Cooking for a Crowd of 25 or More??

Questioning your sanity?  Don't.  Cooking for a crowd of 25 or more guests for a luncheon, cocktail party or brunch at home is a large undertaking, but you can pull it off with style and grace...yes you can!

Delegate, delegate, delegate
Sure, you can do it all, but why should you?  You know who your most helpful friends and family members are...call them into service. 

As a general rule of thumb: the more people the simpler the food should be

Plan a Make Ahead Menu
Many dishes can be made one to two weeks before your big party and safely frozen or otherwise stored.  

Study Your Recipes
Once you have decided on a menu, study each recipe and break it down into components, then write out an action plan.  For example, Stuffed Banana Peppers require prepping the peppers, cooking the rice, cooking onions, cooking the meat and chopping herbs.  In this recipe, the onions and ground meat can be made a week or two in advance and frozen and the rice can be cooked 1-2 days ahead of time and stored tightly covered.  If you are very organized, you could batch cook or batch prep ingredients.  In other words, if you are planning several dishes which contain onions, calculate the total amount you will need and chop them all at one time, freeze or store accordingly.  If cooking methods between recipes are the same or similar, you could even cook them all at one time.  Really pick apart your recipes and see how you can save yourself energy and time.  

Convert your standard recipes to large quantity recipes and try batch cooking

Decide How to Serve
Without a doubt, buffet-style service is the only way to serve.  If you have space. arrange two buffet tables.  Have friends serve the main dishes.  This helps to control portions and waste and keeps the buffet line moving smoothly.  

Know Your Cooking Tools and Equipment
Don't have a complete oven meal if you have a really small oven; and don't forget about last minute reheating.  Try to spread the work load to all of your appliances such as the stovetop, microwave, portable grill, crock pot, toaster oven, etc. 

Make Refrigerator Space
As you get closer to the big day, you will need every bit of storage space.  Clear out any foods that can safely be left out for this time, like condiments and jellies. Stock up on foil, plastic wrap, Ziploc storage bags, bowl covers, etc., for wrapping and storing food.  

More Cooking For a Crowd Info

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