Cooking for 250 - HELP!

[ecowper]

I think your idea of baltimore pit beef is a good one. You can get round roasts pretty inexpensive. I think you might also consider beef barley soup so that you don't need as many sandwiches. Plus green salad, macaroni salad, beans of some kind for the sides.

I've cooked pork butt for 100 .... it was 4 big costco butts. but for less focus on you cooking and more of a communal event, I think I'd go with baltimore pit beef, beef barley soup, maybe a bunch of chicken quarters, and a bunch of easy, inexpensive sides.

[PBCDad]

Thanks ecowper, after talking it through with my wife, I think we're changing course only slightly and going with Italian Beef sandwiches. Same cut, same general prep, hopefully more broad appeal. Sides we're thinking beans and coleslaw, KISS.
Do you have a good recipe for beef barley soup?

[ecowper]

PBCDad I'll post my beef barley soup recipe later today :-)

[Thom Emery]

Ive used BBQ Spaghetti feeding the homeless
Your 12 butts with the added noodles
You could hit 250 easy
The noodle part would be easy to farm out

[scottranda]

Stagger your volunteer times!!! Some come in the morning to prep, some come to cook, some come to serve!

[tbob4]

I like the two day approach. With access to the Jambo I would go with pork butt the day before. I would get or cook ham and shave it. I would buy a boat load of pickles, buns and mustard. I would put the pulled pork, shaved ham pickles and mustard on rolls, wrap tightly and individually in foil. Heat the sandwiches in the BBQ and serve Cuban sandwiches with sides.

[SmokeyGator]

Check with existing shelters first. Churches have been shut down in south Florida for varoius (and unintential) health code violations. Rules for public food service are quite strict.

Not it saying it isn't possible. It is. You just have to deal with stuff backyard cooks don't have to worry about. So seek out the proper guidance from homeless outreach centers with experience. I don't see why they wouldn't be happy to help you achieve your goal without running afoul of "the man".

[Mark N]

If the commercial kitchen can handle it, you can do sheet pans of cornbread for a fairly low amount of money (made from scratch to lower the cost even more). Also, white bean and ham soup can feed a lot of people as an additional choice and can be saved and served again. Again, pretty cheap with dry white beans, onions, pork stock base and ham hocks (gotta have the bones) but not sure what your Church's kitchen can handle. I think you got some pretty solid suggestions in this thread. The difficult part will be choice and execution.

Good luck!

[ecowper]

Hey PBCDad ..... I usually cook soup by the seat of my pants, so to speak. But let me try and write down a recipe for you for beef barley soup. Also, see this post I did on it.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/soup-chili-and-stew/570043-smoked-beef-barley-soup

For a big pot of soup (like my typical big Dutch oven) .....

To make the soup:
2 lb (give or take) top round roast
1 medium yellow onion
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
4 carrots, roughly chopped
wrap celery/carrots in cheese cloth and tie
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
beef stock
red wine (like an inexpensive Chianti)

To finish the soup:
4 stalks celery, diced
4 carrots, diced
1/2 cup barley
beef stock
red wine

what to do .....

smoke the onion for about 30
smoke the roast until it gets to 155 +/-

chop the onion and dice the roast
Cook beef until browned, reserve
cook onion until wilted
Add garlic until aromatic (1-2 minutes)

Deglaze pot with red wine
Add beef, cheesecloth wrapped veggies, about 1/2 bottle Chianti and 32 oz, or so, of beef stock

cook for 2 hours (approx) until meat is tender, soup tastes right

Now remove the cheese cloth wrapped veggies

Add more beef stock and wine until you have the soup ratio that you like.
add the barley, the diced veggies, more stock and wine cook for about 30 minutes until barley is cooked and tender.
Immediately remove from heat and get it in the fridge to start cooling off. The longer that soup stays hot, the mushier the barley gets.

Reheat and serve 24 hours later. It’s waaaaay better after 24 hours.