[n2fishn]

Bump one last time and up-dated

$$ donation for the KS Mega


Just want to say a BIG thanks to everyone giving a donation to this years Mega gathering for the meats.
We have collected a good amount of $$ that will make sure we have the main course covered
to feed everyone and then some.

What we are going to be cooking for everyone to enjoy is about 100lbs of smoked brisket and around
15-20 slabs of smoked ribs.Plus there will be about 20-30lbs of smoked pulled pork.
Plus there will be some grilled hotdogs for anyone/kids to enjoy.

I think there will be some other odds and ends meats throwed on the somker as well.

Again a big thanks to everyone coming to this gathering.It's going to be our biggest one yet and its going
to be a whole lot of fun for all of us.

I'm Looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting the new members coming this year.There will be lot
of friendships made over that weekend that will last forever.

Be safe everyone and will see you in 2 days.


Total so far = $620.00

1.Tom,Aaron & JDog = $50.00
2.Dale = $10.00
3.Geoff =
4.JC = $ 50.00
5.Josh = $25.00
6.Zach & Pete =
7.Seth & Carrie = $25.00
8.Ray & Peg = $50.00
9.Shelby & Rob = $25.00
10.Michael = $10.00
11.Kyle and Ashley = $25.00
12.Chris & Tracy =
13.Dan, Lisa =
14.Daniel = $10.00
15.Bennett, Emily =
16.Cathy & Sandy =
17..Jim,Lyida,Drew = $30.00
18..Stuart =
19.Chad,Nicole =$15.00
20. Roger = $40.00
21.Duane =
22..Gary & Tiffiany = $20
23.Troy +2 =
24.Dale & Nina = $20.00
25.Thad & Chad = $30.00
26.JJ =
27.Keith, Kassie = $25.00
28.Margie & Richard =
29.Casey = $20.00
30.Chris = $25.00
31.Kevin =
32. Bryan=$20
33. Christy, Shawn and Steve= $40.00
34..Erik & Sheena =
35.Shawn & Tanya (uncle Glen & wife Carrie) = $20.00
36.Matt & wife =
37.Jay & Brandon =$10.00
38.Caleb & Kaleb =
39.Lloyd =
40.Molly = Bringing meat
41.JD =
42.John & wife Cherie = $25.00

 

[KSCats]

Who's going to be collecting? Should we give it to you or Dan or?

 

[rwg]

I think its Dan the last I heard

 

[arkrivercatman]

Thats a good question. How much did the meat cost?
Where does the extra go?

 

[Dsage]

Tom and I will be taking the money we both will have a printed off list from here with who was kicking in and how much.

As for the extra I can tell you later tonight how we have if any. The $ that was donated was used to buy the meat and the supplies to hold the meat and prep it. Stuff like foil, pans, wrap. All the wood, coal, spices for the rub, the suace, the preprep of the food we picked up the cost.

 

[arkrivercatman]

Id like to see a price on the meat and the supplies, for curiosities sake.

 

[n2fishn]

To keep it less confusing why dont everyone just give the money to Dan.

 

[Dsage]

Id like to see a price on the meat and the supplies, for curiosities sake.

If I show you a receipt then how I'm I going to scam a few hundred $$$$ from everyone. :gotu:

 

[arkrivercatman]

I didnt say you were tryin to scam anyone.:wink::laugh: I just never imagined it would cost that much. I dont know though, Ive never had to feed 100+ people. LOL
Lookin forward to tryin out the BBQ. Its gonna be hard waitin all day smellin that smoke.:Happy:

 

[Dsage]

I'm play'n with you. Its $$$ to do smoked meat. Here is an idea for a good brisket you are looking in the $4-$5 lb range. The real good stuff can run you $100 for one brisket that comes in at a few pounds. The stuff we got is the same stuff that gets used for the comps. We are looking in to doing a catering job for a group here in Topeka that will be for 2,000 people and they were getting prices of $13 and up a person. You will not be sorry, in the outcome of the meat.

