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Catering Inputs On Menu/Amounts Please

chinesebob

chinesebob

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Brethren,

I have a cunundrum regarding an event I'm doing. Here's the lay of the land. A high tech company that will be doing a major software implementation over the night and this will be brought in around 10AM Sunday morning.

75 people.
95% Men = ~70 men
25% Vegetarians = ~19 people
75% Meat Eating Carnivores that will rend 30# of brisket in less than 30 minutes.

Carnivore Menu:
Brisket - 40#(precooked weight)
Pulled Pork - 40#
Chicken legs/wings - 2 Full Pans
Fatback green beans - 3 Full Pans
Bush's Baked Beans with Bacon - 2 Full Pans

Vegetarian/Rest of Menu
Non-Fatback Green Beans - 1 Full Pan
Sweet German Style Cole Slaw(thank you Michele) - 4 Full Pans (think too much)
Smoked Mac N Cheese - 2 Full Pans
Apple Pie - 3 Pies (large costco apple pies 9.99 - you can't beat it)
Pumpkin Pie - 2 pies (see above)
Corn Bread - 4 sheets
Buns for Sandwhiches - 50
Sauce

What I'm perplexed over is - do the quantities look ok? Any thoughts or ideas on anything you see? Aside from the Green Beans I will be cooking everything in the spicewine.
 
i've never catered, but most looks good. I might think about adding more mac and cheese and non fatback green beens. Just a thought.
 
I think it looks good, but you need a protein source for the vegans. I would suggest Bocca burgers. I do them at bbqs for church for a man who is vegan. I have had them myself and they are very good. A bit expensive but it sure beats Mac and Cheese for the main vegan dish.
 
River City Smokehouse said:
I think it looks good, but you need a protein source for the vegans. I would suggest Bocca burgers. I do them at bbqs for church for a man who is vegan. I have had them myself and they are very good. A bit expensive but it sure beats Mac and Cheese for the main vegan dish.
Click to expand...

I kinda agree.
Another possibility is portabella mushroom burgers.
Just cook the shroom cap like a burger.
Sprinkle some seasonings in the gill area before grilling and serve on buns.
Jay's new rub, Hen and Hog Dust, Yardbird or even some of my rub would be good.
I scoop out the gills with a teaspoon because they get black, soggy and nasty when grilled.
 
Hey Bob, I agree with the other folks, you may need something for the Veggie types. That is quite a spread you are putting on, that is alot of food!!
 
I am personally offended by the "non fatback" part of the post. :wink::wink:
 
I work with a boat load of vegans and they have catered stuff all the time from a specialty store. They do need protein so they usually will have some kind of blackbean or pinto bean and then the soy product I.E. Boca Burgers or Boca Hotdogs. Also, hummus and pita bread, it's pretty easy and they love it.

We fast meat every once in a while :eek: and one of my favorites is to use the vegan chicken strips and make stir fried veggies with it served over rice. Pretty cheap and most people can't tell it from real chicken.

I might try to do the vegetarian baked beans and add some vegetarian chicken strips that I smoked in a pan just to keep the BBQ theme.

Jefff
 
chinesebob said:
Brethren,

I have a cunundrum regarding an event I'm doing. Here's the lay of the land. A high tech company that will be doing a major software implementation over the night and this will be brought in around 10AM Sunday morning.

75 people.
95% Men = ~70 men
25% Vegetarians = ~19 people
75% Meat Eating Carnivores that will rend 30# of brisket in less than 30 minutes.

Carnivore Menu: = 56 people
Brisket - 40#(precooked weight) = about 24lbs cooked, makes 96 sammies or 60 non sandwich servings
Pulled Pork - 40# = about 20lbs cooked, makes 80 sammies or 50 non sandwich servings
Chicken legs/wings - 2 Full Pans = 60+ pieces of chicken. (I'm guessing)
Fatback green beans - 3 Full Pans = 120 servings
Bush's Baked Beans with Bacon - 2 Full Pans = 80 servings

Vegetarian/Rest of Menu
Non-Fatback Green Beans - 1 Full Pan = 40 servings
Sweet German Style Cole Slaw(thank you Michele) - 4 Full Pans (think too much) = 160 servings
Smoked Mac N Cheese - 2 Full Pans = 80 servings
Apple Pie - 3 Pies (large costco apple pies 9.99 - you can't beat it) = 30 servings
Pumpkin Pie - 2 pies (see above) = 20 servings
Corn Bread - 4 sheets
Buns for Sandwhiches - 50
Sauce

What I'm perplexed over is - do the quantities look ok? Any thoughts or ideas on anything you see? Aside from the Green Beans I will be cooking everything in the spicewine.
Click to expand...

I think you have more than enough. I showed some estimated serving amounts, for things like the beans and coleslaw it could actually be a bit more. The pies are the only thing I don't think you have enough of. You would have to have 15 slices out of each one. I've never bought one of the large pies, so 15 slices from each may be doable.
 
I think you are good with your meats, and most of your sides. A bit to heavy on the coleslaw and baked beans (If it is a true full pan and not a half pan). I agree with the others regarding a protien for the vegans, and for ease of hold would do the bocca burgers OR the hummus and pitas. I think the shrooms would be hard to hold for any length of time.

