Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff

[canefan]

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

well, went and did something stupid didn't I...

At work, we are moving office locations and last day at our current location, the old Gladesville (former Mental) hospital for those Ferner's who live in Sydney, to a new location at Chatswood.

So we are having a Farewell to Gladesville\End of Year\Xmas\Holiday celebration for about 120 odd staff and hangers on.

We have decided to cater for this ourselves and I put my hand up on the meats.

So working through a menu, I have decided on...
Oven
A glazed ham

Spit Roast
9 kg lamb de-boned shoulder/legs (also halal because we have a lot of that in Government)
2 (~4 kg each) whole beef rumps (again halal because does it really matter to those who aren't muslim and its available and good quality)

Kamado Joe smoker
3 x (3-4 kg) Boston Butts
1x 9-10 kg Black Onyx Brisket

To cheat and add quantity, I am going to do an extra Boston Butt and small brisket in a slow cooker to supplement what I am doing in the K-Joe

The plan is:
Slice up the ham, lamb and beef rump to be served with rolls, salads (5 different types) and biryani.

For the brisket and Boston butts, I will be making 100 sliders of each. I have sourced 200 good quality small (25 g) slider roles.

The K-Joe smoked brisket when done will be separated, point from the flat, slice the flat and make very small burnt ends from the point.
The slow cooker brisket will be pulled or sliced depending on consistency.
I will then place a 3rd to 1/2 a slice of smoked brisket on the slider roll, followed by some of the pulled slow-cooker brisket topped by a little burnt end with some caramelized onion and fresh parsley on top.

For the pulled pork slider, the 3 smoked and 1 slow-cooker butts will be pulled and combined together. The salad maker is making an fresh apple slaw to go on top of that in the slider bun.

All needs to be ready to serve Friday, 7 Dec at 1 pm. I've worked out some timings as I've done heaps of briskets and butts but never that amount at the same time so I'm thinking things will be slower than if I was doing them individually. I really will be maxing out the space in the K-Joe. So for the smoked meats, I'm giving the 3 butts on the extender about 12 hours and about 20 hours for a brisket that size which will sit on the main grill area. Will smoke over something neutral, thinking of a mix of manuka chips and hickory.

I have all of Thursday off to prep and cook and I'm thinking it will be a long night.

I've done these meats and dishes or similar before but never in this quantity to serve this many people.

Looking for a sanity check, advise, guidance, recommendations or just plain tell me... WTF are you doing, are you crazy?

Cheers
Warren

No way you get all that in the kamado, unless it's one of those jumbo models mate. You might have to dip into the company petty cash account and get one of these for the occasion

Or better still one of these

[mariner4life]

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc You are going to be the work hero!

Will your Kamado do 20+ KGs of meat, mate? That is a lot of meat to manage.
That is the biggest worry, is if you have the gear to cook it all at the same time

unless he fucks it up, in which case he will be a pariah!!

good luck mate. I'm sure some if it will be fun, but you are going to be fucked when you finish

[RoninWC]

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc You are going to be the work hero!

Will your Kamado do 20+ KGs of meat, mate? That is a lot of meat to manage.
That is the biggest worry, is if you have the gear to cook it all at the same time

Hey @Hooroo, I have had those thoughts too.

I have previously several times cooked an ~8+ kg Brisket along with two racks of pork or beef ribs. It is surprising how much you can fit inside the Kamado Joe with the extender. I put the brisket on the main grill and then the extender is used for the smaller pieces.

Having that much meat in the Kamado does slow down the cooking time. I've done 8+ kg briskets which have taken 16+ hrs. I am giving myself 20 hours plus to cook this one. I'm giving the butts a 10 hour cook time.

Having articulated all of this, I am now thinking to do only 2 Boston Butts at one time and do it in 2 shifts all the Kamado. They should take about 10 hours each but it does mean the second shift will not get much, if any smoke unless I unload the whole thing, add some more wood and then back cooking again.

I will put the Butts into a foil tray on the extender grill lifting them a bit to keep them out of the fluid and to allow for air/smoke flow.

I think the best way is to keep to schedule is to wrap when the brisket and butts as soon as they get to the " stall", paying particular attention to the brisket as that will be the trickiest I think. It is one monster piece of meat.

