BBQ meat calculatorhow much brisket, pulled pork or ribs per person (UK)

The most common BBQ party disaster isn't dry brisket. It's buying a 2 kg shoulder for twelve people because 2 kg sounds like loads, then watching it come off the smoker a lot smaller than it went on.

The sum

Cooked meat needed = guests × cooked portion. Raw meat to buy = cooked meat ÷ yield. Add a bit for leftovers, because leftover pulled pork is one of life's genuine pleasures.

Portions

The calculator starts at 150 g, 200 g or 250 g of cooked meat per person for light, normal and hungry crowds. These are planning assumptions, not rules. A buffet with five salads and a mountain of buns needs less than a meat-only feast for a rugby club, so change the number to suit your lot.

Serving two meats? Split the portion between them rather than giving everyone a full portion of each.

Yield: why meat shrinks

Low and slow cooking renders fat and drives out moisture, and you lose bone and trimmings along the way. The yields the calculator suggests are rough rules of thumb BBQ cooks use for planning. Bone-in cuts lose more than boneless ones, and a heavily trimmed brisket loses more again. If your butcher has already trimmed the joint, nudge the yield up a little.

Big joint or two small ones

If the total is more than one joint your smoker will hold, buy two smaller joints. They fit better, cook faster and give you more bark. Then put the weight of the largest single joint into the smoking time planner, because that's the one that sets your timing.

Ordering from a UK butcher

Ask for weights in kilograms and say what it's for. "Bone-in pork shoulder for pulling" or "a whole brisket with the point and flat together" gets better results than an American cut name. Our guide to UK vs US BBQ cuts translates the recipe-speak. Order a few days ahead for anything bigger than a supermarket joint, especially in summer and the week before Christmas.

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