 

[bigheck]

I know what you mean Dan..the butts I smoked I got for around $8 a piece and that was half price on sale. I smoked 5 butts for around $42 and then the rub,BBQ sauce and smoking pellets(I cheat and use a Treager electric pellet smoker) Im in for around $70...But nothing can compare to good A$$ food. :drool:

 

[n2fishn]

Thanks Erik,,,,I cant wait to sample some of that pork,,

 

[Tuttlecat]

Nothin like juicy, tender brisket:time-out:

 

[bigheck]

Thanks Tom...P.S. my price was for pork...so with Dan getting all that beef I will be surprised if there is any money left over at all..

 

[shelbygt1979]

Thanks to everyone that helped with the meat prep an smokking the meat this was some of the best food yet. Seems every year these gatherings just keep getting better and better.

Those were some of the very best ribs I have ever eaten they sure had a lot of meat on them.

Thanks to everyone that brought a sidedish.

Thanks for the idea about what to do with the extra money left over Tom with the raffle it worked perfect IMO.

 

[Grimpuppy]

What happened to the left over meat? Seams it got locked up and a couple people had to beg to get a couple scraps. Why was the food brought by others to be cooked left in a cooler until all the ice melted and spoil? I am not one to rock the boat, but what I saw go on was BS. From now on it is everyone bring your own food and fend for yourself. That way we don't end up with a meat nazi. I am pissed!

 

[Dsage]

The left over meat? There was 5 of ribs pieces left when we packed up our prep cooler. The one pan of brisket was left on the table next to the jug of BBQ sauce. The same sauce that as of 4:30 was on the table next to the fire pit in the main area. As for the other meat we as a group decided on the meat to bring. Other said they were bringing meat with them and it would need to be warmed I along with my dad said we would smoke the meat, many other said they would like us too di it too. As for meat going bad, if I did not bring it or buy it why would I be responsible for keeping it on ice, I did not have an ice machine. I had just over 100lb of ice that we used in extra coolers for keeping the brisket and ribs cold. How many can say that they have kept 100lbs of brisket and around if I recall 50+lbs. of ribs cold for 3 days. Also when the meat you are talking about Jay was dropped off did you hear the conversation that was had. Let see the cooler of meat was asked to be left our site. I said I had no room to put the meat anywhere. I was told to take the cooler. I then said we are on a tight time line with the meat we had. We had if I recall in the ballpark of 16 flats and a bunch of ribs. I know and my dad knows exactly how much of meat we can do in a time frame. No one came to us before and said if I bring something other than brisket or ribs can or will cook it. The onwer of the meat came over I think 2 times once around noon and then around 3 or 4 and asked how things were going with the meat. My dad talked to them the first time and I did the second time both times they were told that we were fighting the wind and we were behind, I told them its not looking good about getting them on. So knowing this could they not of gotting meat at noon or at the 3 or 4. Also were the meats ready to be cooked no! If you or them was so worried about getting the meat on where was the help when we were preping the food for 8 hours on Friday night. We got done doing the prep at 4am. we still had to clean upo the prep station and then clean up ourself. We did not get in bed till after 5am on friday/saturday. The my dad had to get up 7am to get the smoker started. were you or the other person there to help no! So I can not help that the other meat did not get fixed. Other people had grills did they ask to use one to cook the meat? Maybe instead of everyone doing something for themself maybe think about it like this. Would you bring a meat to someones house and expect them to cook it for you or even know how. Enough is enough if you have anything else you would like to say do it in a PM and don't waste the space here. Or maybe you could have the facts before you post something, and for the part about begging for food, Keith and Drew asked if we had some left over and if they could have some, I went in and got what they asked for and told them that was all the ribs that was left. I also gave them some other side that someone put in our prep cooler no one begged for anything asked yes begged no. Plus if you wanted some more of what you say was left over our prep box was left over at the main site till after the fire started or 9:53 to be exact, how do I knwo I got a call when we were taking the prep cooler back to the RV, so I looked at my cell phone.

