Butt weight per guest

pargolfr2003

pargolfr2003

New member
OK guys, need a little help on this one and I can NOT screw this up as it's an important day. Planning on smoking a butt for my daughter's graduation party later this week. Will have approximately 20 people. How big of butt should I get? Am I better off getting one large one or a couple of smaller ones. If I go with multiple butts how does that translate into cooking time? I'm going to try Greg's brine then inject method.  I'll say thank you in advance as I'm sure you guys will come through like you always do.
 
I think two 7# butts will do the trick.  They should smoke in the time needed for one butt of this weight, so for 7#, I would allow 1.5-2 hours per pound at 235F for an IT of 195.  Be sure to also include 2 hours for the rest period in a cooler double wrapped in foil before it is time to pull the pork.
 
On a pork butt you can figure about 40 percent loss, so to keep with an 8 lb. butt you will loss 3.2 lbs with 4.8 lbs meet. I would allow about 1/3 lb. per person.

Hope this helps.

Greg
 
For Memorial day I did two 7.5 lb butts for 16 people.  There was little left over but certainly not as much as I expected.  We also used a mixture of buns and tortillas and I believe the tortillas contributed to more meat being consumed.  Just start them way early and let them rest prior to serving.  You are going to have a big hit on your hands when they eat.    Good Luck
 
Tim,
Assume 1.5-2 hours per pound. I would suggest a very good probe thermometer. If you have those elements you will be fine. I would suggest wrapping at 150-160 then cook to an internal temp of 200. Once completed wrap for one hour. You will hit a home run. Dont forget a water pan.
 
Whenever this subject comes up I see so many different answers.  I think a lot of it has to do with ones party throwing style.  At my parties there are lots of appetizers and beverages.  The meat seems to go a lot farther and everyone leaves stuffed.  If people walk in the door and it is dinner served, it is a whole other story.
 
Young, hungry males can eat an awful lot of pulled pork but I hope you have a vacuum sealer just in case!
 
pargolfr2003 said:
So I got to the store and just couldnt resist buying the 13 pounder. Wish me luck!
Click to expand...

You sure it's not a 2 pack??  I'm in hog country, and I've never seen a 13 lb butt!  WOW!!
 
Hey guys, Sorry for the late response. Daughter's graduation party, ceremony and subsequent trip to NYC has had me task saturated for the last 10 days or so.  Anyway, here's the deal: it was labeled as a Boston Butt in the packaging, I was in a bit of a hurry so didn't really look at it that close, but when I got it home and unwrapped it discovered that it was quite obviously a picnic. So I brined it up and smoked it. It was a 13 pounder and it took about 19 hours at 235 to get it to 195 IT.  Wrapped in foil then a towel and rested in a cooler for 2 hours. Here's where it gets interesting, when I pulled it I only got about 4 pounds of meat which I didn't expect. Luckily, I did this the day prior to her party so I had time to go back to the store, grab a 8 pound Boston Butt and smoked that too. Both turned out great and my guests were none the wiser. Apologize for lack of pics on this one but it was mayhem around here.
 
Even though it was a picnic, I'm surprised at the weight of the cooked meat!  The picnic does have a lot of bone, but I would have thought that a 13 pounder would have yielded at least 7-8 lbs of finished meat!  Can't figure this one out... ???
 
Yeah Tony I was pretty perplexed by that too. Luckily I had time to recover and save the day. Naturally I had no problem cranking up the smoker and throwing in another slab of meat.
 
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