Ribs for 30, Or How My First Pseudo-Catering Gig Went

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Today was THE day I had been anticipating for quite some time.  About a month ago, a co-worker and I volunteered to cook for the entire office (around 30 people).  The original plan was for us to just cook pork butt, but it ended up that I volunteered to cook ribs while my co-worker would take care of the pork butt.  So here’s how that went…

First step — two days ago, I bought a whole bunch of spare ribs from Restaurant Depot (9 racks) and trim them to a St. Louis cut.

Spare ribs, trimmed to a St. Louis cut

Last night, the ribs were slathered in Famous Dave’s Rich and Sassy BBQ Sauce and lightly seasoned with Willie’s Hog Dust Original Blend BBQ Rub.  After being slathered and seasoned, the ribs went into the refrigerator for the night.

Slathered and Seasoned

This morning started early as I woke up at 3:45am to fire up the smoker.  At 4:45am, the smoker was up to 250 degrees, and in went the ribs!  The ribs cooked at between 225 and 250 degrees using oak wood.

Lots of ribs, about 2 1/2 hours in

At the three hour mark, I re-seasoned the ribs and put them back in the smoker.  At four hours in, I pull the ribs, add some dark brown sugar and honey, and foil them.

Ribs prior to brown sugar and honey drizzle

After another hour, the ribs were unfoiled and glazed with sweet BBQ sauce from Butcher BBQ.  The ribs were pulled after a grand total of 6 hours in the smoker.

About to be sauced

The finished product. Bad lighting, but it had beautiful color!

When the ribs were finished, they were wrapped in foil and placed in a towel-lined cooler for transport.  Once on-site, the ribs were sliced and ready to serve.

Yours truly slicing the ribs. Picture courtesy of the company president.

Ready to serve. Crappy cell phone pic.

So how did it turn out?  If I go by how much food was left, it was a success with there only being five ribs left.  Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one woman declaring it the best ribs she’s ever eaten.  Now if that doesn’t boost my ego, nothing will!

So that was my first experience with cooking for more than 3 or 4 people.  Except for the whole “getting up at 3:45am” part, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would not hesitate to volunteer to do it again!