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Cooking for a Crowd
can be a
back-breaking, foot aching labor of love.
The only way to survive is to plan in advance and find lots of willing
helpers. Don't fear that you have to be a professional chef to pull off
a large party...you just need a little confidence and a love of
cooking.
 You Can Do It Like the Pros
For a sit-down meal of over 10 guests, let your kitchen
helpers
form an assembly
line. Each person serves one item and passes the plate to the next
person. Start with the food item that is cold/room temperature or
retains heat the longest (like potatoes) and end with the food item
that doesn't (like meat). Salads can be plated ahead of time and set on
the table.
Or....Let
the Pros Do-It
Consider hiring a caterer or personal chef
to do some if not all of the cooking, on the day of the event or ahead
of time. Hire a culinary school student to
act as assistant or to supervise servers. This may be
needed for crowds from 8 on up,
depending on your
entertaining and cooking comfort
zone.
More Tips
Remember
to take into
consideration the difference between a "serving size" and
a "helping" of food. Many people will eat servings that are
either smaller or larger than your decided serving
portions. Typically, believe it or not, guests will not go for
seconds until they have a sense that everyone else has eaten. Planning
for extras will depend on your budget and the appetite of your guests.
It's
probably best to prepare additional servings of the main courses such
as meats and pastas.
The final amount of cooked food will be
effected by how
you measure ingredients and how you prepare the
foods.
Creating Quantity Recipes
One
of the hardest things about cooking for a crowd is finding quantity
recipes that are "just right". This article will
help you do just that.
Quantity
Cookware
Don't forget that cooking for
a crowd may require larger-sized pots and pans. Also
advice on how
to purchase cookware
Choosing Tableware
And tableware too!
A few words about food safety:
Unfortunate cases of food poisoning are often traced to
failure to follow simple food safety wisdom:
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Keep food items refrigerated
until served
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Do not allow food to sit at room
temperature for more than two hours. Discard food
that does
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Replace the entire
empty platter rather than adding fresh food. This helps to avoid cross
contamination from guests' hands
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Place cream or mayonnaise-based dishes
like potato and seafood salads and dips and salad dressings, nestled in
bowls of crushed ice
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Only put out small amounts
of foods like fish, stuffed eggs and meat canapés. Keep the
rest hot in a 200 - 250°F oven or cold in the refrigerator until
serving time.
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On the buffet table, keep foods hot at
140°F or warmer, by using chafing
dishes, slow cookers or warming trays
More Cooking for a Crowd Information
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