Expert: Kay Cole - 7/20/2011

Question
QUESTION: Having a bridal shower for approx 32 people.  Serving ham salad and chicken salad on croissants.  Approx how many pounds of the ham and chicken do we need.  Also how many sandwiches should be made.

ANSWER: Hi - are you inquiring as to number of pounds of chicken or chicken salad - ham or ham salad? I would make 1.5 sandwiches per person of each type - but, I would adjust that to have more chicken salad than ham. I am assuming these are mini croissants. If regular size croissant...a different story - in that case, I would figure 1.5 Total per person - also, this can be effected by how much other food you will be serving along with...is the shower at noon or 2 in the afternoon...these variables can factor in as well.  K

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We are having both the ham salad and chicken salad on the larger corsant rolls.  Shower is at 1:00 in the afternoon.  We are having 2 salads, fruit basket, veggie tray to go with the sandwiches. Just wondering how many ounces should we figure for each sandwich.

Answer
Menu sounds very nice. I would figure about 2.5 ounces per sandwich...about a half a cup would be my estimate. I would not worry too much about the precision of amounts when making them...take a third of the salad of one type and eye ball the amount that looks attractive and plentiful...see how many sandwiches you get out of the third mixture and you can see if you need to lighten up a bit or perhaps go a bit heavier for the rest - be fairly conservative on the first third of the first type.

They will most likely take one or the other...but, you want all the guests to have a choice (do go heavier on the chicken salad) but, if you figure 1.5 sandwiches per person total - it should work out fine.  Good luck with your event. I hope these thoughts have helped you. Kind regards, K