OH and I need the recipe for smoked mac and cheese, PM if you will share.
 
Gotta make dishes specifically for the Veggies, just telling them to not eat the meat is bad form.
There is not a better Vegetarian cookbook series than the Moosewood series. Its from a restaurant in Ithica, New York. Buy one. Its a great resource, and wonderful food, you will use lots of those recipes for yourself!
 
Meatless smoked chili? You can load it up with beans. Amounts look good, if anything there is too much, but that's a problem I would like to have. I don't have much experience with this, but I'm thinking $1000-1200 for price. Does that sound reasonable to you? Are you just dropping off the food (no cutlery, plates, drinks,etc)?

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,meatless_chilli,FF.html
 
Sounds good. I think I would cut back on the greenbeans. But I think I would do the greenbeans and baked beans so that either could eat them. Alot less confusion for setting up and people asking which is which, plus a lot less prep and would work for reg. eaters or Vegens that way. I agree with the other about the Bocca burgers. I like the idea of the meatless chili also and both could eat that. The other thing I see and surprised no mentioned is the buns and bread. I would only do 2 pans of cornbread. I would add some loafs of white and whole wheat bread and a tub of margarine for people who don't eat sammies and maybe don't like cornbread. They could make the sammies on bread too. I just think on all the sides for ease of prep and serving in this situation, I would make them so that either could eat them. JMHO
 
They sell "vegetable" ground beef crumbles that I use for chile and it comes out good. I would use more beans than crumble though.

Also, might try the canned "vegetarian" soup stock they sell to cook the green beens in for flavor (although it won't work like a big hunk of smoked pork or turkey).

Jeff
 
So for 50 meat-eating people, you have 40# pork, 40# brisket, plus a bunch of chicken. That's probalby close to 100# of meat pre-cooked.

I always thought it was 1# uncooked per person, which ends up being closer to .5# cooked per person? That would mean you are cooking twice as much as you'd need, especially if you have some hearty sides and desert.
 
Big Mike said:
I think you have more than enough. I showed some estimated serving amounts, for things like the beans and coleslaw it could actually be a bit more. The pies are the only thing I don't think you have enough of. You would have to have 15 slices out of each one. I've never bought one of the large pies, so 15 slices from each may be doable.
Click to expand...

Last year I gave up on making my cobbler for large events and went to costco and got the pie. Tried to cut it so people could just serve themselves. After 10 minutes it looked like the cobbler, so I buy them now and crumble them up in the trays. It's huge.

Roo-B-Q'N said:
I think you are good with your meats, and most of your sides. A bit to heavy on the coleslaw and baked beans (If it is a true full pan and not a half pan). I agree with the others regarding a protien for the vegans, and for ease of hold would do the bocca burgers OR the hummus and pitas. I think the shrooms would be hard to hold for any length of time.

OH and I need the recipe for smoked mac and cheese, PM if you will share.
Click to expand...

The three recipes I float between on mac and cheese I found instead of baking them in the oven I just finish them in the smoker since the macaroni is already boiled and the sauce is cooked. Gives them a nice touch. I'll send you the one everyone seems to like the most.

Jeremiah said:
Meatless smoked chili? You can load it up with beans. Amounts look good, if anything there is too much, but that's a problem I would like to have. I don't have much experience with this, but I'm thinking $1000-1200 for price. Does that sound reasonable to you? Are you just dropping off the food (no cutlery, plates, drinks,etc)?

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,meatless_chilli,FF.html
Click to expand...

I'm going with recipe number 2 on the page. Great call.

OSD said:
Sounds good. I think I would cut back on the greenbeans. But I think I would do the greenbeans and baked beans so that either could eat them. Alot less confusion for setting up and people asking which is which, plus a lot less prep and would work for reg. eaters or Vegens that way.
Click to expand...

That's a great point. Definitely will do that. Have to do a test run this week for flavor. I have a couple local bakeries that will give me a deal (1.25/10 rolls) made fresh.

It might seem like a lot of meat but these guys are all 30 something it geeks. Even their CEO will be out at the top of the line. I made the mistake of under preparing one event by bringing .5# per person. Not a lot of fun when 1/3 - 1/2 line was done and I'm staring at empty trays.... The CEO laughed and ordered City BBQ to supplement. 30 pounds of meat from them was almost 1/2 what my entire bill was that time. I try to keep it between 7 - 11.00 per person. This one will end up at 10.00 because of the extra work for the vegan side. If they ask me to stay to tend, etc it will go to 15.00.

A lot of great comments, really appreciate all the insight.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Mike
I think you have more than enough. I showed some estimated serving amounts, for things like the beans and coleslaw it could actually be a bit more. The pies are the only thing I don't think you have enough of. You would have to have 15 slices out of each one. I've never bought one of the large pies, so 15 slices from each may be doable.

Last year I gave up on making my cobbler for large events and went to costco and got the pie. Tried to cut it so people could just serve themselves. After 10 minutes it looked like the cobbler, so I buy them now and crumble them up in the trays. It's huge.


Nice Idea!
 
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