AboutChef Todd Mohr Expertise I'd be glad to answer your questions about how basic cooking methods apply equally to cooking for two in your home, or 1000 for an event.
Experience Executive Chef at a large hospital, feeding 3000 people three times daily over 8 different menus. Chef at The National Security Agency in Washington, DC, part of a team feeding 15,000 people twice daily.
Publications I am a featured author at Ezine Articles (ezinearticles.com, ideamarketers.com, articlecity.com, buzzle.com, selfgrowth.net)
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Arts, Long Island University
Associate of Arts, Baltimore International Culinary College
Past/Present Clients My catering company boasts many of the nations largest companies as clients over the past 8 years.
Question I am hosting a wedding reception, and doing all the cooking,for 180 guest.The menu is veg.tray,fruit tray,sesame chicken, mac and cheese,cold cut and cheese tray, meatballs,potato salad,rolls ham biscuits,tea. please help me with the amount of food i should buy. thanks so much.
Answer Correct portioning is a common problem for home cooks, whether cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 10, or hosting a wedding for 180, people usually WAY over portion in an effort not to run out of food. This always winds up wasting lots of food, but especially, lots of money.
As Executive Chef at a large hospital, and Chef at a very large government institution, I had to plan menus for 15,000 people daily. It all comes down to math and portioning. However, the more items you have on your buffet, the harder it is to control portioning.
Here's why: If you served only one item to 100 people, you'd make about 100 portions. But, if you have 2 items, you can't just make 50 and 50. What if the first 50 people all choose the first item? Person 51 doesn't have a choice. So, on two items, you really have to cook for 150 people to assure everyone has a choice. This is made more difficult by having more than 5 items on your buffet. The more items, the more you have to assure choice for everyone, the more overproduction, the more waste.
You have too many items on your menu. Sesame chicken, mac and cheese, meatballs, fruit/veg/cheese tray and ham biscuits sound like a nice round menu. I'd suggest leaving off the cold cuts. It doesn't go over well anyway. People don't like having to make their own cold sandwich when there's a hot chafing dish they just have to scoop from. Plus, cold cuts at a wedding reception? Really? Perhaps add a salad, dressings and rolls to the hot items to fill people up.
Here's my suggestion for production portioning per person:
1 ounce of cheese, 1/2 oz fruit, 1/2 oz veg
2 ounces of chicken, 2 ounces macaroni, 2 ounces meatballs
1 ham biscuit per person.
If you include the cold cuts:
2 ounces meat, 1 ounce cheese per person, 2 ounces potato salad.
The human stomach has a capacity of about a quart, or 10-12 ounces of food. Keep this in mind when adding your final portions. As stated above, you need enough over-production to assure choice to all attendees. Even if you add up what I have above, that's about 12 ounces per person. If you're uncomfortable with cutting portions so close, then add 10% to each. At least you're using a tangible formula, and not just guessing.
The average plate should be 4 ounces of protein, 2-3 ounces of starch, 3-4 ounces of vegetable for each person.
Good luck with your production. It's a very difficult task to cook for 180 people if you're not used to it. The coordination, and ability to keep things hot without degrading require special equipment that the home cook usually doesn't have.
Ultimately, my suggestion is to hire a professional caterer. Then, you won't have to worry at all.
