Need a bit of help.........

[JSH]

Figuring for brisket and turkey for a wedding guys. I used to have a guide for a rule of thumb, but put it up so I would know where it is....................
Uncooked turkey and brisket, what is the rue of thumb for feeding a crowd. There will be veggie trays and burnt end trays.
I want to say I was thinking it was about 8 ounces of uncooked, untrimmed unboned meat.
Sides will be potato salad, slaw and beans. Desert, apple and peach cobbler.
Have 10 months to figure this out. Need to get busy building a new smoker.
jeff

[wills]

see if this helps
http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/16.html

[JSH]

Thanks wills. I figure to lose 1/3 weight to triming and cooking of brisket. SOund about right to the rest of you? Boss cooks brisket they way he did down south of here, doesn't go over real good with him. He leaves the fat on and cooks fat side up so as to render it down through the meat. I told him he is in Kansas now and folks don't like grease running down their chin. I kinda chapped him when I said there is a difference between juice and fat. His smoker is a complete mess, looks like he has had more than one grease fire in it, smells to high heaven of rancid fat when he opens the lid, then he is proud of it.......................yuk.

[BigSlick]

How many people gonna be at your shindig ?

Brisket doesn't need any trimming while you're smokin it, and damn sure don't trim down the fat or it will end up dry, unless you wrap it in foil, then it just tastes nasty.

I've smoked thousands of pounds of brisket in my time and every one of them I smoked fat side up. I never had anyone complain about it, including the judges in some of the cookoffs I've won.

Salt it real good before it goes on, but nothing else.

You do, however trim your brisket quite a bit after it's cooked. Smoke it at 230 degrees F until it hits 185 degrees F in the thickest part of the meat. Don't turn it, flip it or spray it with some foreign stuff. Just let it go with some hickory with a little oak mixed in to mellow the hickory a little if you are working with exceptionally good hickory, otherwise just straight hickory. Let it rest, covered (no, not wrapped in foil) for about an hour. A big roasting pan or dutch oven works great for the resting time.

Then seperate the flat from the point and cut it across the grain.

Your brisket a be perfect.

As far as grease running down your chin, if you trim your brisket correctly after it rests, there won't be a drop of fat left in it, and it will be moist as can be, tender too.

If your boss has a nasty smoker, he's just an idiot. Good smoker get better with age. You don't have to clean your pit unless it rains in it, or your drain is blocked. If you run too much smoke in it, while cooking, that will creosote your meat and make it bitter.

Here's a couple of pics of some I've done in the past. You can see how much is good eatin by the second pic. Point on the left, flat on the right. This was a 12 lb brisket cooked 17 hours with the outside temps in the 60's :




________
Golf

[wills]

There is brisket and there is brisket. The fatty ones in the freezer pack are worthless. I gave up on them long ago. Get a lean brisket, cut by the butcher. It will cost more and be worth it.

For appearance mix cooking oil, Kitchen Boquet ©. Tabasco sauce Worcestershire sauce and for color either paprika, chili powder or cayenne pepper and mop that on the brisket. I used to slice onions and lemons and stake the slices on top of the brisket, but decided it was not worth the trouble. NO SALT.

The lean brisket will still have a fat side, and the fat side goes up. Smoke it over Mesquite.

[fourarmed]

A lot depends on your smoker. Mine is made from the liner of a 75 gallon commercial hot water heater. It is connected at one end to the flue from a 55 gallon barrel stove, and to a chimney on the other end. I build a fire in the stove (I have lots of wood.), and put on the meat when the temp gets where I want it - about 250. For brisket, I use the biggest damned whole briskets I can get. I make some cuts into the fat side, and insert pieces of onion. I sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce, and let set overnight. I put them in the smoker fat side up for two hours, then wrap in foil for another five. Depending how windy it is, the temperature may rise as high as 300 degrees or even a little more. Doesn't seem to matter. They come out juicy and tender and flavorful. Trim off most of the fat and serve.

[Lloyd Smale]

you must not be feeding Lloyd. I can snort 8 oz of meat up my nose!!! BigSlick that brisket looks beautiful!!!

[BigSlick]

Thank you Lloyd

Around here we figure a 12lb brisket will feed about 5-6 people, *if* ya got ribs and sausage to go with it

Garlic cole slaw, red potato salad and a pot of pinto beans with some jalapenos, pickles and sliced onion on the side with a fresh loaf of bread.

It's almost magic, it will make beer disappear like nothing you ever seen
________
DOMANI

[fourarmed]

A neighbor of mine who is somewhat overweight was told by a nurse practitioner that when he ate watermelon, he should restrict himself to a quantity 1"x 4" x 6". His reply was "I get more than that on my shirt."

[Dark Helmet]

1/2 lb on the turkey is about right, brisket depends on how much turkey they'll eat! Cuts that don't have to be boned may do a bit better if they aren't fatty or gristly.Deli meats/sides 1/4 to 1/3 lb per serving, due to less waste.

P.S. If I'm there throw all of the above out the window! Portion sizes, that is!

[Bodydoc447]

Don't forget to add the folks that may "drop" by with or without and invitation. My BIL's first wedding had a clan of about 40 show up when 12 were invited. You can always eat left-overs later. Plan on what you calculate you need and then add about 20% as a pucker factor. That way the minister, organ player and folks from the church can get a little bonus, too.
A pound of (uncooked weight) meat and a pint of fixin's for everyone you invite generally covers the bases.

Doc