Sanity Check - BBQ for a Crowd

[Buck-i-Guy]

Full disclosure, I’m terrible at estimating how much food is needed for a crowd. In two weeks we’re hosting 50 people for my Sister-in-Law’s engagement party. We’ll bring in most of the sides, but I’ll be doing the bbq myself. For the most part I don’t know the people coming, but I’ve been told it’s about a 50/50 split between big eaters and not so big eaters (very scientific, I know).

Current Plan (weights are pre-cooked):
Pork Belly Burnt Ends (10 lbs) cooked the day before
Pulled Pork (24 lbs, 3 bone in butts)
SLC Ribs (8 racks)
Smoked Wings (10 lbs)

Plan is to use both my pits (Yoder YS640s and Engelbrecht Braten 1000). Does this seem like enough food? I can definitely fit at least one more butt and, if I use rib racks, I can bump up the rib count too.

[Jerod Broussard]

Just the butts alone you got will cover about 36 people with sides. I think you good.

[jfmorris]

I'm with Jerod on this one. I think you have plenty. I *always* overestimate the meat requirements, but also feel its better to have leftovers than not enough food for your guests...

[Oak Smoke]

I’d definitely have a plan for the leftovers like a vacuum sealer and some freezer space. That’s a lot of meat.

[bbqLuv]

You are on Amazing Ribs, so we know your BBQ will be fantastic.
The plan sounds good to me. Don't forget pictures

[LA Pork Butt]

The more variety of meats you offer the more of each type you will need to cook in order to avoid running out of any one type. You don know what each person will decide to eat. With four different kinds of meat there will be plenty of leftovers if you plan make sure you don’t run out of any one type. I would suggest narrowing the choices down to two. The burnt ends and wings are almost like appetizers. Here is one way to think about it. The ribs will cover about 2 per person. The Boston Butt will provide about 1/3 pound per person cooked. The burnt ends maybe 1/10 of a pound. If you figure the number of drumetts and wingetts in a pound that will give you the answer. I think my plan would be to cook more Boston Butt and if I decided to cook anything else use them as appetizers. Whatever you I cook I am sure folks will enjoy it.

[Buck-i-Guy]

Thanks. I’m leaning toward putting the burnt ends and wings out as appetizers (they should give me some time to get everything else ready). Then the rest out a bit after everyone gets here.

[Santamarina]

1/2 lb per person is typically sufficient. If you have a lot of sides you can get away with less. I’ve cooked for crowds that size many times and you have plenty of food, IMHO.

Although, barbecue makes outstanding leftovers, so it never hurts to toss on more meat if there’s room in the pit! 😎

[Clark]

Buck-i-Guy What do you have for those that can't/don't eat pork?

[Santamarina]

Clark Brisket is my usual non-pork meat. But we don’t have any pork-free friends, so I don’t give it much thought. We’ve done plenty of pork-only events and no one has ever gone hungry.

[Clark]

Not trying to argue, just curious since you stated "for the most part, I don't know the people coming."

[Bob's BBQ]

I think you're good - probably with some leftovers!

[Buck-i-Guy]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the guidance. I’ll make sure I post pics assuming I don’t put it in the ditch. And if I do Buddy’s Pizza is a phone call away.

[jfmorris]

I hosted an "I Do BBQ" engagement party in October 2017 for my oldest daughter, with 80+ guests, about 2/3 of which were college friends - i.e. hungry 20-somethings, and half guys.

I did 9 boston butts, and 20 pounds of grilled buffalo wings as an appetizer. The wings were gone in literally 15 minutes! We had 3 pans of pulled pork - 3 butts worth - that we never pulled out of the warming oven. The two crockpots we had the pork in for serving probably had another butts worth of meat between the two of them, so we ate just over 5 butts and 20 pounds of wings with 80 people, half of them hungry 20-somethings.

So I think with 3 butts AND all that other meat, you should be good. Expect the burnt ends and wings to go QUICK. Some folks don't want to use their fingers at a party and will stay away from ribs. Some will use buns for pulled pork - a few will just pile their plate up with meat, but it all evens out.

[texastweeter]

The ribs and buts are enough alone.

[bbq_esq]

Did you end up doing the burnt ends here?

[TripleB]

Have you ever cooked (Qued) for this many people before?