I'm providing the bbq pulled pork for my moms birthday party next week. Her surprise 60th.. 50-60 people

I've never cooked a large piece of meat before, but I've agreed to tackle this monster

So we bought 75lbs of pork shoulder from my brothers work because he got a huge discount. That was the lowest quantity they would sell at, and was actually cheaper than one 25lb one at the the butcher. I'm expecting it to be broken up between 3-4 shoulders. My plan was to take the largest one, approx 25 lbs and roast it in the oven. After previous experiences and reading up on it, this is my plan.

Oven temp 225 F
Get meat to room temp
Remove all skin if needed and majority of fat/arteries found on outside of meat
Salt-pepper-garlic-mustard-dry rub seasoning on whole thing
Shoulder uncovered in oven
Place on turkey rack with a drip pan
Base every 3hrs with a water/dry rub/worshier sauce mix
Bake until internal temp 190-200 (12-20hrs)
Raise temp if needed to brown/bark outside
Remove and let set for 2hrs
Pull apart and immediately light amount of bbq sauce
Chill 1-2 days
Heat it up day of party by putting it in disposable container + apple juice and covered with foil. Oven 350F
Serve with bbq on the side.

Opinions and suggestions welcome.

Thanks

25 pound shoulder? Damn you guys have huge porks in america.. almost like cows lol...
Around here a shoulder is around 12 pound...

Also there's no need to get them to room temp, actually at this size it would probably take over a day to really get to room temp. Sure you can let it hang around 1 or 2 hours before cooking but its not gonna do much.

If you're gonna make pulled pork with the whole thing i would cut them into smaller pieces, idk like 3-4 pound pieces.. it's gonna reduce your cooking time tremendously.

Edit; if you want 200f internal temp and use 225 f degree oven it's gonna take like forever (maybe over 24 hours).. because air is a terrible temperature conductor.. you probably want to use higher temp, like 250-275...
Anyway i wouldnt worry about int temperature, just stop the cooking whenever the meat is soft and pulls apart...

This post was edited by hofx2 on Jul 14 2017 04:47pm

Thanks for the info. Yeah I'm not sure what size increments the 75lbs will come in. The 25lbs was just my estimation. I'll consider splitting it up, this would allow me to get more flavor through my rub

Good point on the internal/oven temperature. I still think I'm going to target an internal temp of 190-200 since I don't want to constantly be trying to pull apart the meat during cooking. Plus I don't want to risk taking it out too early.

It's pretty easy to spot when it's cooked. Basically press on the middle, if it bounces back it's not ready, if you finger go through easily it's done.

legit advice from a pro roaster

Got everything seasoned and I'm gonna put it in the oven tomorrow morning. The 73lbs came in 4 packages- each one having 2x 8-10lb hunks. I have to cook 2 hunks at a time.

If pic is rotated it's because I'm on my phone

You need to cook them in 4 batches? Are you using a home oven? If yes, and if you are not cutting them i guarantee you you won't be able to cook all of them in 1 day lol

Also i want to say, put waaay more rub on those, don't forget you want to season the whole 10 pound piece, not just the surface. And don't be shy on the salt..

This post was edited by hofx2 on Jul 19 2017 10:01pm

Agreed with hofx2 the pro roaster you need to cut them down into smaller pieces unless you want to serve medium-rare pork

I need to cook them in 2 maybe 3 batches. Gonna cook 40lbs and see how much that yields before I decide to cook another 10lbs.
I put a crap ton of seasoning on, more than you can see. I just didn't season they fatty side as much.

Cutting them down is not gonna fly since they're bone in. But the party isn't until Saturday, I've got plenty of time to cook 3 batches. Assuming they take around 12hrs each.

This post was edited by joshd21 on Jul 20 2017 05:10am

6.5 hrs later and we're at 160 internal temperature. Had to go back to work but I think it'll be fine until I get off (2.5 more hours)