(by 3 people)
Cooking for a crowd? STAY CALM, and read on.
Are you the host or hostess?
If you have host resposibilities in addition to making the food (and maybe decorating and serving!), choose simple food. Let me say this again. Do not be wooed by a delicious sounding dish if it is complicated. Make your menu simple, and have backup plans just in case. You will be more relaxed, and your guest will be able to celebrate. If you are edgy, they will feel bad for you, and not enjoy themselves.
Parties are fun, and you should have fun, too!
Parties are fun, and you should have fun, too!
Links for Big Occasions
For weddings, reunions, feasts of all kinds!
- Dayle's Growlies for Groups
- Large quantity recipes for groups, parties, freezing ahead, buffet table, food amounts to serve 100.
- Freezing Prepared Foods
- This factsheet from Clemson University provides information on safe preparation, thawing and serving, storage times and information on foods that do not freeze well. This can be very helpful for prepping ahead of time.
- Recipes for 50 Persons or More
- Includes spareribs and barbecue sauce, spaghetti and hamburger sauce, potato salad, and meat loaf and tomato sauce.
- Quantity Cooking Recipes from Razzle Dazzle Recipes
- Cooking for a crowd or doing an open house? Find recipes for quantity cooking here, including our appetizer recipes, main dish recipes, side dish recipes, punch recipes and dessert recipes.
- Large size recipes and tips for quantity cooking-- Ellen's Kitchen-- Big Pots
- Great resources for large scale cooking!
Great Stuff on Amazon
Secrets from a Caterer's Kitchen: The Indispensable Guide for Planning a Party
Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 10/12/2008)
Large Quantity Recipes, Fourth Edition
Amazon Price: $74.44 (as of 10/12/2008)
Party Receipts from the Charleston Junior League: Hors D'Oeuvres, Savories, Sweets
Amazon Price: $13.67 (as of 10/12/2008)
Reality Check, Or Peas and Corn Forever!
My husband and I threw a baptismal feast for our friend's son. It went beautifully, though there was one moment where we lost complete rational thought. Our menu was Roast Beef, Smashed Taters, Rosemary Sourdough bread with Olive Oil and Parmesan Cheese, Peas and Corn, and for dessert, Ice Cream with hot Raspberry Sauce.
When planning the quantities of vegetable needed, we figured about how much our family would eat in a sitting, multiplied by a factor representing how many of our family sized units there would be there, and voila! We bought our vegetables. There were lots of them. We happily cooked them all up in a huge pot. There were massive amounts of leftovers. We revisited our math, and found that somewhere in our computations we had lost sight of the fact that we were cooking 1/2 pound of peas and corn PER PERSON.
We froze it all, and added it to stews and soups over the coming months. Made baby food. Ate it with butter. We were sick of it, and wouldn't touch peas and corn in combination again for a year.
Don't forget to do a reality check!
When planning the quantities of vegetable needed, we figured about how much our family would eat in a sitting, multiplied by a factor representing how many of our family sized units there would be there, and voila! We bought our vegetables. There were lots of them. We happily cooked them all up in a huge pot. There were massive amounts of leftovers. We revisited our math, and found that somewhere in our computations we had lost sight of the fact that we were cooking 1/2 pound of peas and corn PER PERSON.
We froze it all, and added it to stews and soups over the coming months. Made baby food. Ate it with butter. We were sick of it, and wouldn't touch peas and corn in combination again for a year.
Don't forget to do a reality check!
How to serve the food
- Buffet Style
This is a great way to serve small groups of 30-75. If you are having more, consider setting up multiple buffet lines. If you only have one line and hundreds of guests, you MUST have lineservers to keep the line moving. Otherwise, it is not pretty. I was at that wedding. - Family Style
Perfect for an at home dinner party. Also great for larger gatherings. Seat 8-12 people at a table, assign a host or hostess. Roll the carts of main dish, side dish, etc. to each table. Give it to the host, and he will make sure it is passed and will notify the server when a refill is needed. Place bread or appetizers on the table for munchies before dinner is served. - Single Plate
The most elegant, and the most labor intensive. Each plate is prepared in the kitchen, and placed by the server in front of the individual.
Links for At-Home Affairs
Dinner parties, open houses, or holiday dinners. Check out these links for at home cooking for groups.
- Martha Stewart's Menus
- Martha's menus and recipes for at home indoor and outdoor affairs of all kinds!
- Perfect Entertaining - Free Recipes, Menus, Tips, Articles, and More for All Your Entertaining Needs
- Menus and themes for all kinds of shindigs.
- All Recipes | Entertaining Advice
- Great resource for recipes and entertaining advice.
- Menus at Epicurious.com
- Delicious plans for everyday meals and seasonal holiday feasts, plus more from Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and top chefs.
Reader Feedback
Jo
Great page Thanks for all you put on here, It helped alot
Posted August 19, 2008
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just_Dawn
Nicely done! I'll have to go check out some of your other lenses now. Posted September 02, 2006 |
