# How much shredded pork needed on a roll for sliders at a wedding reception



## ataloss (Jul 12, 2013)

We are serving bbq pork sliders, along with caprese sliders for a wedding reception. These are just regular size dinner rolls and not meant to fill someone's belly. Can anyone tell me how much meat I should buy? How much do I put on each roll? Thanks so much. My brain is frazzled.


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## j20832 (Mar 9, 2013)

Since I have only ever dealt with sandwiches and not sliders, I just looked at 4-5 recipes after doing a google search for pulled pork sliders.  The portions are ranging from 1.2 oz per slider to 4 oz.  This is actual meat weight and does not include weight added from seasonings/sauces.  The way I calculated was to take the original weight of the meat, multiply by 0.5 (this adjusts for 50% approximate weight lost during cooking), and convert to ounces.  Then divide the total number of ounces by servings will determine the amount of final meat product on each serving.

The cooking weight loss will be more or less depending on what cut you use and whether or not you use boneless or bone-in.  I use 50% when dealing with "boston butt" bone-in pork shoulders which results in a final estimate which I know will be a little lower than actual yield so it gives me a buffer (and I can find things to make out of leftovers).  If you are using a boneless cut that is well trimmed, you might multiply by 0.60 as you would expect a 60% yield with a maximum 40% loss (which again allows a sizeable cushion for leftovers).

So to give a full example, if you bought a 10 lb. boston butt, bone-in, you can expect to get at least 5 lbs of final meat after cooking.  Convert to ounces and you are looking 80 ounces.  Divide by your portion size (maybe 2 oz.) and you would then determine that you have enough meat for at least 40 sliders.

When in doubt, do a test run.  The size of the bun is going to be a huge factor in the amount of meat that looks appealing and makes sense.  You might find that 2 oz for your size dinner roll is way overboard!


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

Shoot for 2oz finished product...... and as mentioned above, allow for approx 50% shrinkage on a butt.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Help me figure out how many sliders to allow per person.  Will the sliders be apps or part of the main?

If apps will the be passed, or at a station?  If passed, will they be plated?  And if plated, will they be served with both types of slider on the plate? 

Will the bun be dressed in someway with something other than pork and sauce?  For instance, with coleslaw -- as pulled pork is often served in the south?

2oz pork per dinner-roll sized slider is very generous.  While "generous" is visually appealing and usually a good thing, you have to remember that you're cooking for a wedding, and not a picnic where everyone's wearing t-shirts.  You don't want the sliders so overstuffed that they'll spill on to your guests' clothes.  At weddings especially keep portions "woman sized" and small enough so that a woman can eat without smearing her lipstick, getting grease on her fingers, and/or stains on her dress.  But, allow enough food for the men to get seconds.     

BDL


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## cerise (Jul 5, 2013)

How many people are you serving, & what is the size of the pork?  I would skip the Caprese sliders, as I think it is too much bread.  Perhaps, serve with a mango coleslaw & red dilled potato salad.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

2 ounce per slider plus sauce. I have found greatest roll for all sliders is the Hawian soft dinner roll.   Therefor if you need 100 sliders you need to start with approx. 400 ounce fairly lean raw pork  or 25 pounds raw meat .  The rolls are all the same shape and same size. I would not put slaw on it, if you like serve on the plate in a soufflé cup.


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## ataloss (Jul 12, 2013)

thank you so much


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