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jo ann 11/09/07 |
good morning, i've been asked to do an open house (12-3p.m) for 100 people. the facility is an office type setting, withou a kitchen. i would have to prepare the food in a licensed kitchen that is about 5-10 minutes away. my idea so far, is open faced baguette pieces with various cheese spreads, curried chicken sandwich/buns,? i had thought about making a soup, but bringing it over and a hot plate, not sure. any ideas about a practical easy plan for this situation would be helpful. i also want to make it kind of christmasy. your website is wonderful! i use it as a reference point. i just need some feedback. thanks so much. |
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ellen 11/09/07 |
With transport I would not do open face anything. I would do wraps. Different fillings for color. Several cheese balls and logs. Cold marinated antipasto, artichoke olive condite, or asparagus. A good relish platter, not just veggies. A mini dessert bar with about 4 different 2 bite sweets per person. 2 18 quart roasters would be just right for soup for 100 and you could do a red and a green- roasted red pepper and tomatoe bisque and pea with pesto and spinach, perhaps. These people will basically be looking to eat a full lunch. |
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Cindy Gould 11/30/07 |
dinner for 100--no kitchen! Hi, just found this site. Hope you can help. We are serving dinner to approx 80-100 men, following an evening church service. The men are ex-cons, trying to return to society. We serve dinner, but all food is prepared ahead of time, driven 1 hour, and sits for about 2 hours during the service. Last month we served bbq sandwiches. They were still warm when we unwrapped the trays and made up the sandwiches. For December we thought we'd do a scaled-down variation on a t-day/christmas dinner. We have turkey. Originally wanted to do a turkey pot pie. But turns out the turkey is more of the lunch meat variety and i don't think it will be good as pot pie. I guess we could cube it? Anyway, now I'm thinking about sliced turkey and gravy but am stumped for a side. I'm afraid mashed potatoes are an awful lot of work for such a large quantity. And they don't taste very good cold. Another option might be dressing on the side. Or maybe green bean casserole? We are planning on a homemade cranberry sauce with apples and oranges. Pumpkin Bars for dessert.
I liked the pot-pie because it was one dish. Help! |
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ellen 12/01/07 |
I am afraid you took quite a safety risk with 1 hour transport PLUS two hours standing without provision for heat. Unless the sandwiches were 140 degrees (too hot to handle bare-handed when you took them out), they had been sitting in the PRIME 40-140 bacteria growing range for much of their wait time, and the recommended time from cooking to eating in that range is no more than two hours, max. Use ice chests to keep the food cold and hot. In this situation, I suggest you look at the baked potato bar info- the cooking/transport method with the ice chests would give you safely hot food. Also, you could take two Nesco roasters (18 quart electric roasters) to keep a broccoli and cheese dish or green bean casserole warm and heat the meat or a second hot dish. Almost anyplace has the wiring to plug in one or two of these, and almost anyone can carry one. They are a good size for this size group. The dressing or pot pie is just plain dangerous under the circumstances. Too many ingredients that support bacterial growth, standing for too long, with too many chances for contamination as they are handled and mixed. Look into the roasters. They could be used for chili, casseroles, etc. If you are going to do this regularly and want to serve hot food, you need some equipemnt. The roasters canhold hot foods safely for hours at 165 degrees. There is also a catering case, heavy plastic, called a Cambro that can be used to move and hold hot foods, but they actually cost more than the roasters. |