The thing I am struggling the most with is timing on the spit meats. I've not done a lot of spit roasting, using my brothers spit and he always over cooks the meat. I've invested in a good digital thermometer to keep those under close watch to take off as soon as they hit the desired internal temps.

The other thing is that I will be using a faux Cambo to store and transport the meats from my brothers place to Gladesville and whilst that is fine for the brisket and butts, but not for the spit roasted meats which will continue to cook and go from a nice medium rare to a medium=medium well done which is not good.

Advice on slicing the spit roasted meats;

To slice before transporting or to slice once I'm on site?

So much to think about, WTF did I get myself into!

[RoninWC]

@canefan Oh how I wish. One day, one day.

[RoninWC]

@mariner4life said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc You are going to be the work hero!

Will your Kamado do 20+ KGs of meat, mate? That is a lot of meat to manage.
That is the biggest worry, is if you have the gear to cook it all at the same time

unless he fucks it up, in which case he will be a pariah!!

good luck mate. I'm sure some if it will be fun, but you are going to be fucked when you finish

A pariah, Hahaha, absolutely! It will mean that people will be paying their $25 for some rolls and salads. I know I wouldn't be happy if that was the case. We are also going to Costco and buying 20 BBQ chooks as well.

But yes, I've really put the testicles on the line for this.

That's why I am working through things in terms of planning as methodically as I can, trying to work through all the scenarios, cook times, where things might fuck up, etc.

Again, any advice, thoughts, poking of holes, etc., absolutely welcomed.

[canefan]

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@mariner4life said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc You are going to be the work hero!

Will your Kamado do 20+ KGs of meat, mate? That is a lot of meat to manage.
That is the biggest worry, is if you have the gear to cook it all at the same time

unless he fucks it up, in which case he will be a pariah!!

good luck mate. I'm sure some if it will be fun, but you are going to be fucked when you finish

A pariah, Hahaha, absolutely! It will mean that people will be paying their $25 for some rolls and salads. I know I wouldn't be happy if that was the case. We are also going to Costco and buying 20 BBQ chooks as well.

But yes, I've really put the testicles on the line for this.

That's why I am working through things in terms of planning as methodically as I can, trying to work through all the scenarios, cook times, where things might fuck up, etc.

Again, any advice, thoughts, poking of holes, etc., absolutely welcomed.

Better you than me mate. Sounds too much like catering!!

[antipodean]

Well outside of my competence.

[Hooroo]

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc You are going to be the work hero!

Will your Kamado do 20+ KGs of meat, mate? That is a lot of meat to manage.
That is the biggest worry, is if you have the gear to cook it all at the same time

Hey @Hooroo, I have had those thoughts too.

I have previously several times cooked an ~8+ kg Brisket along with two racks of pork or beef ribs. It is surprising how much you can fit inside the Kamado Joe with the extender. I put the brisket on the main grill and then the extender is used for the smaller pieces.

Having that much meat in the Kamado does slow down the cooking time. I've done 8+ kg briskets which have taken 16+ hrs. I am giving myself 20 hours plus to cook this one. I'm giving the butts a 10 hour cook time.

Having articulated all of this, I am now thinking to do only 2 Boston Butts at one time and do it in 2 shifts all the Kamado. They should take about 10 hours each but it does mean the second shift will not get much, if any smoke unless I unload the whole thing, add some more wood and then back cooking again.

I will put the Butts into a foil tray on the extender grill lifting them a bit to keep them out of the fluid and to allow for air/smoke flow.

I think the best way is to keep to schedule is to wrap when the brisket and butts as soon as they get to the " stall", paying particular attention to the brisket as that will be the trickiest I think. It is one monster piece of meat.

The thing I am struggling the most with is timing on the spit meats. I've not done a lot of spit roasting, using my brothers spit and he always over cooks the meat. I've invested in a good digital thermometer to keep those under close watch to take off as soon as they hit the desired internal temps.

The other thing is that I will be using a faux Cambo to store and transport the meats from my brothers place to Gladesville and whilst that is fine for the brisket and butts, but not for the spit roasted meats which will continue to cook and go from a nice medium rare to a medium=medium well done which is not good.

Advice on slicing the spit roasted meats;

To slice before transporting or to slice once I'm on site?

So much to think about, WTF did I get myself into!

