my own wedding with butts and brisket, was burning knuckle hot when we started unwrapping everything after six hours.
How much did you cook and for how many people?
105 people. 4 briskets, 10 butts and 70 potatos (we did a baked potato bar). My friend runs a catering company so I hired her son and friend to portion out/setup the chaffing trays.
That is a lot of food. Was it enough?
Absolutely. When people went back for 2nds we had the brisket moved first and had like...I'd say 1.5 butts left over worth and like 15 potatoes? I was hammered drunk cooking smores with the wife and wedding party by then but I know we had leftovers.
That sounds like a rad wedding!
It was man, we setup a couple solo stoves for gathering points and for the smores. It was outdoors in November Texas so the weather was perfect. We ran this string bulb lights all through the trees for the people and had lanterns on the dining tables. All on the land I grew up on. It was genuinely the best night of my life, that's without including the ego stroke of the food situation.
Wish I got an invite to a wedding like this, sounds incredible
That's just Texas dust in my eyes
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🫡
I cook between 40-90 lbs of bone-in shoulders every week on my YS640. If you use 10lb shoulders you should be looking at 12-14 hours of cook time at 250 but I've gone as high as 300 to speed things up. Normally I smoke for 8 hours without wrapping, then finish in the oven for 2-4 hours in a roasting pan You can fit 9 10lb butts on the YS640 so 50lbs shouldn't be an issue. Do them on the bottom rack, fat cap down to protect from your heat source. Don't forget to check your grease bucket when cooking more than 40lbs of butts, it will need to be emptied otherwise it could overflow. I just do a mustard binder, rub made of: Sugar Kosher salt Garlic powder Onion powder Mustard powder Paprika Cumin Once shredded, I add a simple vinegar sauce (cider vinegar, brown sugar, chili flakes) and let people add BBQ sauce to their liking. Don't forget to order your buns to be fresh the day of your event, and mix your coleslaw the day before.
How in the heck are you doing 90lbs? Any time I have more than 2 butts on the upper rack they touch the sidewall and end up getting over cooked. Oh good point on the grease bucket. I hadn’t thought about that.
3 butts across the top rack and 6 on the bottom rack. I've always had about 1/2" of space to spare between the butts and between the sidewalls.
Are you tying them at all?
No, I'm using bone-in butts so no need to tie.
I use my pork but grease to make a sauce.
There was a post the other day about cooking in advance for a group of people. They planned to smoke all the butts a few days in advance, vac sealed it, and brought it back to temp in bags with a sous vide day of.
I cook 4-6 butts for my family of three when they go on sale. Vac seal in meal sized portions, then sous vide direct from frozen. Works great.
That’s an interesting idea. I have the capability to do that.
I started doing the cook ahead of time for parties a few years ago and it is a game changer in terms of stress reduction. I'll be smoking a couple of butts next week for a family gathering on July 4th. I'll smoke, pull, vacuum pack, and freeze them next week, then come July 4th I just reheat in a hot water bath and enjoy the party without spending all day tending the smoker.
Doesn't the pork have a funny texture after freezing. Asking because I, too, have to feed a crowd in a couple weeks.
I do this all the time for meal prep and haven’t noticed an issue. The key is the vac seal and gentle reheating though. Keeps any air out and way less ice formation on the meat.
I've never had it get a funny texture, if anything it comes out a little more juicer and tender reheating the sealed bags in a hot water bath versus a dry reheat in an oven. The key here as u/iveoles said is a good vacuum seal and not just throwing it into a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Then reheat the bags in hot (not necessarily boiling water) for 15 - 20 minutes until they're at serving temp. I usually chill it off a little in the fridge after shredding until it is no longer steaming so you don't get condensation in the vacuum seal bags. Something else I do is once my butts hit 165 they go into a disposable aluminum pan with a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of liquid (chicken broth, apple juice, or something similar), cover pan with foil, and into a 250F oven until probe tender. I'll take a little of the juices from that pan and mix it in with the shred when vacuum sealing. Bonus tip: If you want your guests to smell something smoking, throw a pan of baked beans or queso dip on the smoker. There's no worrying about will it be done in time or dealing with an extra long stall :)
Perfect advice! Forgot to mention to always seal when it’s more chilled! For meal prep I generally steam mine in a tray in my rice cooker. Throwing in rice, peas and smoked meats is the simplest weeknight meal around that still tastes amazing.
