N
nancee
Guest
OK, here goes; I am trying to spare all the gory details
Butts...RD only had boneless butts. They were all chopped up and very dinky. They cooked horrible. Reheated worse. They never got tender; the guys were trying to chop them and they would not even chop with the cleaver. I finally managed to chunk up the last few by hand so they kind of got pulled pork...but it was slow
Chicken...no one had chicken breasts which is what the client requested( we also had a case of quarters). This was a HUGE problem as I finally got 15 breasts from the store up by the party (after they spent 1/2 trying to find them for me). They were expensive and huge and held up dinner service which pissed off the client. To make matters worse, the client told me at the end of the night that hers was inedible (Greg had temped EVERY piece of chicken as it came off the grill)...I guess she didn't like pink chicken!
Rolls...this was a big mistake I made. I had no idea of what she wanted so I figured we would get them up there. The kid I was having stop was both running a couple hours late but also had no money so I had to leave the job and go to the store myself. The store was far and once again not well stocked. I finally bought out all there small croissants; we ran out...they were expensive !!!
Lemons...in the midst of packing the truck in the monsoon they got left on the kitchen floor. See supermarket comments above. These were for the sweet tea btw as they were also mission critical. Ended up paying about $10 for a dozen lemons
Beans...a little hard but they were homemade!
Slaw...Mike Mills recipe. Would not bother again
Mac & Cheese...the hit. Used all the leftover cheeses from last weeks wine and cheese party and the rest of the #10 can of evaporated milk from the sweet potato pies
Potato Salad...Greg's mom had drilled in to me about making sure I had enough mayo that I went overboard and it was runny
Sauce...they actually liked the white sauce I made. The vinegar sauce was OK but they didn't use much. I understand some were looking for tomato based sauce which was NEVER on the menu. I had a bottle of Cattleman's in the kitchen but no one told me this till the end of the nite.
Sweet potato pies...OK, maybe a little dry; we tried doing individual tarts; would have been better off with a bunch of full size pies. The Southerners took the but not Yankees
Banana pudding...used #10 banana; #10 vanilla, block of cream cheese, cup sour cream, vanilla and banana liquor. made 3 pans; they only used one. Guess the Yankees were as unfamiliar with banana pudding as they were sweet potato pies
She had asked for cookies at the last minute so while we should have been busy doing other things, Greg was making cookies. The Yankees must have recognized them as we ran out; which was OK
We made coffee although it was not requested I figured it was forgotten. Anyone that fussy about the desserts had to want coffee. I was right in this case
Food costs were $1000; we figure we each had 50+ hours into the gig plus $80 gas...it was 2 hours each way with rain and traffic
Moral of the story: be careful what you promise
Also confirm, reconfirm and reconfirm the schedule with the client...starting AND ending times have a way of moving around at the last minute in a rented facility. Had we had a different window specified by the day before, a lot of these problems would have been eliminated. I would also get the facility to confirm their schedule in advance; not just the client.
Butts...RD only had boneless butts. They were all chopped up and very dinky. They cooked horrible. Reheated worse. They never got tender; the guys were trying to chop them and they would not even chop with the cleaver. I finally managed to chunk up the last few by hand so they kind of got pulled pork...but it was slow
Chicken...no one had chicken breasts which is what the client requested( we also had a case of quarters). This was a HUGE problem as I finally got 15 breasts from the store up by the party (after they spent 1/2 trying to find them for me). They were expensive and huge and held up dinner service which pissed off the client. To make matters worse, the client told me at the end of the night that hers was inedible (Greg had temped EVERY piece of chicken as it came off the grill)...I guess she didn't like pink chicken!
Rolls...this was a big mistake I made. I had no idea of what she wanted so I figured we would get them up there. The kid I was having stop was both running a couple hours late but also had no money so I had to leave the job and go to the store myself. The store was far and once again not well stocked. I finally bought out all there small croissants; we ran out...they were expensive !!!
Lemons...in the midst of packing the truck in the monsoon they got left on the kitchen floor. See supermarket comments above. These were for the sweet tea btw as they were also mission critical. Ended up paying about $10 for a dozen lemons
Beans...a little hard but they were homemade!
Slaw...Mike Mills recipe. Would not bother again
Mac & Cheese...the hit. Used all the leftover cheeses from last weeks wine and cheese party and the rest of the #10 can of evaporated milk from the sweet potato pies
Potato Salad...Greg's mom had drilled in to me about making sure I had enough mayo that I went overboard and it was runny
Sauce...they actually liked the white sauce I made. The vinegar sauce was OK but they didn't use much. I understand some were looking for tomato based sauce which was NEVER on the menu. I had a bottle of Cattleman's in the kitchen but no one told me this till the end of the nite.
Sweet potato pies...OK, maybe a little dry; we tried doing individual tarts; would have been better off with a bunch of full size pies. The Southerners took the but not Yankees
Banana pudding...used #10 banana; #10 vanilla, block of cream cheese, cup sour cream, vanilla and banana liquor. made 3 pans; they only used one. Guess the Yankees were as unfamiliar with banana pudding as they were sweet potato pies
She had asked for cookies at the last minute so while we should have been busy doing other things, Greg was making cookies. The Yankees must have recognized them as we ran out; which was OK
We made coffee although it was not requested I figured it was forgotten. Anyone that fussy about the desserts had to want coffee. I was right in this case
Food costs were $1000; we figure we each had 50+ hours into the gig plus $80 gas...it was 2 hours each way with rain and traffic
Moral of the story: be careful what you promise
Also confirm, reconfirm and reconfirm the schedule with the client...starting AND ending times have a way of moving around at the last minute in a rented facility. Had we had a different window specified by the day before, a lot of these problems would have been eliminated. I would also get the facility to confirm their schedule in advance; not just the client.