I think it is admirable you taking on all this but I think you need to revisit the two cook thing on the Komodo. If the first one significantly over-runs you are a bit stuffed.

It's awesome doing so much of this type of food but maybe try and keep it to one cook and find other methods to cook the rest? How big is the spit? Maybe do a heaps of big cuts on there? What about Picanha, cheap tasty cut and easy to cook reasonably quickly in big chunks?

Not trying to put you off.

I'm tagging in @Crucial as I bet he has the ideal solution for cooking for this many.

[dogmeat]

@RoninWC I'd be looking to hire some equipment It seems like from a technical pov you have everything covered and the two dangers are lack of equipment and assistance.

So borrow or hire additional BBQ's and get some help in so that you revert to being the executive chef making sure that its all going to plan rather than running around like a crazy man and getting distracted.
Also more than one really good digital thermometer

Long slow cook with a greater margin of error is the way to go and you seem to have that covered I ran a few large BBQ's back when I was in Catering (Henly Regatta etc) and spit roast and slow cuts worked a treat for us. We did it on site and most of the time was spent sitting round knocking back a few cold ones. I wasn't doing it on my own though so seriously get the right gear and some help and you'll have a great time. Good luck
A fuck off white board with all yr timings working back from service so everyone can see the plan always helps too.

@Hooroo Did some picanha indoors on a griddle last weekend as it was monsoon season outside and it took me back to Buenos Aires. Possibly best steak I have ever had just with rock salt and cracked pepper crust for a couple of hours before cooking and checking the internal temp like a crazy person. Bloody magnificent cut

[Hooroo]

@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@Hooroo Did some picanha indoors on a griddle last weekend as it was monsoon season outside and it took me back to Buenos Aires. Possibly best steak I have ever had just with rock salt and cracked pepper crust for a couple of hours before cooking and checking the internal temp like a crazy person. Bloody magnificent cut

So did I, on Friday. It was magic over the coals. I am going to do it on skewers/rotisserie over coal next time rather than on the grill.

I can see it would be easy to overcook. I did mine to 120f and let it rest for about an hour. It ate like cake!

[dogmeat]

@hooroo snap - I had to look up what 120f was but that was exactly my target too

[Hooroo]

@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@hooroo snap - I had to look up what 120f was but that was exactly my target too

I'm sooo hungry, thinking about it!

[Crucial]

Ha. For me the key to catering numbers is all in having everything done well in advance. Only assembly or finishing required at the end.
I did do a friends wedding once where they wanted whole roasted Scotch Fillets to be sliced thickly like steak and the venue had no ovens.
Had to time cooking them at the restaurant the wrap in foil and drive to the venue at the right time while others organised the rest of the food. Was probably more fluke than plan that I got them pretty good (plus you have the option of having more done pieces on the ends for those that want them).
Only thing I can suggest is that you cook the meat to desired point once cooled then reheat gently but I admire your ambition and hope it goes well.

[RoninWC]

@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@RoninWC I'd be looking to hire some equipment It seems like from a technical pov you have everything covered and the two dangers are lack of equipment and assistance.

So borrow or hire additional BBQ's and get some help in so that you revert to being the executive chef making sure that its all going to plan rather than running around like a crazy man and getting distracted.
Also more than one really good digital thermometer

Long slow cook with a greater margin of error is the way to go and you seem to have that covered I ran a few large BBQ's back when I was in Catering (Henly Regatta etc) and spit roast and slow cuts worked a treat for us. We did it on site and most of the time was spent sitting round knocking back a few cold ones. I wasn't doing it on my own though so seriously get the right gear and some help and you'll have a great time. Good luck
A fuck off white board with all yr timings working back from service so everyone can see the plan always helps too.

@Hooroo Did some picanha indoors on a griddle last weekend as it was monsoon season outside and it took me back to Buenos Aires. Possibly best steak I have ever had just with rock salt and cracked pepper crust for a couple of hours before cooking and checking the internal temp like a crazy person. Bloody magnificent cut

@dogmeat all very good advice. I should go through all the equipment and help I do have at my disposal.

