Cooking in advance for festivals/events

[getyourrubonbbq]

Hello all,

Question, for those of you that do large events/festivals how far in advance do you normally cook your butts and briskets (if you do briskets)? I'm thinking of doing a 1 day event from 9Am-7PM and want to do my ribs onsite. I can't get there until 5AM to set up, I'll have plenty of time that morning to get several racks rolling, but did not want to kill myself with the butts and briskets.

Any advise/input would be greatly appreciated.

James

[5-0 BBQ]

I run my rig the night before. Then in the morning I will pan them up and put the meat in either coolers or in my warmer box.

[PCDoctor_1979]

Same here. I time things out so that the butts and briskets are done when it's time to put the ribs on. Butts and briskets can rest and go through final prep in the time it takes to cook the ribs. Might be a bit rough with a 05:00 setup time, but that's part of this crazy business!

[Ford]

My HD SOP's document my cooling, freezing, thawing and reheating processes so it's all legal for me. If I didn't have NSF fridge/freezer I couldn't do it here in MI. May be different in TN. I often cook and pull Wednesday to sell Saturday and it just lkeeps in the fridge. I can store about 30 full pans in each fridge. Can't sell that much thru my window in a day.

[bluetang]

My HD SOP's document my cooling, freezing, thawing and reheating processes so it's all legal for me. If I didn't have NSF fridge/freezer I couldn't do it here in MI. May be different in TN. I often cook and pull Wednesday to sell Saturday and it just lkeeps in the fridge. I can store about 30 full pans in each fridge. Can't sell that much thru my window in a day.
We are not doing this yet, so inexperienced question here: Am I understanding this correctly that you are cooking and then serving 3 days later? I don't have a safety concern here , but a WOF concern. Is there no "left over" flavor, Or is there a storage temp that retards oxidative rancidity?

[Gowan]

Allow me to decode for you...

Your health department has specific requirements for how fast you must chill hot food to what holding temps, and how long you are allowed to hold that food before throwing it out. There are similar requirements for going the opposite way; heating chilled food to safe temp and holding it for serving.

Residential refrigeration equipment typically does not have the capacity to cool big hot pork butts fast enough to meet these requirements, so most HD's simply demand that commercial kitchens only use NSF stamped equipment rather than try to do technical tests to see if your fridge/freezers are good enough. NSF is a testing organization that certifies commercial food prep products meet government requirements just like UL certifies consumer goods.

As far as the quality of the product, yes it will not be as good as it would be fresh from the smoker after a 12 hour cook, but it will still be quite good and more than adequate for vending. There is simply no way you can succeed at high volume vending unless you precook. Being able to re-heat to meet demand is the difference between staying profitable and financial disaster when you are at the whim of crowd attendance and weather.

[jbrink01]

I'm HD compliant, so I cook it a couple days ahead and re-heat on site in my FEC 500.

[Trucky1008]

I'm HD compliant, so I cook it a couple days ahead and re-heat on site in my FEC 500.

Are you pulling the butts apart prior to cooling or do they go in the fridge whole? Also, when reheating do you add any liquid (apple juice, water) to keep the meat moist, or is that not needed? Just trying to get a feel on how you reheat and keep moist. Thanks

[Gowan]

You'll have a better product if you hold off pulling until just before you use it. If you break down the butts in advance, you'll probably have to add some type of moisture to the pans of pulled meat to combat drying. Stock, AJ, even water will do in a pinch.

Our typical vending method is to bring pre-cooked butts wrapped in foil in coolers on ice. We take a big stick burner on an open trailer and reheat them onsite as needed, then take them out and chop them up in view of the public. Usually we'll prep a couple pans ahead, so you have the opportunity to reinforce the flavor with a fresh hit of smoke if desired by simply putting the uncovered pans back in the smoker.

