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Bbqbrad

Cook
Joined
Aug 13, 2006
Messages
63
Location
Royston, Ga
OK. I cooked 6 butts for a school fundraiser. They told me 2 days before that they might have sold 140 tickets. I cooked 2 more butts, so 8 total. When I pull, that would feed around 160 plates. I chopped instead. They ran out at 100. they had to go to the local bbq joint and buy 2 shoulders.

Does chopping yield less volume?
 
I get 12 - 13 portions from an 8 lb butt with a 55% yield when I pull them.

What was the weight of the butts before cooking?

Sounds like you'd have needed 85 lbs uncooked weight to serve 140 x 3 servings per lb, that would have put each butt at 10.5 lbs, for the 8 butts.

Or 65 lbs for 4 servings / lb.

The other question that matters is, who did the serving, as maintaining steady portions is going to make or break your gig.
 
Since I can always eat the leftovers, I always want to be sure I have plenty, so I figure 3 servings per pound and 50% yield so I would have cooked 90 lbs of raw butt. Since butt size varies I always figure total raw weight rather than number of butts.
 
I would figure 1/3 lb per person min. At 50-60% yield , you should be in the 80-90 lb gross weight range . I'm guessing you were at an avg weight of 8 lbs per butt. Butts are cheap. They threw you a curve with the "tickets sold" thing, but DO NOT EVER RUN OUT OF FOOD!!!!
 
Good info for sure.

I can see that the math works but I am not understanding exactly how multiplying and dividing the variables envolved equals the raw weight to purchase.....exactly.

I am going to use the system whether I understand it or not. ;)
 
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