Cooking 45 Steaks?

[ILMsmoke]

I've got to cook 45 steaks Tuesday night and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this. I typically use a pellet smoker to bring steaks up to temp and sear over coals or in a carbon skillet. I may have access to enough pellet smokers to bring them all up to temp have a 32 tray holding cabinet that i can hold them at 120 degrees. If this options is in play I'll do just that and purchase 1.5" steaks to smoke and reverse sear.

My question is if I'm stuck with option 2 which is a single gas grill and need to cook them all to finish on it. My thoughts then shift to 3/4" steaks and cook them hot and fast.

I was volunteered to take this task on by my employer which I'm fine with, I just will not know what I'm completely up against until tomorrow....

[Draznnl]

What about sous vide? 3/4” steaks for an hour. You can even do some med. rare and some medium this way as well as other donenesses if any are desired by your boss. I would do 6 or 7 steaks at a time on Monday. Ice bath. Refrigerate. Sear and bring to temp on the gasser Tuesday. The important thing is to make sure there is room between each steak for the water to flow.

Whatever you wind up doing, good luck.

[Troutman]

That's the ticket. You'd be surprised how many restaurant do just that.

[STEbbq]

Yeah, I was going to vote for SV as well. Is that an option?

[Oak Smoke]

Unless you’re doing this for customers or a sales opportunity I’d go with 3/4 inch steaks. With a hot searing grill you can cook them quickly without a precook. It’s hard for me to keep from overcooking 3/4 inch steaks. A couple of flips and they will be ready to go. Premix your SP&G in a large shaker before you start and you’ll be fine.

[texastweeter]

Or serve prime ribroast carved into steaks

[Bluetail66213]

Maybe use some rib racks to get them to temp first then sear at the hottest temp you can?

Another option would be the oven to get them to temp first. Efficiency will be key with whatever method you choose.
Hood luck!!

[Greygoose]

Buffet style set up or a sit down serve all at once ?
how many steaks can you fit on the grill ?
12 -3/4” steaks X 4 is 48” steaks,,,,
cooked pretty quickly,,,
just thinkin,,,🤔🤔🤔

[au4stree]

I’ve done beef for a crowd multiple times, one our favorite ways to do it is smoked ribeyes (~1” thick). We just serve them when up to temp, usually 135°F internal. The fat in ribeyes are forgiving, especially when you need to hold them. When you throw a bunch in pans and wrap in foil, some are going to carry well past 140°. Another option is cook tenderloins and just slice before serving, we did this at at a men’s church event (over 200+ people) and they were a huge success. We cooked the t-loins one both pellet smokers and our charcoal burners.

[hoovarmin]

I think we have identified the winner of the billion dollar lottery prize! 45 steaks, wow!

[ILMsmoke]

So, I spoke with everyone today and the host location is a new remodel and has a Wolf 36" outdoor gas grill. The expectation is to cook them all on that grill so the new grill gets used. They also want the steaks 1-1/4" thick. This is not how I cook steaks, but here we are...

[ILMsmoke]

This is the grill.

https://www.subzero-wolf.com/wolf/grill/36-inch-outdoor-gas-grill

[mrteddyprincess]

My opinion of how I would approach this cook is that I would dry brine, and sear a day in advance, safely place the steaks overnight in a fridge, then straight into a SV water bath the next day at 133 F for about four hours before meal time. Takes the pressure off having to do a production grill while people are waiting to eat.

If anyone wanted to ruin their steak, I would customize each steak as that request came in and throw the medium rare steaks onto the grill in real-time while they wait to have it converted to shoe leather.

Good luck! Make sure we get to see pics!

Brian

[Smoker_Boy]

Not everybody likes bloody steaks...

[Troutman]

When I was on a comp cooking team back in the 90s, we did pork steaks for up to 150 folks at a time but that was on a large offset. We loaded the bottom of the cooking chamber with charcoal and splits and feathered it out from one hot end to a cooler temp at the other. You have to have two folks doing an assembly line approach of flipping forward from cold to hot, set into foil pans then into a Cambro. I don't remember the exact amount at any given time but it was at least 20-25 steaks. We'd have a team assemble paper plate dinners with sides after that.

I realize you only have a gasser and you're cooking a different protein but you may want to incorporate the conveyer belt method during your cook. Doing SV first and searing at the end would still be my choice given your circumstance. Good luck, let us know how things turn out!!

[ILMsmoke]

Just to be clear, I do not have a SV and it is not an option.

[Greygoose]

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/content/uploads/2022/06/unnamed-3-2-1024x1536.jpg

Get some of these,,,
No stress,,,

[FireMan]

I’d call in sick.

[jfmorris]

I think I would just roll with the grill you got on site, and make sure you have a good instant read thermometer or two, and someone else to help you flip and check steaks for doneness constantly. Get a list of how many med-rare, med and med-well steaks they want, give no other options, and shoot for steaks to all be in that 130 (med-rare) to 145 (med-well) range. Throw them in 3 separate pans as they come off the grill to keep track. Or plate as you send them off. Whatever.

The biggest thing is even with a 36 inch 4 burner gas grill, it will be 3-4 batches of steaks. So to me the real question is, are they serving everyone at once, or plating steaks as they roll off the grill? And if all at once, how do you keep those first ones warm without overcooking them for a half hour while you do the rest?