1 Kamado Joe
1 spit
2 x Gas BBQ's - one 5 burner and one 4 burner which came with a tray to add wood chips for smoking so I can do a form of low and slow in that as well
2 x Electric Slow Cookers
2 x good digital thermometers
1 x iGrill 2 with 3 probes and a grill probe

I have my Dad, a retired butcher to help with all the meat preparation. He will bone out and tie up the 2 legs and 2 shoulders of lamb. He will also trim the the whole rump and the brisket. I will also have my brother around to help out.

During prep, my focus while Dad is trimming and deboning the meat is to prepare the dry rubs and get the other various together to put on the brisket and butts.

My brother owns the spit, and I'm doing all this at his house as it is more convenient. He has done quite a few cooks using that and I've helped him several times. So I am making him "Spit Master"

So on the spit, I plan to put both beef rumps (around 4 kg each) plus 1 each of a deboned leg and shoulder of lamb.

The other deboned and rolled leg and shoulder of lamb will go into the gas bbq with the wood chips, again, thinking of using Manuka chips for that.

The brisket goes into the kamado of course and then I am pretty sure I can get 2 (3-4 kg) Boston Butts in with the brisket at one time.

The third (and maybe 4th) butt, what to do with them? I can try put them into the Kamado once the first 2 butts in their come to temp (which I am estimating to be about 10 hours). Or I can put them into the slow cookers and just let them do their thing in there.

To ensure consistency of flavour, I will use the same rubs and wet ingredients on the Butts for both the Kamado and slow cooker(s).

From past experience, a 9 kg brisket will take about 18 hours but I'm giving it 20 in my plan. And I plan to wrap it and the boston butts as soon as they get to the stall.

At all times, I will be carefully monitoring using the iGrill 2. The benefit of having 3 probes and a dedicated grill probe. The only real problem is that the iGrill 2 is Bluetooth only, rather than WiFi, so if you go out of range you lose connectivity and then in danger of missing an alert for either grill or meat temperature.

My Dad will come back on Friday morning to help prepare all the meats for transport.

This is where I am still undecided, to pre-slice the meats (lamb and beef rumps) taking advantage of my Dad's years of skill or, transport whole and slice when I get to the office?

The brisket and butts I will definitely transport whole because they will travel really well like that all comfy in the faux Cambo.
Once on site, I can slice and prepare the brisket and have someone else pull the butts. LOL

In terms of final prep and putting the sliders together, I have a heap of volunteers to assist with that but I was thinking I will only need 4, 2 on pork and 2 on Brisket, with me as "head chef" barking orders like crazed Gordon Ramsey as I am thinking I won't be getting a lot of sleep that night.

[Snowy]

@roninwc What could possibly go wrong?

Kidding - sounds like you have it well under control. As for your question - take the meat whole (how far away is it?) and take your Dad with you.

Maybe try to be more Jamie Oliver than Gordon Ramsey? Helpers might still like you afterwards. However you would get to say "fuck" a lot, and the whole nice guy Jamie thing can be irritating. Tough one.

[canefan]

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@RoninWC I'd be looking to hire some equipment It seems like from a technical pov you have everything covered and the two dangers are lack of equipment and assistance.

So borrow or hire additional BBQ's and get some help in so that you revert to being the executive chef making sure that its all going to plan rather than running around like a crazy man and getting distracted.
Also more than one really good digital thermometer

Long slow cook with a greater margin of error is the way to go and you seem to have that covered I ran a few large BBQ's back when I was in Catering (Henly Regatta etc) and spit roast and slow cuts worked a treat for us. We did it on site and most of the time was spent sitting round knocking back a few cold ones. I wasn't doing it on my own though so seriously get the right gear and some help and you'll have a great time. Good luck
A fuck off white board with all yr timings working back from service so everyone can see the plan always helps too.

@Hooroo Did some picanha indoors on a griddle last weekend as it was monsoon season outside and it took me back to Buenos Aires. Possibly best steak I have ever had just with rock salt and cracked pepper crust for a couple of hours before cooking and checking the internal temp like a crazy person. Bloody magnificent cut

@dogmeat all very good advice. I should go through all the equipment and help I do have at my disposal.

1 Kamado Joe
1 spit
2 x Gas BBQ's - one 5 burner and one 4 burner which came with a tray to add wood chips for smoking so I can do a form of low and slow in that as well
2 x Electric Slow Cookers
2 x good digital thermometers
1 x iGrill 2 with 3 probes and a grill probe

I have my Dad, a retired butcher to help with all the meat preparation. He will bone out and tie up the 2 legs and 2 shoulders of lamb. He will also trim the the whole rump and the brisket. I will also have my brother around to help out.

