Got friends coming Saturday. I plan on smoking beef ribs, chicken and Colombian Chorizo. I get a kick out of doing combinations of meats. Seems like these days you always have someone who can't eat red meat, or has other dietary issues. I enjoy making a plan to bring the meats onto the smoker at different times, and get them to finish together. The flavor variations always rely on different marinades, rubs, and sauces.

The hard work is developing the written plan. Once that is done, you just follow the clock (plan). Towards the end you usually have to adlib just a little, and hope for the best when it's time to sit down and eat.

I agree that along with the quality of the meal it is most paramount that everything comes out on time together.There lies the planning.Really no issue after you've done it a bit but rough on the novice.You have no problems there.Best of luck on your soiree.

Bought the meat Thursday.

Five chicken leg quarters (w/skin)
Two very large chicken breasts (w/bone & skin)
Two beef short plates (the back ribs available didn't look very good)
A dozen chorizo (Salvadorian-style)
Two pounds of brisket (leftovers)

Hopefully that will feed six women and four men.

Currently in the frig:

1. Chicken Breasts resting in buttermilk for two days (two gallon zip lock bag)
2. Chicken Leg Quarters resting in zesty Italian dressing. (two gallon zip lock bag)
3. Beef Short Plate coated with Tomato Chipotle Roja, then a dusting of Cabela's Sweet Rib Rub. (wrapped in plastic wrap)
4. Just lying in their original wrapper. I don't know what to do with them. I'll probably just olive oil, rib rub, and plastic wrap them today.

I normally just marinade meat overnight, but my wife was bugging me to buy the meat Thursday. Once I buy the meat, I start messing with it.

I'm going to have to re-think my cooking time for the short plate. May take a little longer than a normal back-rib rack. I may just go by temperature; 185-195 finish.

Looks like rain. Cooking outdoors, and eating indoors most likely.

It looks like you've got a good plan for a great menu, Ken - you've been doing some really good work with the beef, and your experiences there will guide you to a good finish, I think.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

It went pretty well after a late start. I had forgotten I had a golf game with my son in the morning. I had to bailout after 14 holes to get home and start my fire. Got it up to 250 and put the beef short plates on.

The ribs were up to 170 internal after 1 1/2 hours so I wrapped them. An hour later I placed the chicken breasts and leg quarters on, and jacked the temperature up to 275 to 300.

A half hour later the ribs were up to 200 internal, so I pulled them off the heat and let them rest while still wrapped.

It got interesting right about here. I was re-stoking my firebox, but having hell keeping the temperature about 275. It kept falling back to around 250. I was fighting a 20 mile wind also.(Any thoughts?) I think I should have removed as much "dead ash" as I could so that I could add more wood. Seems like I just wasn't getting enough fuel burning. My vent on the firebox was full open.

An hour after the chicken went on, the color was good, and the chicken temp was around 155 internal. I wrapped the chicken in foil and put them back in the smoker.

After another half hour I put the chorizo and brisket on. (The brisket was smoked months ago, so I just sauced it, and wrapped it in foil to heat it back up.)

An hour more and I was out of time. The chicken was showing 185 on breasts and leg quarters. My wife checked the chorizo and said it was done.

I had plans to take the meat and the chicken out of the foil and back in the smoker just to get a good finish and crisp skin on the chicken, but guests were arriving, so I skipped that.

All the meats rested for an hour more in foil.

After the party ended, we were out of chorizo and leg quarters. Everyone raved about them, and the brisket. The ribs were very good, tender, and meaty. (One rib was almost a meal by itself.)

I thought it strange that no one tried the chicken breasts. My wife said if we had sliced it, she thinks it would have disappeared. Presentation is everything I guess.

We have enough ribs & a few pieces of brisket for my wife and I to make a meal. The chicken breasts are going to make a meal by themselves. I always like having leftovers.

Next time my plan is:

1. NOT to play golf.
2. DON'T mix Chilcano de Pisco with Malbec.
3. More dark meat. Less white meat.
4. More chorizo.
5. Manage my ash better.

Your wife is right about the breasts. Likely people didn't want to take a whole breast and be too full to try to the other stuff.

You might even just take a cleaver and whack it into manageable chunks when it's done, so people can take a bit of breast with the rest.

You are correct. I had forgotten about my first visit to Alex Pollo in Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela. They had this huge rotisserie with about 30 chickens on it. As I worked my way to the front of the line, I was thinking how good it would be to slowly pull that chicken apart and consume it. Then I saw that as they removed a chicken from the rotisserie they attacked it with a machete about three times and wrapped the remains in paper and handed it to you. So much for my daydream. Gotta buy me a machete next time.