The public sees big chunks of hot pork coming out of the smoker and being processed into sandwiches. As far as they know, you stayed up all night cooking on site. ;)

[jbrink01]

Are you pulling the butts apart prior to cooling or do they go in the fridge whole? Also, when reheating do you add any liquid (apple juice, water) to keep the meat moist, or is that not needed? Just trying to get a feel on how you reheat and keep moist. Thanks

When I vend, I use whole butts. When catering I pull ahead then add apple juice and rub. 265 degrees for a full pan for 2.5 - 3 hours to heat.

[Ford]

Our typical vending method is to bring pre-cooked butts wrapped in foil in coolers on ice.
this is illegal in MI. Need to check with HD in other States. Here we can only transport raw meat in coolers and can only have it it coolers for a max of 4 hours. To cook, chill and reheat here we must have NSF rated commercial fridges and freezers.

[jbrink01]

this is illegal in MI. Need to check with HD in other States. Here we can only transport raw meat in coolers and can only have it it coolers for a max of 4 hours. To cook, chill and reheat here we must have NSF rated commercial fridges and freezers.

Exactly why I have an NSF fridge on my trailer, NSF coolers in my shop and 2 NSF pits (FEC500).:becky:

[Gowan]

this is illegal in MI. Need to check with HD in other States. Here we can only transport raw meat in coolers and can only have it it coolers for a max of 4 hours. To cook, chill and reheat here we must have NSF rated commercial fridges and freezers.

Well that sucks. The HD has never given us any grief here.

Unless you power your reefers while under way somehow you'd have a less-safe condition than using ice if you transport any significant distance. Sometimes HD regs are pretty dumb!

[jbrink01]

Well that sucks. The HD has never given us any grief here.

Unless you power your reefers while under way somehow you'd have a less-safe condition than using ice if you transport any significant distance. Sometimes HD regs are pretty dumb!

I power mine under way in my trailer. I LOVES MY HONDA generator!

[Gowan]

I power mine under way in my trailer. I LOVES MY HONDA generator!

How do you handle the exhaust? Do you mount the genset on the tongue outside the trailer?

[Jacked UP BBQ]

Cook ahead freeze, re heat from frozen on fec 750 comes out great. You will never have hd problems if your food is frozen when they temp it. If you are not set up to legally precook and they require it, you are not going to be able to keep up with the food you will need. This past weekend we sold 40 cases of ribs, 15 cases of pork, and 7 cases of brisket. If you have the cooker to do all that onsite and keep up god bless! Also cooling it all on site and properly handling it.

[PCDoctor_1979]

I use a strap to fasten my Honda generator to the back bumper of the truck when traveling. Never had an issue.

[jbrink01]

How do you handle the exhaust? Do you mount the genset on the tongue outside the trailer?

I did. It works well!

[jbrink01]

I use a strap to fasten my Honda generator to the back bumper of the truck when traveling. Never had an issue.
Mine is bolted to the tongue.

[HBMTN]

Cook ahead freeze, re heat from frozen on fec 750 comes out great.

Jacked Up, how many lbs are you freezing in one pan and how long does it take to get from frozen to 165 degrees and at what cook temp? If ya don't mind me asking, we're going to do our 1st festivals next month and that info would come in handy.

Thanks

Ruben

[FatBoyz]

ok i would check with your HD and see what the inspector wants. here we have the ruld you must eather buy it from a suplier or you must cook an site the day of or cook in a sertified kitchen. also some inspecters will not let you just cook and try to freeze. also some will say you have to hold it all warm the hole time. so call the HD and ask the inspector what he or she is looking for. If you know what thay want then you wont get shut down and that is what realy madders right... have fun vending

[Jacked UP BBQ]

Jacked Up, how many lbs are you freezing in one pan and how long does it take to get from frozen to 165 degrees and at what cook temp? If ya don't mind me asking, we're going to do our 1st festivals next month and that info would come in handy.

Thanks

Ruben

I have never weighed pans before to an exact amount. I have weighed pans doing inventory and I would say I put anywhere from 10-13lbs in a large pan. I heat up at 300 for about an hour I would guess. I never put a time on that either. But that would be my guess.