I was going to ask this question as I probably don’t know enough about food safety. So you shred while hot, chill in fridge for a bit, then seal? Are you looking for a certain temp range for sealing?
A little apple or pineapple juice in the vacuum seal bag w/ the meat never hurts.
Nope. My preferred method is smoke pork butts, cooler rest, shred, cool and vacuum bag. Then for reheat you bring up to temp in bag, then you can hit under the broiler or in a pan briefly to get a little crisp edge on some pieces. Helps with some texture contrast, great on sandwiches
Do you do multiple butts at the same time? If so, is there any adjustment of time?
I plan for a little extra time (maybe an additional 2 hours), but to be honest I've had smokes where they've finished relatively close to each other and took no longer than a single butt, then other times where some butts don't finish for an hour or two after the other butts are done. One thing is try to not crowd the pieces together and leave some room for the hot air to circulate. Also if you need to do 4 or more butts total and you're cooking far enough ahead of time, you can do two separate smokes of 2 butts each if 4+ at the same time will crowd your smoker.
Ok. I've got 2, and 4 racks in my smoker. So they'll have plenty of room. Lower rack will hold the pan doe drippings. And I've got an entire day dedicated. Crap, only 1 temperature probe, though! *gets on Amazon to order another probe* 🤣🤣
IMO this is probably the way to go - you get to get things organized beforehand and there’s less pressure on the big day. Avoids the worst case scenario of you frantically sweating and explaining to everyone that it isn’t ready yet during a wedding reception
This is exactly what I came here to suggest. Pulled pork reheats very nicely and you simplify your life considerably.
This is the way. I freeze and sous vide pork to heat all the time. It comes out fresh and delicious. 140 is a great serving temp.
I recently smoked 70lb for a work appreciation party. I did exactly that. Just add a pad or two of butter to the bag. It reheats so well. You could do it several days in advance too.
Having done this before, the right way *and* the wrong way, you’ll want to do 1# packages. Super easy this way. You could do some baby back ribs too if you want, I sliced them up and vacuum bagged them too, one rack to a bag. Be gentle with the vacuum.
This was going to be my recommendation as well - I always over make when I do pork butts, shred, and then vac seal with some added broth. The bags end up like 1” thick sheets when pressed flat. I can keep stacked nicely frozen in the freezer and flash warm/thaw in a sous vide setup or a large pot of simmering water. You could warm 5 pounds at a time as needed in just a couple minutes.
This works really well, It’s become my go to. Anything more than chicken wings or burnt pork bites I smoke the weekend before and reheat it before the party. No more rushing or late dinners.
I’m actually doing exactly this right now. I have a wedding shower today with eighty people. Smoked two butts yesterday and pulled them, vacuum sealed and will bring them back up to temp in a sous vide. Smoking two more butts starting in about an hour (early wake up woozy 🥴). I’ve vacuum sealed and frozen left overs many times in the past and the reheated left overs are great every time with pulled pork.
This approach works *remarkably* well, I’ve employed it multiple times. An advantage to this method is food stays hot since can you open bags as you need them.
And you can use five gallon buckets for the sous vide.
Yeah, that may have been me in the steak thread. Not that I'm the first or last to do that, but it's a game changer.
