We hosted our annual familiy bbq for 28 people this past Saturday.
A lot of prep work went into it which you can read about here
The menu was pulled pork, pulled beef, chicken, STL ribs, shrimps, 3 different sausages and bacon. For sides we made baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, coleslaw. Assorted greens were done by my aunt, veggies straight from the farm land.
For the pulled pork I smoked a Boston butt, my 1st time doing an actual butt, I was very curious how it would turn out. Pork and beef were started Friday night on my Traeger, pork rubbed with Oakridge comp rub, the beef with a homemade rub. 2 STL ribs were rubbed with Plowbow Yardbirds and Oakridge HDD, the other 2 with a homemade non-spicy rub. Chicken was dry-brined for 48hours with salt and homemade cajun rub. STL ribs and chicken were smoked on my stick burner. Shrimps were marinated for 24 hours and grilled on the Weber. They were GONE before I could take a picture.
Everything went very smoothly, the only hiccup I had was the fire in my offset dying when I was busy pulling pork/beef and slicing the chicken. But I had that going again in no time and the ribs didn't suffer AT ALL. People went crazy for the pulled beef/pork, the beans and m&c were such a success that people stuffed themselves with them. As a result, we didn't do the sausages, it was just to much food. We did grill a bunch of bacon later in the evening, that went over well with the drinking crowd.
The highlights for me, besides getting to spend a lot of time around my cookers and my family, were the PP and ribs. Pulled pork always makes me happy but the Boston butt was definitely a couple of steps UP from the usual cut we use (part of the shoulder). It was very moist with great taste. Both versions of the ribs were spot on, perfect bite and great taste. The spicy version with Plowboy and HDD combination was killer. We got a lot of praise from everybody and were asked to do a couple of catering jobs :crazy::shock: We'll have to think about . And I'm sure we're 'stuck' hosting the annual bbq for the foreseeing future.
Some info on the cooks, useful for my own (and maybe others) future reference:
Pulled pork on the Traeger at 250F - cooked for 16 hours including wrapping in BP - rested for 5 hours
Pulled beef on the Traeger at 250F - cooked for 19 hours including wrapping in BP - rested for 2 hours
Ribs on offset at 225-250F - cooked for 6,5 hours (due to fire dying)
Chicken on offset closer to fire box so higher temp - cooked for 2h15
A lot of prep work went into it which you can read about here
The menu was pulled pork, pulled beef, chicken, STL ribs, shrimps, 3 different sausages and bacon. For sides we made baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, coleslaw. Assorted greens were done by my aunt, veggies straight from the farm land.
For the pulled pork I smoked a Boston butt, my 1st time doing an actual butt, I was very curious how it would turn out. Pork and beef were started Friday night on my Traeger, pork rubbed with Oakridge comp rub, the beef with a homemade rub. 2 STL ribs were rubbed with Plowbow Yardbirds and Oakridge HDD, the other 2 with a homemade non-spicy rub. Chicken was dry-brined for 48hours with salt and homemade cajun rub. STL ribs and chicken were smoked on my stick burner. Shrimps were marinated for 24 hours and grilled on the Weber. They were GONE before I could take a picture.
Everything went very smoothly, the only hiccup I had was the fire in my offset dying when I was busy pulling pork/beef and slicing the chicken. But I had that going again in no time and the ribs didn't suffer AT ALL. People went crazy for the pulled beef/pork, the beans and m&c were such a success that people stuffed themselves with them. As a result, we didn't do the sausages, it was just to much food. We did grill a bunch of bacon later in the evening, that went over well with the drinking crowd.
The highlights for me, besides getting to spend a lot of time around my cookers and my family, were the PP and ribs. Pulled pork always makes me happy but the Boston butt was definitely a couple of steps UP from the usual cut we use (part of the shoulder). It was very moist with great taste. Both versions of the ribs were spot on, perfect bite and great taste. The spicy version with Plowboy and HDD combination was killer. We got a lot of praise from everybody and were asked to do a couple of catering jobs :crazy::shock: We'll have to think about . And I'm sure we're 'stuck' hosting the annual bbq for the foreseeing future.
Some info on the cooks, useful for my own (and maybe others) future reference:
Pulled pork on the Traeger at 250F - cooked for 16 hours including wrapping in BP - rested for 5 hours
Pulled beef on the Traeger at 250F - cooked for 19 hours including wrapping in BP - rested for 2 hours
Ribs on offset at 225-250F - cooked for 6,5 hours (due to fire dying)
Chicken on offset closer to fire box so higher temp - cooked for 2h15
