About Tina Addair Expertise I can answer general questions on virtually any cooking related subject. I have reliable knowledge on cooking for large groups, cooking methods and techniques, ingredients, recipes and safety issues. My personal favorites are meat, seafood, poultry, and desserts, but enjoy everything. I do not have extensive knowledge about world cuisine, but can answer general questions relating to this subject.
Experience I have been actively cooking and studying the subject on my own for about 15 years. I worked as both a line and banquet chef for 4 years, and have trained as a pastry chef.
Awards and Honors I received a Customer Satisfaction Award from the hotel I worked at for being personally recognized by patrons for preparing outstanding meals.
Question I am cooking a favourite recipe of mine, chicken parmigiana. This chicken breast is lightly breaded and fried for approx. 5min on each side - then placed in a casserole dish in your favourite tomato sauce in a 350 oven for 40 min. NOW, I want to cook this same dish for 70 people for a grad dinner. I will be using several ovens and putting 4 casserole dishes (9x13-glass or corningware) in each oven. I need to know how this will affect the temperature and the 'spacing' of the casseroles in my oven. I can't have both of the oven racks in the 2 middle positions of the oven because you can't fit the casserole dishes in between, which means I would have to put 2 on the top rack and 2 on the bottom rack (quite close to heating elements) Should I reduce the temperature? by how much? and should the amount of time change? And...should I switch the top casseroles to the bottom halfway through the cooking time and vice versa? I am preparing dinner for the 20th of June!!! Please advise!!!
Answer Hello Sheila! You can keep the oven temp the same, but definitely switch the top and bottom casseroles halfway through cooking. Your main obstacles will be the casseroles on the bottom cooking faster than usual and the ones on top cooking slower than usual, and the casseroles on the lower rack burning on the bottom. Swapping them out should help resolve this. Also, be sure to cover the bottom of the casserole dishes with a few cooking sprays of nonstick cooking sprays. Keep a check, and if the underside of the casseroles appear to be burning despite doing these things, try placing a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil (shiny side up) over the bottom burner to deflect the heat. As far as the cooking time, it will probably increase, but you will have to just keep a check on it. There is no set way to determine how much longer it will take, but the more space you take up in an oven, the less the heat is allowed to circulate. Just to give you a general idea, I would plan on cooking them 20 minutes, switch the top and bottom casseroles, cook 20 minutes more, switch again, then cook 15-20 minutes more. Hope this helps, and good luck!