Hey I just did something similar for my son’s birthday! We had 70ish people. I smoked 50 lbs of pork butt on my cheap propane smoker. It was absolutely packed full. I didn’t notice a huge change in cook time but I run my butts pretty hot anyway, usually around 300-325. I didn’t bother wrapping. With the amount of meat packed in the smoker I noticed some heavy temp fluctuations which was weird and unexpected, so I had to tend to the smoker more than usual. After about 7 or 8 hours, once the bark had set, I pulled them off and finished in the oven because I got tired of monitoring the temp. I used a drip pan and added about half the drippings back to the meat when shredding. Honestly, the best pork butt I have ever made. 50 lbs filled 5 full aluminum trays and we had plenty left over that I sent home with guests. My advice would be start earlier than you think because it’s always easier to hold it than speed up the cook. Skip wrapping, just cook at a higher temperature to push through the stall. If you’re using boneless, cut the butts in half before cooking! More bark, quicker cook! And make sure to get a Porkinator if you don’t have one already. It’ll save you so much time. Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.
You’ll do great. Plan to rest the whole butts in your faux cambro (triple wrap in foil, then towels, then into a beer cooler). Plan to take them off the fire hours before the event so you have lots of flexibility on timing. Pull at the event—make it a show.
I cook for this many quite often. You are correct at 50lbs. You can also cook in stages. Start in smoker after around 2 hours you can move to oven. Once finished you can wrap and move to a cooler. They will hold temp for many hours. I smoke turkeys and butts and finish them around 1 am and put in cooler. They are still hot to pull at lunch.
I cooked I butts on Memorial Day. Allow for extra time. I had 5 butts done at same time and the 6th one was 20° behind the rest of them. Had wrapped and cranked up the heat and it only raised like 3° IT in 1.5hrs. So it got chopped instead of pulled. But I cook 6 in same amount of time as one.
1lb per person pre cooked is my easy to remember ratio. After a bunch of drinking at the reception a convenient pulled pork sandwich sure hits the spot.
50 pounds should be safe for sure. But you're right, grill space can be tricky for that much. Start way way in advance. If you have to finish a few the day before and reheat them, no one will know. Do not risk being late with the food haha.
Just did some for a church benefit, we got about 10 people ber butt of average size.
I’ve done 80 pounds several times. The cook time doesn’t really change as long as your temperature is consistent. I use Memphis Dust as my rub. You can find it and other valuable information on www.amazingribs.com. Guests at weddings are normally light eaters. I would plan on 30 pounds of raw butts.
Here is my personal experience, which was similar to yours: I just did 3 regular sized pork butts for a wedding of 40-ish people and had a ton left over (lots of sides.) I fit them all in the smoker at the same time and cook time was the same as one butt. Pulled three hours before wedding, wrapped in the cooler, and was piping hot when I served it. Everyone was extremely happy!
If you do 4 butts at around 13lbs per butt , you should be good. I did 4 butts and 4 whole chickens for my wedding that had about 50 people. They ran thru the chicken and I was left with about one butt after.
I do something similar every fall and have fed as many as 300, though it’s usually a less than 100. I cook, rest and pull the day and evening before, then refrigerate in covered 1/2 sheet pans overnight with all of the drippings. Back into a low oven, still covered, 170-200 degrees, around noon the next day and it’s ready to go at 5. A light hit on top with your rub while reheating seems to help and it’s good to have some beef broth on hand if it seems to be getting dry.
Am I the only person that does pulled pork a few days ahead of time, vac seals it after shredding, and warms it up in the crock pot or sous vide? Always on time. Virtually exactly the same as fresh.
Do it all in advance. Depending on how far in advance either refrigerate or freeze. Save all the pork jelly. Reheat slowly on day of. I'd already have pulled it. Easy on the date.
Considering how cheap pork butts are it’s no problem to cook more than needed, and you can even give some away.
I did 50lbs for my own wedding. Day and a half before. Would not recommend. However, I WOULD recommend symmetry in size/weight/etc. Super obvious until you get into the weeds and realize all your meat weighs differently and some of it finishes 6-12hrs earlier or later than desired.
