SC - Re: First feasts

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    If you have a good sized smoker, I suggest the $.88/lb briskets from
Wal-Mart. Cook 'em slow & sweet, they come out great! You'll lose about 5%
from trimming fat, but there's no bones. You can get fresh hams for around
$1/lb if you look around & catch the sales, and turkey breasts are always
popular and fairly cheap at the moment. Even if you have access to a good
kitchen, having a smoker will ease a lot of the oven load, and it's almost
impossible to oversmoke meat, as long as you keep the water pan filled.
    Since you have a fryer, think about doing some fritters (or frittroes,
if you want to be PC) or (heh, heh) turnip chips. Had a friend once who
served potato chips that had a REALLY interesting taste - when I asked, he
said that they were an experiment, and how did I like the turnips? That's
when I started asking before munching . . .
    Removes are dishes that are taken away (thus 'remove') during a course.
So just go with however many courses you want, although anything over 5 and
the workload increases dramatically. The kitchen you're working with sounds
adequate, but make sure you have enough cooking & serving vessels! Prep &
freeze will save you awesome amounts of aggravation - it's wonderful to just
heat & serve! Hey, it works for Stouffers . . .
    Presentation is a matter of 'how fancy do you want to be?'. Most folks
are happy to have the food arrive hot & quick, though you want more flash
for the High Table. Personally, I like to serve family style - a vessel of
food for each table, they serve it from there, boardinghouse style. Saves a
lot of running on the part of the servers, and portion control from the
kitchen is greatly simplified.

    Sieggy

- ----- Original Message -----

> Hi, folks.
> I've been asked to bid my first feast for April.  I have experience in
quantity
> cooking, but am unsure about how to present the "removes."  I have a copy
of
> "Take 1000 eggs" and I can borrow Pleyn Delit from my college library.
>
> Using the recipes from these two sources, can you help me set up a menu
for my
> first feast?
>
> There are some assumptions I'd like to work with. The sponsoring group is
> attempting to find/use a site I am unfamiliar with, so until I know more,
I'd
> like to work out two menus.  One using a more primitive site, and one
using a
> cafeteria type kitchen.
>
> Other assumptions:
>
> General:
> Feeding 200 people
> No set theme - yet
> Try to keep to approx $5 per person.
>
> For primitive:
>      I own a large wood smoker, a big gas grill and a turkey fryer setup.
I can
>  haul this equipment to site.  I also have two 2-burner propane stoves and
> plenty of large pots & pans.  I'd need to be able to do much prep in
advance,
> and transport in coolers, etc.
>
> Cafeteria:
>      The site we usually use has two cookstoves, ovens, plenty of prep
surface,
> etc.  Two refrigerators a freezer and an ice machine.
>
> Over the weekend, I'm going to put together two menus.  I'll probably post
them
> Sometime on Sunday.  Thanks in Advance for all your help! If it weren't
for this
> group, I probably wouldn't ever get the courage to try.
> Lady Liadnan (Leanna)
>