How Many Ribs?

[bep35]

I am thinking about cooking for a larger group of men (say 30 to 40) and need an estimate on how many ribs (St. Louise) I should plan on each person eating? There will be some sides such as smoked beans, coleslaw, bread, and possibly bars for dessert. Will be cooking on a PBC. Will that be big enough?

[DWCowles]

I would say an average of 4 ribs per person

[Dewesq55]

4 ribs is 1/3 rack of SLC's. I would figure 1/2 rack per person, so 6 ribs.

[DWCowles]

I'm a pretty good size man and I can't eat a 1/2 rack plus the sides

[ecowper]

Meathead's Last Meal Ribs recipe says 1 slab for 2 adults. I have found that it's more like 1 slab for 4 adults will mean everyone doesn't get quite as much as they want and you have no leftovers, or 1 slab for 3 adults will mean everyone gets as much as they want and no leftovers. My wife and I always make sure there are generous amounts of sides and so the typical plate ends up with 3 ribs on it, plus baked beans, coleslaw and at least one on other side. We often grill some chicken or flank steak as well, just to cover all the bases. We make sure we have generous sides, including baked beans or Mac n cheese, coleslaw, green salad, fruit salad and potato salad. We also have plenty of snacks before dinner while people are mingling, chatting and having a beer or soda.

If we set the get together up like that, I buy 1 rack of ribs per 3 adults (side note, I count kids under 10 as 1/2 adult, kids over 10 as adult). If I was going to cook for 30-40 adult men, I would say that I needed 12, or so, racks of ribs. A PBC, from my understanding, can cook 8 racks of ribs. My WSM can cook 12 racks in rib stands, but I'd probably only do 8 on the WSM and the other 4 on the Hasty-Bake.

This is a typical table and plate at one of our backyard shindigs. At this one we had 10 adults and 2 kids, I cooked 4 racks of ribs plus a flank steak and some chicken because some folks don't enjoy ribs a whole lot.

[Breadhead]

Sounds like a good plan.👍

[ecowper]

Breadhead we normally do 4-6 backyard extraganzas each summer (Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, plus 1-3 others, depending). My wife is a fantastic meal planner. I actually asked her opinion before posting this to make sure I had it right. We will have 10 to 25, depending.

[ecowper]

Last year for our son's graduation party, he requested backyard BBQ ... Did pork butts, brisket, chicken and sausage. Fed 100+ teenagers. We bought all the sides cause that was a wee bit much too handle, by our norms.

[bep35]

Great information! Thanks everyone!

[ecowper]

Hope it goes well, love to see pics and read about the cook when it happens.

[Mosca]

Just yesterday, one rack fed 3 adults with no leftovers, so I would say that ecowper is exactly right.

[HorseDoctor]

If I have no leftovers, I always wonder; did someone not get enough???? Leftovers area good thing!

[Mosca]

Ha! I made FOUR racks of ribs! Three of us ate one rack, and I took the other three to work, where they fed 9! Probably could have made another rack for work...