During prep, my focus while Dad is trimming and deboning the meat is to prepare the dry rubs and get the other various together to put on the brisket and butts.

My brother owns the spit, and I'm doing all this at his house as it is more convenient. He has done quite a few cooks using that and I've helped him several times. So I am making him "Spit Master"

So on the spit, I plan to put both beef rumps (around 4 kg each) plus 1 each of a deboned leg and shoulder of lamb.

The other deboned and rolled leg and shoulder of lamb will go into the gas bbq with the wood chips, again, thinking of using Manuka chips for that.

The brisket goes into the kamado of course and then I am pretty sure I can get 2 (3-4 kg) Boston Butts in with the brisket at one time.

The third (and maybe 4th) butt, what to do with them? I can try put them into the Kamado once the first 2 butts in their come to temp (which I am estimating to be about 10 hours). Or I can put them into the slow cookers and just let them do their thing in there.

To ensure consistency of flavour, I will use the same rubs and wet ingredients on the Butts for both the Kamado and slow cooker(s).

From past experience, a 9 kg brisket will take about 18 hours but I'm giving it 20 in my plan. And I plan to wrap it and the boston butts as soon as they get to the stall.

At all times, I will be carefully monitoring using the iGrill 2. The benefit of having 3 probes and a dedicated grill probe. The only real problem is that the iGrill 2 is Bluetooth only, rather than WiFi, so if you go out of range you lose connectivity and then in danger of missing an alert for either grill or meat temperature.

My Dad will come back on Friday morning to help prepare all the meats for transport.

This is where I am still undecided, to pre-slice the meats (lamb and beef rumps) taking advantage of my Dad's years of skill or, transport whole and slice when I get to the office?

The brisket and butts I will definitely transport whole because they will travel really well like that all comfy in the faux Cambo.
Once on site, I can slice and prepare the brisket and have someone else pull the butts. LOL

In terms of final prep and putting the sliders together, I have a heap of volunteers to assist with that but I was thinking I will only need 4, 2 on pork and 2 on Brisket, with me as "head chef" barking orders like crazed Gordon Ramsey as I am thinking I won't be getting a lot of sleep that night.

You could always finish some of the meat in the oven low and slow too if needed, once the meat has reached the stage where it will take on no more smoke

[RoninWC]

@canefan I was thinking of that but there are no ovens here on site so I would have to do that at my brothers place.

And that certain is an option to get the boston butts done.

Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers

[Hooroo]

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@canefan I was thinking of that but there are no ovens here on site so I would have to do that at my brothers place.

And that certain is an option to get the boston butts done.

Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers

Also remember if you wrap some of the big cuts in tinfoil and towels and put in a chilly bin, it will remain serving temp hot for hours and hours

[RoninWC]

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@canefan I was thinking of that but there are no ovens here on site so I would have to do that at my brothers place.

And that certain is an option to get the boston butts done.

Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers

Also remember if you wrap some of the big cuts in tinfoil and towels and put in a chilly bin, it will remain serving temp hot for hours and hours

Yup, a faux Cambro, got that covered! Nothing like a repurposed esky (chillibin) or two to transport meat.

I've got catering level aluminum foil from Costco which is brilliant for wrapping meats during a cook and for transport.

These days however, you are seeing more and more "pit masters" using brown butchers paper to wrap rather than the traditional foil.

[Hooroo]

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@roninwc said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:

@canefan I was thinking of that but there are no ovens here on site so I would have to do that at my brothers place.

And that certain is an option to get the boston butts done.

Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers

Also remember if you wrap some of the big cuts in tinfoil and towels and put in a chilly bin, it will remain serving temp hot for hours and hours

Yup, a faux Cambro, got that covered! Nothing like a repurposed esky (chillibin) or two to transport meat.

I've got catering level aluminum foil from Costco which is brilliant for wrapping meats during a cook and for transport.

These days however, you are seeing more and more "pit masters" using brown butchers paper to wrap rather than the traditional foil.

YEs and it isn't easy to get hands on. "Peach" paper is the most popular with those types.