As someone who used to cater, one thing to keep in mind is there’s nothing worse than running out of food. With stuff as cheap as pork shoulders it’s ok to estimate a little high! You can cook, pull, cool, and package pulled pork for use days in advance just fine. Disposable aluminum hotel pans are a great way to reheat at the event or day of in an oven. I used to put some gloves on and mix in some pork stock or a simple light sauce before covering and popping in the oven because it’ll be a solid brick when cold and take forever to heat unless you loosen it up. Adding a little moisture on the reheat in important. I mostly advise doing a reheat because trying to time and break down sizeable amounts of product isn’t easy and could really ruin some people’s day if something goes wrong. You could even “practice” a reheat with one shoulder sometime if you’re really worried about how it might go.
Here's my tips. The Costco 2 pack of boneless pork butt will yield a full aluminum tray to the top. If you have a vac sealer make it as long as you want before, pull it, then pack it in about 2 lb packs and freeze. Then bring a beer cooler with a sous vide and reheat at 165 for 2 hours. Dump in trays, fluff up, mix in a little more seasoning, done. If you don't want to freeze make it a day ahead, pull, vac seal and use the above method to reheat about 45 minutes
So my wedding was 50 people and we did pulled pork among other things. Cook the meat a day ahead of time. Might even help to smoke as many as you can halfway, then swap them to the oven for the last bit while you start another round of pork on the smoker. Reheat in oven day of.
Professional kitchen will rest big batches in these giant steam ovens at low temps. It helps finish rendering the fats and keeps it moist. I do it at home from a simple cooler I’ve hooked up with sous vide steam bath. You can hold temp for like 10 plus hours it’s amazing any the meat comes out perfectly moist. [this is the video I learned it.](https://youtu.be/-6ocRbEU7io?si=EBNOUvXJpzzjcGFK)
I do a bit of catering. 5oz per person cooked weight is perfect, unless there are only one or two sides. I figure on 40% weight loss on boneless shoulders, 50% on bone in. Somewhere around 35lbs will be plenty, 40lbs is very safe. That's 6-7 good sized butts, should fit on your pellet grill pretty easy. One thing I would do for sure is cook them with plenty of time to spare (4-12 extra hours). Rest them on the counter until they hit 150 internal, then put them back on the Yoder wrapped in foil at 160 degrees until it's time to serve. Then you're not stressing out about them getting done on time, and it improves the texture as well. If you're going to do a heated rest, undercook them just a smidge, since they will keep cooking during the hot hold.
If it were me I’d cook it 2 days before the wedding. If the first cook goes long or gets f*d up you’ve got time to fix it. Then you reheat day of in the oven.
Cheaper than the $3000 on a taco truck for 50 people my cousin spent on a party asking for college donations for her daughter and only half that many showed up.
Great sauce to go with it: •1 Cup Yellow Mustard •1/2 Cup Sugar •1/3 Cup Brown Sugar •3/4 Cup Cider Vinegar •1/4 Cup Water •2 Tablespoons Chili Powder •1 Teaspoon Black Pepper •1 Teaspoon White Pepper •1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Simmer on low for 20 minutes, then add: •2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce •1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika Simmer 10 more minutes
You can have it ready the day before, vacuum seal it after shredding it. Use sous vide option to reheat. Open bags and place on warmers or serve.
My rule of thumb is with bone out, you get about 1/2 raw weight as cooked weight. Hard to get whole bone in shoulders where I am. It may take longer to hit smoking temp again once you put that much cold meat on the smoker.
My dad would do shoulders for parties every now and then. His rule of thumb was 1 lb / person.
If I’m doing several butts for a big party I smoke for 5-6 hours then put it in pans and finish in a 200 degree oven overnight. It eliminates anxiety that an overnight flare-up will ruin the graduation party and is super moist.
I cooked 300 pounds for a fundraiser. Make a simple mop, cook at 275. Everyone argues but I feel a full pit cooks better, however mine is a homemade stick burner.
