Catering a Graduation Party with Pork Shoulders and Briskets on My Traegers

Every so often, a cook comes along that feels less like a backyard BBQ and more like a full-blown production. That was me this summer, catering a graduation party with a mountain of meat: seven pork shoulders and four briskets, all cooked low and slow on my Traeger Ironwood 885 and Traeger Timberline XL.

Was it a little crazy? Yep. Did it push my smokers (and me) to the limit? Absolutely. But when I watched the crowd pile their plates high with pulled pork and brisket, every late night and smoky shirt was worth it.

The Menu

For pork, I went with my go-to Pull Apart Pork Shoulder recipe. Tender, juicy, smoky — it’s one of those dishes that never lets me down, and seven shoulders guaranteed there’d be plenty for the crowd.

For the beef, I leaned on my Smoked and Reheated Brisket recipe. Four full packer briskets meant long cooks, careful temp monitoring, and a lot of foil and butcher paper, but the payoff was rich, juicy brisket that sliced like butter.

The Challenges

Cooking this much food in a short window wasn’t exactly stress-free. Pork shoulders alone are a marathon cook, and briskets are no walk in the park either. Juggling both at the same time meant:

• Space Management – Fitting seven pork shoulders across the Traeger Timberline XL while still leaving room for airflow.
• Timing the Briskets – The Ironwood 885 worked overtime keeping four briskets on track, smoking steady through the night.
• Resting and Reheating – Making sure everything had time to rest and still hit the tables warm and juicy.

There were moments I wondered if I’d bitten off more than I could chew (pun intended), but the Traegers held steady, and the results spoke for themselves.

The Payoff

When the food hit the buffet line, the brisket disappeared first, with people going back for seconds — and then thirds. The pulled pork followed suit, with plenty of compliments and a few surprised faces when I admitted it had all been smoked the day before and reheated to perfection.

That’s the beauty of using the right recipes and trusting the process: food that tastes like it came out of a restaurant kitchen, but done right in the backyard.

Thinking About Catering

After pulling off a cook like this, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a little future in catering for me. Friends have already started asking — in fact, I’ve got one lined up to do two briskets for a party at their lake place. I’m not talking about going full-time, but a few events here and there? Sounds like a good excuse to fire up the smokers more often.

Final Thoughts

Catering that graduation party was equal parts exhausting and rewarding. Managing seven pork shoulders and four briskets on my Traeger Ironwood 885 and Timberline XL pushed me harder than any backyard cook I’ve done before, but it also proved what these smokers — and a little determination — can do.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. In fact, I’m already planning for it. And who knows, maybe this is just the start of a small side hustle.