How much to cook to feed guests

[Welshdragon]

Hi all, Am having a BBQ party in a few weeks time but not certain how much meat I should cook. (I have a 22 inch weber smokey mountain, pit barrel cooker and normal weber BBQ. )

There will be about 20 adults and 12 young children.

Thinking of doing a brisket, pork butt, ribs and then some small stuff.

My guests haven't had BBQ for a long time so presumably will eat a reasonable amount. (In China not so easy to BBQ)

Any recommendations on the quantity of food I should be looking to cook?

Thanks

[jgreen]

I would target around 1lb per person. The ribs won't have a pound of meat, but then some of the young children will eat less.

[jfmorris]

I can only speak to pulled pork and pork ribs, not the brisket. I had several parties here over the summer and smoked Boston Butts each time. I'll smoke ahead of time, pull the pork, and put it out in crock pots on warm to serve and keep it warm during the party.

One party, 2 8 lb. butts and 24 adults - not a spec of pork was left. So I went bigger next time. We had an engagement party for my daughter, and I smoked 9 Boston butts - about 75 pounds of pork, precooked weight. With about 80 people in attendance, and 20 lbs of grilled wings out as an appetizer, we had 3 full butts left over that time. You can do the math, but the other answer is about on target - 1 pound of meat pre cooked weight per person sounds about right. And its always better as host to err on the side of having lots of leftovers than sending people home hungry from a BBQ.

f it were me, I would load up 4 butts in the Smokey Mountain, knowing they will take 12 to 18 hours or more depending on size and smoker temp, forget the brisket due to differences in cooking time and method (you don't want pork/beef dripping on each other in the WSM), and hang some slabs of ribs in the PBC. Any small stuff goes on the Weber kettle right before the party. If you really want both the brisket and pork, I would smoke the butts a day earlier, as pulled pork is very easy to reheat and serve in a crockpot or other warming device, probably more so than the brisket.

[kmhfive]

This!!!

[Mr. Bones]

What my other brother Morris said, above!^^^^
(My name is Mr. Bones, an' I endorse this method. :P)

[Welshdragon]

Cheers, for all your advice. Very helpful. I was wondering about the problem about beef and pork dripping on each other. I will go with your advice and cook pork butts.

[jfmorris]

Yep - when entertaining a lot of folks like that, simplifying the entrees from 3 to 2 makes it a lot easier. With 20 adults and 12 children, 32 total, you should be more than covered with 4 standard size 7-8 pound butts, and filling the PBC up with 8 racks of ribs.

[texastweeter]

cook about 1 lb of pork butt per person, or 1/2a rack of st. Lewis cut ribs. use the leftovers for carnitas.

[Mr. Bones]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!Carnitas!!!!!!
Drooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllll!!!!!!

[Dadof3Illinois]

I’ve found it’s better to have a variety. We cook fro 20-30 several times a year. Our last outing was a 14lb pork picnic roast, 2 doz chicken wings and 6 lbs of sausage. Plus we grilled some hot dogs for the kids just in case. That way most of the bases are covered.
You could do 2-3 chuck roast a 2-3 racks of ribs and som sausage on the PBC and kettle then some wings and dog on the gasser?

[EdF]

Yeah, I agree with that!

[kbremer]

My rule of thumb is.........3 bones of ribs per person. 1/4 lb of brisket and or pork per person. Cook at least 1 dozen hot dogs for the kids.....more if you like.........you will have plenty. A lot of kids will take some BBQ but you end up throwing it in trash. Save the BBQ for the adults........

[Welshdragon]

Cheers for suggestions. The pit barrel and smokey mountain, I am fine with the timings.

Just wondering about the order of cooking on the 57cm weber kettle- it has a slow n sear so will have 2 zones for cooking.

We are eating at 12:30. - if I do sausages and wings as the main meat on it.

How many chicken wings would you cook in one go - what time would you put them on. (Would you then have another load of chicken wings after you cooked say your sausages?)

Would you go with sausages after the wings as they cook quicker?

What kind of sausages would you normally use on the gril - pre-cooked so you are just heating them or completely raw sausages?


Cheers

[jfmorris]

On my 22 inch kettle when doing Wings I grill direct, but using Grillgrates. No SnS. I can fit about 6 pounds of Wings max if I fill the entire grate. Wings get turned several times and take 30-40 Minutes.

[Mr. Bones]

I normally use Jalapeño Cheddar brats, uncooked...
Not certain how many chicken wings ya' can get on a 57cm Weber, indirect...

[jfmorris]

For my daughter’s engagement party I had smoked all the pork the day before the party, and was up until 4am the day of the party pulling pork by myself. I started cooking 20 pounds of Wings about 2 hours before the party, and it took the Weber Kettle and my Weber 2 burner gas grill to get all those done by party time. I just put Wings into foil pans with lids as done, and stacked them in a cooler next to the grill, and they stayed plenty hot. Sent them into the house right as guests were arriving. You need medium direct heat for the Wings, and probably the full grate, not just the slow n sear. Plan on 5-6 pounds max capacity in the kettle, with 30 to 45 minutes per batch. Rotate and flip often.

[RonB]

A brisket is dooable if you want. Just smoke it in the kettle, (an SnS would be very helpful). Have it ready ~ 2 hours before the party, then cambro it, and then do you small stuff in the kettle.

[Welshdragon]

Cheers for all the advice

[DWCowles]

Cheers back at cha. 🍺