Hi folks! New to the forum here and have learned a lot from just the posts! I just want to see if I have this right. I'll be doing the cooking for some friends and want to know if this sounds right. The menu is as follows. 75 lbs pig 5 butts 6-8 lbs 6 slabs of spare ribs 6 chickens 3-4 lbs 1 whole brisket 14 lbs (never done one so more for me)
I figure with dinner to start around 6 p.m. I'll start the night before with the brisket maybe round 10pm? add the butts a couple hours later and then the ribs 4 hours before everything is done do a Texas crutch when they stall. Once they hit 195 keep them wrapped and hold them in an oven at 200. Cooking temp in the Q will be 210-225.
Put on the pig (300 for temp) Add the chickens an hour and a half before the pig is done.
A couple of questions here. Does the timing sound about right? Will holding the other meat foiled in an oven (200) for the cook time of the pig dry out the meat or otherwise be a problem.
I have cooked all of these before but only individually. It's going to be a hell of a project and I am quite excited at the challenge. Any input from you folks would be great!
I'll try to post a pic of the smoker...it's awesome!!
USE YOUR HISTORY WITH EACH ITEM TO DETERMINE CURRENT COOK TIMES. FER INSTANCE IF A WHOLE HOG COOKS IN 8/9 HOURS THEN I WOULD ALLOW SAME FOR THIS MEAL AS ANY OTHER. UNDERSTAND BRISKET IS NEW TO YOU BUT I USE SAME GUIDELINES FOR BRISKET AS PORK BUTT. JUST ALLOW TIME DIFFERENCE TO COMPENSATE FOR WEIGHT .. FOR ME A 12 LB BRISKET COOKS IN 12 HOURS TO 200 INTERNAL AND AN 8 LB BUTT IN 8 HOURS. NO NEED TO CHANGE TIMES UNLESS ITS HARD TO RECOVER TEMPS IN THE SMOKER AFTER BASTING OR FRESHENING UP RUB APPLICTIONS. HAVE FUN AND TAKE NOTES FOR NEXT COOK. I AM SURE FRIENDS ARE PLEASED WITH CURRENT ABILITY TO COMMIT TO SUCH A WIDE VARIETY OF A MENU..A LITTLE TABLE DECORE HELPS
locate billy in Red Keg, michigan - half way between Paradise and Hell
Sounds like quite the challenge. As Billy said, I tend to fall behind when cooking a variety due to opening the pit more... not sure what your cooker recovery time is. I think I would give myself more than 1-1/2 hours on whole chickens at the end even at 300 just to be sure. If cooking all night at 210, you don't leave yourself much time to finish butts and raise pit temp to get pig on in the morning. It is much better IMO to have some rest time than to rush the cook at the end. Holding butts and brisket all day @ 200 seems excessive and maybe some of the "experts" that cater will chime in. I know that a cooler full of roasts @ 195 (covered with towels/newspapers if big cooler) will stay hot to the touch for 3-4 hours without much problem.
-John Keepin' it smoky in *Sweet Home Alabama* with Lang, Stumps, and Weber cookers
Thanks very much for the advice. I think I have the timing down but will defiantly take prudogs advice and start a little early. It's a good point that it is easy to get behind the eight ball as it were.
What do you all think of the hold time? Would a 6 hour hold time in a 200F oven with the meat foiled kill my efforts? I just don't want to have it get low enough in temp to cause the bad bugs to grow.
http://www.barbecuenews.com/forum2/faq.asp use the image syntax you will need to put the photo on a server then link to it such as photobucket, picasa, flickr or similar site. Look forward to seeing some photos.