 

[wheels70]

Not that I have a vested interest in this as I was not there but I will give my perspective. Smoking for a crowd is very, very difficult. Normally there is either too much food (spelled waste) or too little food (spelled pissed off people). I do plenty of smoking at competitions and parties myself. I have a large cooker on a trailer that will hold two 100lb hogs so I am not just talking out of my butt.

The problem is trying to figure out how much each individual will eat when dealing with just a head count of probable attendants. Some people eat more than a single serving, some eat less. It does not always work out in the wash. You also have some that eat much faster than others and end up taking twice as much by taking a second helping. Normally you can expect an average of about 6-10 ounces of meat per person but that all depends on the crowd you are feeding. You also must attempt to account for the ones that said they were not coming but showed up at the last moment, or on the flip side, account for the ones that said they would be there but did not show up.

There is a whole lot of work that goes into preparing food for a crowd of this size! Most people do not realize the amount of work it is to prepare, cook and serve BBQ. There is a lot of trimming, injecting, seasoning, etc that goes into the finished product. It is not a simple as throwing a steak on the gas grill, drinking a beer and taking it off when it is done. There is the never ending task of tending the fire, and if it is windy, cold, raining or all of the above it is a MOTHER to keep the smoker at the right temp! Temps too cool equal missed deadlines and pissed off people, temps too hot and you end up trying to figure out how to hold a smoker full of meat till serving time. Another thing most unfamiliar with smoking do not realize is that the starting weight of the meat is not what you end up with after smoking. With brisket you can lose anywhere from 30-50% of the original weight due to trimming and fat dissipation. It can really surprise you how much weight meat loses in a smoker. Take a look at the liquid fat in bucket beneath a smoker sometime, it will amaze you how much fat cooks out during the smoking process.

As for the ones that brought meat to smoke,, this has always been a difficult part of smoking meat. It seems that everyone wants to bring some meat to 'throw on the smoker' anytime I fire mine up. That is all fine and dandy but the cooking times may be completely different than the meat that is already on the smoker. This means that either the smoker must be fired up sooner or the meat must be refrigerated until ready to go on. This is added work for the ones doing the cooking. Not to mention when I cook, I do not want someone else bringing the meat to cook simply because I do not know how it has been handled before I took possession. I am very particular about safety and how I store and handle the meat. I certainly do not want to cook meat that has not been handled properly and make someone sick. If I cook it I will have picked it out myself and made sure it was properly prepped and stored until I cook it.

Prepping the meat is one of the most time consuming parts of cooking for a crowd. There is a lot of pride and skill that goes into prepping meat, not to mention worrying about keeping the meat properly until time to cook. There is almost always several people around talking and nosing around while you are trying to prep the meat and it adds to the work load. Smoking for a crowd is a LOT OF WORK period!! There will always be someone that is not happy but we strive to keep that number low. Those who do not understand the work and worry that goes into cooking for a large crowd are normally the ones that are upset. In the end it is all about having a good time, good food and enjoying one more day above ground!

Again, I dont have a dog in this hunt but I thought it might be helpful to give my perspective. My opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.

Keith

 

[Dsage]

Keith thank you for your input. You are right the prep does take some time. Just around 8 hours of prep work went in to just trimming the meat which was done friday night. That does not include the time that went in before we got there, making the rub, the sauce ect. . . .


I know what was said about having extra brisket and as I told him at the RV I wish I could help you but we were out. That is when I went in to get him a plate and fork for a side that was put in our prep cooler. Its sucks when one person talking ruins things, but boys the smoker done.

 

[lookin4akeeper]

My perspective about the whole situation this weekend:
Thank you to those who cooked and prepped for Saturday. Richard & I chose not to eat with everyone on Saturday for personal reasons. I had stomach problems early Thursday before we got to the lake, and Richard didn't feel well Friday morning. I'm guessing the heat! So, we ate light all weekend.
What I suggest for future gatherings, put a Donation Bucket right in front of the plates, and anyone that wants to eat at the big dinner can donate for the cost. Or, whomever wants to cook the meat, have members mail in a donation before the annual gathering.