Graduation Party Help - Suggestions Please

[dante6969]

First, I have to thank everyone here for the great info on this site. I have been cooking on a Bandera for 3 years. With all the mods and techniques from this site, I have produced plenty of great Q that gets compliments all the time.

My son is graduating this month and he wants my brisket for the party instead of getting it catered – that’s my boy! I take it as a compliment and have no problem doing it. Since I usually just cook for small family gatherings of 10 – 12 people, I want to run my plans by you guys that have a whole lot of experience cooking for bigger events.

We know there will be 25 adults for sure and then my son’s friends that come – you know how 18 year olds are – he said he is inviting up to 20 but is not sure how many will be there to eat as they are making the rounds to parties that night.

With that info, I bought 3, 10-12 pound, briskets to cook on the dera. I plan to cook 6 packages of sausage, and have 24 hot dogs and hamburgers for people that do not want bbq. Also going to do a 10 pound shrimp boil (cannot help it – right off the boat from Galveston Bay).

Questions/ Thoughts

1. Plan on doing the briskets in the dera – high heat (275 – 300) - that morning and have them ready for a 6 p.m. dinner. 3 hrs to 165*, 2 hrs wrapped to 195*, then 3-4 hrs in a towel holding. Comments?
2. Do you think 3 briskets is enough with all the other food?
3. I am off Friday and can cook the brisket Friday so I have more time to set up for the party on Saturday, but I am not sure how to reheat. Any suggestions on heating it back up on Saturday if I go this way? Can I pull off at 170* on Friday, put in a cooler with ice, and finish on Saturday? Never tried anything like that – always eat brisket same day as it is cooked.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

[jbrink01]

and slice . Re-warm in a mixture of your favorite sauce mixed with beef stock in the oven.

[Jorge]

If you have the time to cook on Friday cook them until they are done, let them rest, wrap and place int the fridge. You can reheat on Saturday in the oven or start a fire in the Bandera if you want make it an experience for guests. Any juice you save from the brisket can be added back to the foil pack when you reheat them to help keep them moist.

If you have sides to go with the Q it sounds like you have plenty of food. Especially if you have some good red beans and rice to go with the shrimp!

[dante6969]

Thanks for the suggestions - I am leaning towards cooking on Friday and going with the cooking it complete, slicing, and reheating in the Bandera Saturday more to keep from heating the house up than the show of the Bandera.

[big brother smoke]

Originally Posted by dante6969

Thanks for the suggestions - I am leaning towards cooking on Friday and going with the cooking it complete, slicing, and reheating in the Bandera Saturday more to keep from heating the house up than the show of the Bandera.

I would also. You will not need the added pressure cooking on Saturday will pose. Trust me, been there done that!

[bowhnter]

I would probably reheat them whole and then slice on Saturday. My.02

[Mooner]

Dan, you will have plenty of food I wouldn't get anymore. Your briskets will shrink considerably but with everything else you shoudl be fine. Your plan sounds good although I have never tried to finish off a brisket after it's been cooked to a certain temp. The problem with that cut of meat is it dries out really fast so you might want to be careful. i would say cook the thing all the way through then reheat it the next day if you have to.

[The_Kapn]

You have plenty of food--baring "teenager" surprises.

I also would pre-cook the brisket to done and reheat on the party day.
And, that is simply to reduce the workload on "party day".
Your origonal plan would work fine--pre-cooking just makes it easier to enjoy the day!

"My son is graduating this month and he wants my brisket for the party instead of getting it catered – that’s my boy! I take it as a compliment and have no problem doing it."

Fine and smart youngster you have raised there

TIM

[nascarchuck]

All I got to say is... What's the address???

Sorry I can't give any advice though...

[thunter]

Don't forget to post your address... we will all have to come and sample the brisket to make sure you did it right! Right guys?

Tony

[dante6969]

Thanks for all the input, I am going to cook on Friday, leave the brisket wrapped and reheat and slice on Saturday. Might as well have a bbq cook party on Friday and then the graduation party on Saturday.

I don't know about posting the address, but I will post some pics.

Thanks again,
Dan

[SMOKEHUNTERS]

What temp would you reheat to on Saturday?

[BBQchef33]

if your cooking to complete on Friday, I would reheat to no higher than 130, or just hot enuf to allow the meat to slice well. Have a serving dish of warm au-jus and put the slices into the aujus as they come off.

[dante6969]

Finally, here are the pics from the party.

The brisket turned out great - almost all of the three whole briskets were gone and nothing was left of the shrimp boil.

The great suggestions I got on this site really made a difference - they were:

1. Cooked the brisket on Friday instead of the day of the party (Saturday)

2. After the briskets rested in a cooler for 3 hours, I opened them up, sucked the juice out and saved it, let them cool to almost room temp and then wrapped them real good in Suran wrap and then in two layers of foil and put them in a cooler with ice for the night. The next day I fired up the 'dera and heated them up to 140 slowly (still in the Suran wrap and foil). I then sliced and poured a little of the de-fatted juice back over them. It really came out great - you cannot believe all the complements from the adults and the kids. You had to be quick to get some with twenty-two 18 year olds in line.



Thanks again for the great suggestions.

[tumpedover]

Originally Posted by dante6969

Finally, here are the pics from the party.

The brisket turned out great - almost all of the three whole briskets were gone and nothing was left of the shrimp boil.

The great suggestions I got on this site really made a difference - they were:

1. Cooked the brisket on Friday instead of the day of the party (Saturday)

2. After the briskets rested in a cooler for 3 hours, I opened them up, sucked the juice out and saved it, let them cool to almost room temp and then wrapped them real good in Suran wrap and then in two layers of foil and put them in a cooler with ice for the night. The next day I fired up the 'dera and heated them up to 140 slowly (still in the Suran wrap and foil). I then sliced and poured a little of the de-fatted juice back over them. It really came out great - you cannot believe all the complements from the adults and the kids. You had to be quick to get some with twenty-two 18 year olds in line.



Thanks again for the great suggestions.

Nice looking grub bro!