Prepping pork

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Iso

Knows what a fatty is.
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Just had a cook for a local non-profit this weekend for 250+ people. Cooked a total of 19 briskets and 24 boneless pork butts. I don't normally cook boneless butts so they threw my cook times a bit off but it all worked out in the end with very happy guests. Next year I'll be adding a roman puller to my tool box. Pulling & chopping that much pork by hand is insane.

Anyway, next year they are planning a bigger event. I'll probably have to bring in another pit or two to handle the meat. I have a pretty decent trailer pit but even it has its limits.

I am looking for tips in prepping large quantities of pork butts. I have done boneless before in comps but spent a good chunk of time trimming and preening the butts before rubbing and cooking. With large quantity this just isn't time feasible. For this cook I rinsed the butts and cooked them naked at 300-350. The wet & windy weather made chasing box temps an all night adventure. After pulling & chopping I added rub and sauce for flavor. Is there a better way? I look forward to cooking for this group every year and just want to put out the best product I can.
 
When we've done our fundraiser cooks (only 2 now) the church council that we cook for is responsible for rubbing and wrapping or pulling the butts to give out. But that's been for 200+ butts. It take 4-5 of them about an hour to unwrap and rub, and then we pull the butts off the smoker in batches of 10 or so, and they wrapped and coolered them for pickup.

Point being, can you enlist some volunteers to help with that part? Otherwise, I'd invest in 3 or 4 bus tubs so you can rub 4-6 butts at once in one tub.
 
I haven't found an "easy" way to deal with 200+ pounds of pork. Last time I injected and lightly rubbed 202 pounds of pork and layered them in a couple of 120 quart coolers in large bags...poured ice over the top and shut the lid until 2 am when I started cooking. I cook 'em all in one shot, wrap if needed, and then cooler for a couple of hours. I still pull by hand and actually prefer it that way...I don't especially care for chopped pork and hate messing around with tools with greasy hands.
 
I have done over 200 lbs quite a few times being pulled pork is my No1 request. First I rinse meat and trim only what I have to if any, then I have a large cooler where I put a layer of butts in, sprinkle rub all over them, put another layer ,sprinkle rub all over, and so on, and so on. I don't wrap that much meat. Then when I pull the butts out I inject right before they go on the cooker. Works perfect ever time and fast Just my .02
 
I do not cook for the masses but enjoy reading this forum so forgive my ignorance...

Why inject for such large events? Don't get me wrong, I inject for competitions and sometimes for home cooks but the difference tends to me slight.
 
Jaskew82 said:
I do not cook for the masses but enjoy reading this forum so forgive my ignorance...

Why inject for such large events? Don't get me wrong, I inject for competitions and sometimes for home cooks but the difference tends to me slight.
Click to expand...

Quality. I like the church folks I cook for. :mrgreen: I have a reputation up there for my BBQ and it's worth the extra effort.
 
I do not inject for the masses. I rub 2 days ahead and toss in the walk-in in bus tubs. Same thing a wildly popular restaurant in my area does.
 
we mixed the rub in with some mustard when we were cooking for large #'s. Then hit the tops with more rub on the way to the smoker.
 
20 or 30 butts no problem...put in bus pan..rub ... smoker...once all butts are in..then each one gets 3 or 4 pumps...the bus pan catches the extra rub..the smoker catches the leakiing injection I can put 20 butts in the smoker..rub...inject and start smoking in 45 minutes ...safe serve does not recomend washing/ rinse meat..when done place in cooler and pull at your conveinence..cooler will hold temp for several hours..
 
At our church fundriser we deliver the foil wrapped whole butts from resting in the coolers to the servers as needed. Servers pull the butts right in the chafing pan just prior to serving. This keeps the pork hot and juicy and spreads out the work load very well. I do not inject.
 
I cook LARGE amounts of butts at a time every time I fire up. Usually 20 or so. I quickly trim fatcap and have a large container of injection next to me. I inject quickly and evenly in one pan, and move to a tub that they get the mustard in, then they transfer to a tub that they get rubbed in. Finally, they get piled into a tub for storage overnight in my bbq fridge.

I stake my reputation on every piece of meat I cook. I have had that mentality since I started cooking, and have never had complaints. Why not make every butt like it was a competition (flavor profile aside)? You will never serve a blah or so so product with that attitude...

Just my opinion, and I don't plan on publishing any cookbooks in the near future.
 
Great suggestions. I love Michigan Smoke's suggestion of using bins.
thank you
 
I use bins for small amounts of meat, and coolers for large amounts of meat. Hell, the one cooler I have I can get close to 200 lbs of butt in. Then into the walk in cooler at the bar. What's great about the coolers is a lot of meat can be carried to the pit in one shot.
 
Trim? Inject? Competition cooking for catering?

This is BBQ folks, let's keep it real.

As said, get yourself a couple bus tubs, fill 1 with rub and "roll" your butts thru the rub, takes about 15 minutes to rub 50 butts.

Here's a tub o briskets ready for smoke...
 
Last edited:
Just to reinforce what others have said... I also use bus tubs for prep. Process: Trim quickly (no more than a few seconds per butt), rub, then either store in the refrigerator/cooler or they go directly to smoker. If you have a couple people doing this you can prep a LOT of butts while the pit is coming up to temp. Unassisted mine takes a little over an hour to get to 275F. Enlisting help for pulling & serving is usually not an issue for charity cooks. YMMV... Cheers!!!
 
luke duke said:
My thoughts as well. There's a reason that restaurants don't really trim or inject.

Please tell me that you aren't using a syringe injector. If you are, you need to get/make one of these pronto
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1705646&postcount=2
Click to expand...



I've heard of a few restaurants that inject to add colume to the meat.
Anyone know if this is true. If I inject my butts, will it add volume and retain volume to the final product?

Also If you are a one or two man crew, it is easy to get busy, and get some of the butts overdone. I can see where injecting might give you a little cushion to that time frame.
 
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