pulled pork for 500

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Unity

Executive Chef
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Jun 24, 2006
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Virginia near Washington DC
Art's BBQ, a caterer out of Boyce VA, was feeding the crowd at a motorcycle dealer's open house in Fredericksburg yesterday. He's the caterer for all of that dealer's open houses (April and October), and I always make sure I get there early enough to get a food ticket.

I talked with Art and his crew for a few minutes. He cooked all butts, 190 lbs of them for 500 sandwiches.

The only sides he provided were beans or spiced apples. The outside meat on the pork was real tasty, a nice rub with a noticeable bite, and his vinegar-pepper sauce is good. He doesn't have a restaurant, but he cooks for the Clarke County Farmers' Market in Berryville VA every Saturday from May to October.

--John 8)
(In case you were wondering how much pork you might do for 500. ;) )
 
Unity said:
I talked with Art and his crew for a few minutes. He cooked all butts, 190 lbs of them for 500 sandwiches.

--John 8)

What were the portions like?

If you are chopping or add back a little of the fat, if you can yield 65% then 190 will just do 500 x 4 Oz portions!

If you are yielding 55% you will need 227 lbs for 500 x 4 Oz portions.

That 37 lbs of extra weight, or the extra 10% in the yield makes a noticable difference to the bottom line. ;)
 
SoEzzy said:
Unity said:
I talked with Art and his crew for a few minutes. He cooked all butts, 190 lbs of them for 500 sandwiches.

--John 8)
What were the portions like?

If you are chopping or add back a little of the fat, if you can yield 65% then 190 will just do 500 x 4 Oz portions!

If you are yielding 55% you will need 227 lbs for 500 x 4 Oz portions.

That 37 lbs of extra weight, or the extra 10% in the yield makes a noticable difference to the bottom line. ;)
They weren't real big portions -- a small handful. The meat was pulled, not chopped. Palm down, he'd scoop up a serving with his food-service glove and plop it on an average-size bun. The sandwiches I fix for myself at home have more meat. Just guessing, I'd say his didn't quite make 4 oz.

--John 8)
 
If he was using real pork butts, not picnic, shoulders, and all the other stuff they got labeled "Butts" in the store, then he was right on with his portions.. I think people get in trouble when they use other than real pork butts when they try to figure out catering proportions.. shoulders and picnics will get you in trouble every time
 
Bobberqer said:
If he was using real pork butts, not picnic, shoulders, and all the other stuff they got labeled "Butts" in the store, then he was right on with his portions.. I think people get in trouble when they use other than real pork butts when they try to figure out catering proportions.. shoulders and picnics will get you in trouble every time
Yeah, I asked him specifically if he was using only Boston Butts.

--John 8)
 
Captain Morgan said:
interesting, Bob


As casual I as come off in regard to cooking, I'm actually, or at times, more like AB.. I have smoked/ cooked meats, pre-weighed, then post weighed... I have found that Picnics, shoulders usually loose about 50-55% of weight... even had a shoulder a while back that went on at just over 18 pounds.. only yielded 8.5 pounds of meat... a brined, real Pork butts usually only loose about 30-35% of pre cook weigth.. a tip for those who do Turkeys for catering.. a brined turkey only looses somewhere about 18-19% of weight while cooking... unbrined turkey looses almost 30%... a simple brine, water, 3/4 salt, to 1 sugar; can be beneficial to the bottom line.. anything you add after that is a bonus in the taste department
 
Bob, I typically get 50% yield from a butt. I trim both fat caps off and go after the gland and I'm not worried about overtiming. I also try to pull every bit of fat off the finished butts. I buy butts pretty cheap and I'm not worried about the smaller yield, I'd rather have a leaner product.
 
Bob, I typically get 50% yield from a butt. I trim both fat caps off and go after the gland

Please tell me more about this gland. I could not find anything about this on the internet. Should I be removing that I am not???

Chiles
 
there's been a good bit of discussion about this gland
and it's effects...I don't remove mine till after cooking...
pretty easy to scoop it out then...never noticed any bad
flavors
 
I'm going to have to look a little closer at what I discard. If it does not look like something I want on my plate, I toss it. I'd rather be a little lean then not.

I'm still learning.

Chiles
 
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