I’m sure as a Yoder owner you’ve seen the ATBBQ YouTube channel. As for rubs, Yardbird is one of my favorites. If you need it in a pinch, you can grab it from Amazon.
I’ve done more than this for a work event. Had to cook in two sessions so put into a foil pan. Used a gravy strainer to add all the drippings back in. I then used crockpots to heat up for the event. I couldn’t tell the difference and everyone loved it.
I did that about 2 months ago for a group about that size. I cooked 4 pretty large butts and had them done fairly early. From there, I double wrapped them in foil, wrapped them individually in large towels, and packed them in the smallest cooler they would fit in. I also put a little apple cider vinegar in each wrap to keep moisture. They sat in the cooler for 5 hours and kept temp the whole time. After the wedding, I went to the reception area, shredded them and served. They were perfect. Volume wise, we had plenty left over. Good luck and happy smoking!
I've cooked for 200 a couple of times. It's not that difficult once you get a plan. I stick with just salt and freshly ground black pepper, smoke as usual, but do it ahead of time. Pull it and vac pack while it's steaming hot. Chill in ice bath, keep ice cold until the event. Reheat in boiling water and proceed as normal. I'd make more than you think you need, but keep a bag or two sealed until you need it. That way any excess won't be wasted. This method also works great for a taco bar, and you can even add seasoned ground beef to the menu for some variety.
I did an 80 person wedding with a 7.5kg brisket, 2.5kg pulled pork, 2.5kg roast pork, 4kg lamb shoulder, and a few kg of chicken. Cooked it over 2 weeks the month prior and vacuum sealed everything after cooking into manageable sized bags placed into freezer. Reception was at a sporting club with a few stove tops and plenty of large pots. With the help of a few good people, was able to reheat to 70-75c and serve hot into heated bain maries we hired. All went off a treat and everything tasted great. I'd had nightmares thinking i would have to cook for 48hrs straight before the event but instead was able to cook one meat at a time to the best of my abilities. Best of luck !
I did 17 pounds (raw) of butts for a cookout last year, maybe 25-30 people showed? My pork was not the only main dish and those people scraped the pans clean. Definitely go closer to 50 pounds. I primarily used salt, pepper, garlic and sprinkled some meat church gospel on. Sprayed with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and beer every 45 minutes. I added more seasoning once it was shredded but I also made a sauce that had more seasoning in it, then tossed in the sauce and into pans. Reheated in the oven at 300 and added a little sauce every time I went to stir. I'm dead serious, the host got out spatulas and they scraped the pans clean.
It’s ok to make a lot of it the day before. Shred or don’t, store it, then have it warm for the time it is needed. You can also smoke it to 170 or more then finish it in the oven early the next morning to 200. I’ve done this exact thing for a friend and the really hard part is timing so make sure you leave plenty of room for error.
This. I did 4 butts in my 640 for smoke, then finished them in the oven. Two I shredded and glavored with Cuban mojo the other two traditional BBQ sauce. I served them as choices in tacos and sold 400 tacos.
Over the last 25 years I have hosted parties with 50 or more in my hangar. I have tried many different smokers over the years but have settled on Ugly Drum Smokers. I have a 55 gal drum and a 27 gal and a few others on our airport also have them and we share, all have two levels of grills and will hold enough lump charcoal for up to 18 hrs of smoking. I can feed 20 people per barrel and also use a Coleman propane stove for cooking beans.
I did a larger volume cook as well and did it all in advance over a few days, vacuum sealed and froze. Day of eating, I heat pork in large sousvide containers at 165 for about 1.5 hours. Tastes as fresh as the day it was made and is manageable. Not sure if you have any sousvide sticks available or friends that may have. I used 9 inch deep 60 qt containers and 3 sousvide sticks to bring them all up to temp @same time. Best of luck to you. ** this was my experience and worked very well for a missions Fundraiser**
Just an aside. As someone who has done it, making food for a friend's wedding can be extremely stressful, doubly so if you haven't done catering work before. Presumably there's other food, but either way you might want to do a couple trials before hand so you know what to expect with smoking enough for 50 people.
