Catering advice

[Elkhound]

I am thinking about accepting a job for 400+ people and need some experienced advice. How many people can you expect to serve from the average "BUTT". There will also be link sausage, beans and Cole slaw. If anyone has experience with how many BUTTs I would need for this type crowd, I am all ears.

 

[rbinms33]

I'm sure you'll get some other responses but here's my take on it. Typical BB is about 6-8 lbs. Subtract 25% from that for bone removal and fat rendering from the cooking. That leaves you about 4.5-6 lbs of useable meat. Depending on who you're feeding, use the following variable.

Grown men = .5
Couples = .33
Families = .25

Divide that into your 4.5-6lb butt and you can feed
9-12 grown men
14-18 people as couples
18-24 people as families

I've only fed up to about 100 people using this and it seems to work. I know 1/2 lb doesn't sound like a lot for one of us but considering you have sausages, beans and slaw to complement it, that's a lot of food.

I'm sure there are others with a lot more accurate formula than what you see here.

 

[jt]

Twice in May I smoked 4 butts for a couple events. I weighed everything at the first one so I'd have a clue as to how much I needed for the second. After cooking, deboning, pulling and tossing any extra fat I had a 47.35% yield. So once you figure out how many ounces of meat you want to supply for each person you can go from there. We figured 4 oz per person but cooked enough to have 5 oz per person. Also depends on if you're cooking other meats, etc.

I usually buy my butts at Sam's. The cryovacs run between 14 & 16 pounds and are cut into 2 butts. That said, they rarely are in half, so one will be around 9 pounds and the other one is 5 (or something like that). My point? The "average butt" doesn't exist. Take your ounces per person, multiply by number of people, convert it to pounds and then multiply by 100. Divide that by 47 and you'll have a target poundage for the raw meat.

This is just my experience. There are others here with much more than me.

I'm sure Chad will chime in here soon.


***Edited by JT to add the Sam's info***

 

[rbinms33]

After cooking, deboning, pulling and tossing any extra fat I had a 47.35% yield.

Sounds like I need to redo my formula.

 

[jt]

I know. I thought it was way off as well but I redid the figures (several times!) and came up with the same thing. It's gonna be different everytime, of course, since bones will be different, fat content, etc, but I figure going with a lower figure is safer.

 

[chad]

I figure 60% yield.

For 400 I would do about 225 pounds (raw weight). I figure 1/3 pound of pork per person. If you are doing multiple meats then 1/4 pound would definately suffice. If you figure 1/4 pound it would be 160 pounds raw weight.

If you're nervous go with JT's figures and get some quart and pint containers and sell the excess - I recommend $8 per quart and $5.50 per pint!

 

[Elkhound]

OK, I think I will take the job. Does not sound as bad as I was thinking. Just hope all these brisket loving Texans will give it a try before making a judgement. Personally I think the pork is better anyway !!

 

[brdbbq]

brisket loving Texans will give it a try before making a judgement. Personally I think the pork is better anyway !!

No arguments from me on that one. Pulled pork damn near unheard off around here. But I do pass on the slaw.

 

[frognot]

brisket loving Texans will give it a try before making a judgement. Personally I think the pork is better anyway !!

No arguments from me on that one. Pulled pork damn near unheard off around here. But I do pass on the slaw.

Another Texan saying pork is hard to beat! Ditto on pulled pork hard to find (i used to bring it back from Tennessee trips. However, this group got me making my own and next TN run this fall, i'm taking it TO Tennessee) :lol:

 

[midnight]

I use the 60% yield and figure 4 servings per cooked pound of meat. If making sandwiches I may get as many as 5 servings per pound but I still only figure on 4, that way I should have extra. After crunching my numbers on several jobs I have done, it seems to work out to about 3 servings per pound of RAW pork when doing butts. If not doing sandwiches then figure more meat per serving.