Expert: Teri Davis Newman - 7/13/2008

Question
hi Teri! I have offered to provide the food for a friends family reunion of approx 60 people. There will be both men and women and a variety of ages attending. I have cooked for large groups before but always for my own parties where I had access to my own kitchen and stove/oven. What I am doing for this reunion is providing the food only which will mean they will have to re-heat some of the food prior to serving. This is the menu that has been put together: Mambo pork loin roast (this has a sauce so it should reheat easily), some kind of chicken dish (I need a good recipe that can be reheated easily without drying out the chicken. I will be using a mixture of skinless and boneless breast and thighs), bean salad, potato salad, pasta salad, veggies and dip, buns and butter and a pickle and olive tray. This is what I am hoping you can help me with: 1) Recipes for easy, economical salads (potato, bean, pasta), recipe for chicken that can be reheated without drying out and how long it would take to reheat. 2) how much should I make of each dish? How many lbs of meat and salads do i estimate for each person? 3) how large of a veggie tray and pickle/olive tray should I make?

I think that about covers it and I really look forward to hearing back from you soon!

Jennifer

Answer
Wow Jennifer!! Lots of questions!!  I'm thinking that if you were to email me directly we could discuss this a bit and that might be a better and easier option for you.  I can give you quantity recipes but if you like I can give you them scaled so that you can do a batch and taste.  You have too many salads, I suggest you cut out the bean salad as they are never really popular at buffets whereas potato and pasta salads are big crowd pleasers.  I've got an outstanding German potato salad and if you make a double batch of this, you will have enough for 60 and it's wildly popular.  We sold literally tons of it at the restaurant.  How do you feel about a chicken curry type dish?  They are easy to reheat, get better with reheating and don't dry out--I would recommend that or a caccitore chicken for the same reasons.  Here's the caterer's rule of portions and then if you will email me directly at LimoBarbie@aol.com and we can discuss the rest.  We can also talk on the phone if you like, I will email you my number.
7 ounces of cooked meat entree
4 ounces of each side dish up to 3
3 ounces of salad greens
1 4 ounce dessert serving
6-8 appetizer bites per person
16 oz of non-alcoholic beverage
2 oz of chips per person
1 oz of dip per person
Multiply the ounces times the number of guests and then divide by 16 to give you pounds of food and the beverage by 128 to give you the number of gallons of beverage you will need.
Email me directly and we will get this done for you!