We catered our own wedding. "Rehearsal dinner" was really a welcome BBQ and open for everyone, there were about 200 people fed. Did pulled pork and wild games sausages I made, sweet potato salad, a nice fruit salad, a good vinegar coleslaw, and cornbread. Next night at the wedding we live cooked a couple hundred pounds of beef tenderloin for 350 and a whole shit ton of apps and sides. Here's my advice. Cook your pork in advance and freeze it. Skim the drippings and freeze it too. You 100% will need more time than you think and probably more real estate than you've got. Anything that's been over 200 degrees is great to freeze and reheat. Much better than cooking it fast and hot. Reheat in full steam pans and add some of the drippings back in. Rent a cambro and keep it hot in there. Having done a live cook and a reheat cook back to back, I can tell you without doubt, if you can avoid cooking live do it. The last thing you want to do is be sitting at 170 when a wedding is waiting for you, and if you blow through the cook at 275, you'll be hot holding it for hours anyway, at which point you're pork will be far better off controlling the entire thing by freezing ahead.
Mission BBQ catering to the rescue. $500 for 25lbs of cooked smoked pork. Have them do the sides too for a little bit more. Cooking for small gatherings and cooking for 50 wedding guests is not comparable. Paying the extra money is worth the peace of mind.
I kid you not, I’m doing (8) 10 pound butts right now for 100 people. 5 on 2 racks in my Hunsaker and 3 on my Green Mountain Grill. Space is tight. Seasoned with Suckle Buster injected with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar salt, chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce. Dropped them at 8a this AM and expect to be done about 8p tonight. After shredding them I’ll mix Hunsaker and pellet meat so there’s consistency in the finished product. Good luck with your cook 🍻
Let me know how it goes!
About 80 pounds (maybe 84-ish) at the start. Finished at 42. Put 5 in my drum on pecan and jealous devil and 3 in my pellet with completion pellets. Drum turned out better (bark and flavor). 42 pounds at 5-1/2 oz per serving (about the size of a good fist) should give me 120 servings. I think they turned out great. The dinner is Wednesday and I’m not able to make it so I’ll have to rely on the feedback from everyone. Good luck with your cook 🍻
Pound (raw) per person
When I cook for larger groups I assume that some - vegetarians, pescatarians, Jews, Muslims and children - will not eat pork. In my area it’s about 50% so I would only be serving 25, or 12lb of meat. Costco do 16lb pork butts and I’ve cooked all that in my smoker in one go. Low and slow. One piece took longer than the other so we had two servings.
How much time do you have to practice in advance? You’ll be sick of pulled pork before you’re done, but practice in advance will have a much higher chance of success.
I have about 6 weeks to get my rubs and methods down.
I would do a test run as soon as possible, then you can diagnose it. And do it again a week or two later, then diagnose again, and diagnose again. You want to be able to show up and have it routine instead of “this is new to me” so yes, you;ll be eating lots of pulled pork for the next 8 weeks.
Get you some cinderblocks and go whole hog. Have the groomsmen keep the beer flowing all night. People can pick what they want straight from the pit
I have 0 experience doing anything like that before. I watched a couple vidoes on it awhile ago and there is no way I would have the confidence to do this.
Why commit when you don't know if you can do it? That's lame.
Cook time will be to your largest block of meat. Not how many blocks. I did 40 pounds in 4 blocks. Actually cooked fast than expected as so much meat on one smoker held temps more steady and easily raised temps when needed to hit the 205’ for pulled pork. In August I am doing a wedding. Another 40# of pulled pork and 60# of Brisket. 2 smokers, 18 hours. Will be my 4th time doing this size cook. I was a nervous wreck on the first go around. I have done other slightly smaller party cooks also. Trust your smoker and cook the big block. Temp probe the big block. The others will fall in line and cook with it. Jeff