Mobile bbq

[Yorkshire8]

Hi
Im thinking of doing mobile bbq at events and weddings. Obviousley alot of the meat will be pre cooked beore the event.
What is the best way to reheat the meat when stuck in the middle of a field?

[essexsmoker]

I'm gagging to do that too. I'm hoping to do an event once a month or something as a fun sideline.

[wade]

What sort of quantities/numbers are you looking at cooking/catering for and what kinds of food are you looking to serve - pulled pork/brisket like bulk foods or individually cooked items like burgers, sausages and chicken pieces. Also are you looking serve the food on pre-plated or as a buffet, or are you expecting to serve fresh individually - catering van style.

[wade]

To reheat the meat you are really looking for a field type oven that is either wood/pellet fired or gas or you would need a power outlet if you went for an electric heater. If you went for electric you could still use it remotely but you wuld need to have a good portable generator big enough to power it.

I do some outside events and to cook enough meat in bulk in advance and to keep it hot at the venue I have bought a Cookshack FEC-120. This is a commercial pellet smoker and is semi-portable. It fits nicely on my trailer. It also gives enough smoke smell in the air at the event to get peoples mouths watering. For additional BBQ/smoke aroma take a smaller BBQ (something like a GMG Davy Crockett) and put an AMNTS smoke generator in it and something like a belly of pork - just for the freshly roasting meat smell.

Don't forget that you will also need to cater for vegetarians.

[Yorkshire8]

Im thinking off doing brisket and pulled pork also slow cooked lamb (as i have a ready supply of them). Im leaning towards the cookshack fec120 instead of an offset. I allready do some events cooking burgers and sausage im going down the low and slow route to offer something different.

[essexsmoker]

Im I'm trying to develop a menu at the moment. I'm thinking gas fired dishes to keep warm.
I'm planning to do just 3 or 4 dishes really well,with good quality ingredients... I'm not thinking of splashing too much cash. Just keep it small and simple.

It's just a pipe dream at the mo. Just a bit of fun to start and see how it goes.


How much was the FEC 120, if you don't mind me asking?

[essexsmoker]

Holy cow. I've just seen 6000 usd. =/

Slightly out of my price range. Lol.

[Chris__M]

Further to Wade's suggestion, one of the good things about the Davy Crockett he mentions is that it will happily run off a car's cigarette socket, or - if you need more portability - a stand-alone car battery. However, it may be a bit too small for your purposes; although a the price they are, a couple of them would give you cooking space and flexibility.

[Vibe]

I would also like to do something like this as a side job/hobby.

The only thing is, without buying in bulk from good + cheap sources it doesn't seem that profitable.

Mind you, when I worked it out, I only worked out using pulled pork rolls as the product to sell with home made slaw.

It was a while ago but I think I worked it out as I could profit approx £10 per butt sold - so unless I was to sell 10 butts and then a few other things it wouldn't be worth it - even then how many hours of work will need to go into it for say £100 earnings.

If anyone else has worked things out and would provide the information that would be great as at work my mind isn't quite figuring things out again.

**EDIT**

Ok so very quick and probably incorrect math in my head was...

9lbs pork shoulder £25
12 buns - £2
Home made slaw - £5
Total cost for just this is £32

the 9lbs butt would provide enough to feed approx 9 people using 50% loss and 0.5lbs per serving

Selling this at £5 per roll would yield £45.

[Vibe]

Mind you, times by 10 so 90 guests would yield £130, once you throw in some ribs and Brisket and some chicken I guess it starts to add up.

I would love to see if anyone has already done rough (not as rough as mine though) workings out and can provide information on this?