I Got Asked To Cook The Barbecue.....

To me, being asked to cook for this kind of celebration is the best compliment I can get - congratulations for being asked to do the gig! I did my sons' graduation rehearsal luncheon for 60+ last week. Pulled pork sandwiches & chicken. I cooked 6@8 pound butts after trimming some thick fat that made 2@3-1/2 deep full sized foil pans after pulling and 60 pieces of chicken quarters, plus a full foil pan of slaw and a full foil pan of beans. Too much pulled pork and chicken (had a full pan of pulled pork and 28 pieces of chicken as leftovers); just right on the sides. So, I'm thinking 4@8 pound butts and you will be in good shape.
 
Are the butts the main dish or will there be other meats? I cooked 3-8# last week for 50 but they had a ton of appetizers and there was plenty of pork. Everyone enjoyed!
 
I would say you should be good with 5-6 butts based on my experience. Should be able to make at least 15-20 sandwiches per butt and thats being conservative.
 
It all depends on how hungry they are and how good a cook you are. I cooked for a group once and picked up extra as I don't mind leftovers. I had 1.5lbs per person cooked weight and they cleaned me out. The scary thing is that half were women and children. :shock:
 
Based on an assumption that it is 50/50 boys to girls, and that there are healthy boys.

I am going to say figure on 1/2 pound finished per person (normally I would figure 1/3# per person, but, that assumes a spectrum).

50 people x .5 pounds = 25 pounds finished meat total.

assuming 40 percent loss in cooking

25lbs x 1.6 = 40 pounds raw pork (assuming bone-in)

Assuming 8 pounds per butt, you would need 5 butts.
 
My kids (three beautiful girls) when they graduated had a lot of boys show up and those guys ATE. I would use a teen male multiplier of x2.5
 
I use a standard formula of 12 people per butt, which would mean 4 butts for 48, since it is your only meat I would add one for safe measure for a total of five butts.
 
dwfisk said:
Big eaters - thats about 1 pound of finished pulled pork per person!
Click to expand...

Not when teenage males are involved...

pahutchens said:
My kids (three beautiful girls) when they graduated had a lot of boys show up and those guys ATE. I would use a teen male multiplier of x2.5
Click to expand...

See?
 
I would go with 5 butts if they are around 10 lbs each. It might not hurt while you are at it and toss on some Kielbasa Sausage ( 7 -8) with some of your rub for the last hour or so. That is always a winner IMHO.
 
5 or 6 butts at 8 pounds each will be right on target with some extra for you to take home. Always better to have too much than not enough. It's the + after the 50 that can be scary!

Good Luck!
 
The 40 to 50# uncooked weight sounds about right to me, just wanna throw in that it may not be a bad idea to have a box of hot links or something like that on hand for backup - if you're running low they cook real quick. If you don't need 'em, just chuck 'em in the freezer for later.
 
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