The most common moment of hesitation at a barbecue counter is not choosing the meat. It is being asked how much you want. Most of us order food by the plate, so being asked for a number in grams is unfamiliar, and the queue behind you does not help. Here is how ordering smoked meats in Perth works, along with the numbers and reasoning behind them, so you can walk up knowing what to say.
How much barbecue do you need per person?
As a general rule, allow 250 to 300 grams of cooked meat per person for a normal meal with a side or two. For a bigger appetite, or if the meat is the whole meal, allow 350 to 400 grams. For a group with mixed appetites, work on 300 grams a head across the table rather than trying to calculate each person separately.
Those figures are cooked weight, not raw weight. Barbecue loses a large share of its starting weight over a long cook, which is why cooked weight is the only number that matters when you are ordering.
Why is barbecue sold by weight?
Because cuts are cooked whole and carved to order, not portioned in advance.
A preset platter has to guess what you want. Selling by weight removes the guess. You say which cuts and how much of each, it is carved off the whole piece in front of you, weighed, and stacked on butcher’s paper. Two people who want completely different things can order off the same board without anyone compromising.
It also means you are not paying for anything you did not choose. If nobody at the table wants sausage, no sausage goes on the tray.
How much brisket per person?
Allow 200 to 250 grams of brisket per person if it is sharing the tray with other cuts. Allow 300 to 350 grams if brisket is the main event. If you are hunting for authentic brisket in Perth, knowing these portions ensures everyone leaves satisfied.
Brisket is richer than it looks. The point end carries more fat than the flat, so a tray weighted towards the point will go further than the same weight of flat. If you are ordering for people who are new to barbecue, ask for a mix of both rather than one or the other.
How many ribs per person?
Beef ribs are large and heavy. One is usually enough for one person as part of a shared tray, and a single rib can stretch across two lighter eaters.
Pork ribs are smaller. Allow three to four per person as part of a tray, or more if ribs are the only thing being ordered. Bone weight is included when ribs are sold by weight, so a kilo of ribs feeds fewer people than a kilo of brisket. Factor that in.
How many sausage links per person?
One link per person is the usual measure on a shared tray. Sausage is the cut people most often add at the last second, and it is the easiest one to over-order because it looks smaller than it eats.
How do sides change the numbers?
Sides reduce the meat you need, and they do it more than people expect.
With two or three sides on the table, 250 grams a head is comfortable. With no sides, the same table will want closer to 400. If you are ordering for a group and you are unsure, add a side before you add more meat. It costs less and it stretches further.
How do you order for a group?
Order to the table, not to the person.
Work out a total. Six people at 300 grams a head is around 1.8 kilos of meat. Then split that across cuts rather than trying to allocate per person. A workable split for a group of six is roughly a kilo of brisket, a few ribs and a couple of sausage links, plus sides.
Two things worth knowing before you plan a group visit. Barbecue cooked fresh each day sells out, so cuts come off the board as the day goes on and the later sittings have less choice. And a shared tray suits mixed groups better than individual orders, because the light eater and the big eater balance each other out on the same tray.
What if you order too much?
Then you take it home, which is not the worst outcome. Barbecue keeps well in the fridge for a few days and reheats properly if you do it gently. We have written a separate guide on how to reheat brisket without drying it out.
If anything, ordering slightly over is the safer error. Ordering short at a place that sells out means you cannot go back for more.
What do you actually say at the counter?
Something like this works: “Half a kilo of brisket, mixed point and flat, two pork ribs and a sausage link.”
You do not need to get it exact. If you are not sure, say how many people you are feeding and whether they are big eaters, and the pitmasters will put a number on it. That is a normal question and it gets asked every day. More on how the counter works is on our how it works page.
The short version
- Normal appetite with sides: 250 to 300 grams a person.
- Big appetite or meat only: 350 to 400 grams a person.
- Brisket: 200 to 250 grams a person on a shared tray.
- Beef ribs: one per person. Pork ribs: three to four per person.
- Sausage: one link per person.
- Groups: calculate a table total, then split it across cuts.
