Cook Ideas

[RobinC]

I've agreed to cook for someone's birthday party but have sine found out it is for about 100 people. My biggest cook before was for circa 40.

Someone else is providing sides, a cold buffet and desserts so my focus is entirely grill/smoker related. Sausages and Burgers will be done on a gas bbq and I have an assistant who will do the necessary flipping/rotating.

I've got access to 2 18" WSMs, 2 22" kettles and a 26" kettle - so a reasonable amount of cooking space. I can do passable pulled pork & ribs. Given the numbers at the event and the equipment I have available any ideas on what to cook and the amounts to cook.

Edit: Also have a rottisserie attachment available for one of the kettles.

[British BBQ Society]

Yes you can, i would think about doing some pulled pork and maybe a couple of legs of lamb. If you can avoid the grilling aspect then i would try to. Depending on the size of pork joints and cooking temp cooking time can vary, but look at about 10 hours. I would allow 4 for the lamb

[RobinC]

In terms of the grills all I'm likely to do are some smoked cowboy beans plus a load of chicken breasts in different marinades. I do want to keep things simple but at the sametime have a bit of variety.

With the lamb are you suggesting low and slow that. I've done lamb several times indirect on the grill (with a nice pepper rub) and that typically takes about an hour

[British BBQ Society]

I would smoke it for a couple of hours, cover it in mint jelly and foil it. Always seems to be a winner, although fast rare lamb is a favorite of mine.

[RobinC]

- about half a mile away from home at a barn on a farm. Barn has a basic kitchen there is also car port type area for the grills/smokers to be setup. I've cooked their before so am comfortable with the location. Have access to the site the night before and don't need to be cleared away until the following day.
- mainly adults and mid teens
- sides are being done by the person who's party it is. Only one I've been requested to supply is cowboy beans (basically baked beans, worcestershire sauce, onion, ketchup, lardons, smoked) that I've cooked for her before. There is an american theme for the party though I don't think this is too strict. Sides include coleslaw, potatoes, salad.
- chafers are available at the site
- self serve buffet with hot food put into chafers
- passable pull pork = I've done this a number of times, get repeat requests of friends and family. Enjoy the taste of it myself but have never tasted pulled pork cooked by anyone else so no idea how good or bad mine is other than friends and familty seem to enjoy it.

Guests will start arriving at 7 ish. There is a band playing and they want to eat sometime between 8.30 and 9. I'm told that in addition to anything I cook there will be a selection of cold meats, as well as salads, veg etc.

At the moment my thinking is:

- Smoke a couple of butts starting early in the morning.
- Do the beans late afternoon/early evening and keep warm or reheat near serving time
- As mentioned someone else will do sausages/burgers
- Do the ribs so that they finish around 8.30 or so (thinking of 8 racks of baby backs)
- I was thinking of some roadside chicken breasts done on the grills

I've cooked for 40 or so a number of times and usually do a wider variety of stuff. I was thinking of trying to keep the number of different items relatively low this time but up the amounts. Have already come to the conclusion that there won't be enough ribs for everyone but would appreciate any advice on quantities.

[RobinC]

Many thanks for the reply. The tips on the quantities are particularly useful. Good luck with your own large cook

[RobinC]

Phew what a day.

Lit the smokers at 5 am. Served the food up between 9 and 10pm as requested. Cooked Butts, Ribs, Chicken, Moinks, sausages, burgers, barbecue beans and a few abts (for helpers only... cooks treat). Turned out that about a third of the guests were teenagers who weren't interested in eating anything just getting drunk on WKD as quick as possible so we were a bit over on the quantities but no one went hungry and leftovers were greatfully taken home by some.

Learned a lot on the day and throughout the process of putting this together. I spent a lot of of time before the day doing a cook plan (with a couple of what if this or that happens thrown in for good measure), the final plan pretty much worked with just a couple of bits that needed to be tweaked on the day. Other than getting a picture of all the BBQs I didn't really get a chance to take many photos but at least managed to keep a cooking log updated throughout everything.

Today - I am knackered....