HELPS/ADVICE for Serving LARGE Crowds

Words in red print like this are words I am adding to this informational posting. Since it won't be long before warmer weather returns and families will be holding various kinds of parties and picnic-style events, I'm sharing this.

BACKGROUND:  This helpful information, along with various recipes to serve 100 (I've already posted some of them under Recipes to Serve a Crowd  on this blog)  comes from Page 14 of my old (now aged/yellowed) May 13, 1988 weekly issue of the AGRI-VIEW paper and this was put together by their Associate Editor, Jane Fyksen.  The hotline phone number listed further down in this artice is still active after all this time-- I know this because I dialed it a minute ago. 

I've typed the following information from the article:

"Farm women are experts at cooking hearty meals for people with big appetites.  But even the pros may get weak knees at the prospects of serving 25, 50 or 100 guests.

"Diane Brion, farmwife and Extension home economist in Buffalo and Pepin Counties, has some advice that will make that wedding reception, family reunion or church dinner less overwhelming.  Even if you're not involved in cooking for a big gathering this spring or summer, you might want to file away her suggestions for later reference.

• "Cooks have to think differently when serving a crowd, Brion directs.  For instance, would you serve 50 people frozen or canned peas.  Canned peas are more economical, she notes.  
• "What about apple crisp or apple pie?  A big pan of apple crisp will save a lot of baking time. Meatloaf or meatballs?  Again, meatloaf saves time.
• "A molded or tossed salad?  Not only is Jell-O less expensive, but a tossed salad won't stay fresh looking for long on your serving table.
• "Baked or barbecued chicken?  Barbecuing is probably the way to go if you're going to be short on oven space.
• "And how about fruit punch or milk?  Milk is the best choice, as you'll need a very large container to mix the punch in.
• "If you're having a buffet or picnic at which guests are apt to be moving around, some foods should be avoided, like soup, Jell-O, if it must be put on the same plate as hot food, most foods needing a fork, and ice cream and cream pie.

"Quadrupling recipes the limit

• "Brion warns that recipes should not be increased any larger than four times.  'Purists' say stick to doubling only.  Brion admits that she adjusted a pancake recipe for a much bigger group.  The batter was way too runny.  'The proportions get all out of whack,' she notes.
• "Food safety is a consideration if food is going to sit out during your gathering.  She discusses some situations that may crop up.  For instance, if you like to cook ahead and made three large briskets and refrigerated the meat while it was quite hot in the roasting pan in which it was cooked, and the meat was still warm the following morning, you had better figure you're out $60 in meat.  Over night, and in that warm, moist atmosphere, bacteria had a good opportunity to multiply.  Further cooking now won't guarantee that the meat is safe.  In the future, divide hot, cooked foods into smaller containers to promote fast cooking in the refrigerator.

"Try to avoid mishaps

• "The ancient philosopher Horace said, 'A host is like a general--it takes a mishap to reveal his true genius.'  The really smart hostess gives her guests that impression without having it get to the point of a mishap.  She knows how to stay ahead of her guests and keep the food looking and tasting good for several hours during her gathering.
• "Just remember that several smaller dishes of food are better than preparing one big platter.  The back-up plates can be refrigerated or kept in the oven prior to serving.  Hot food should be served from chafing dishes or warming trays registering 140 degrees.  You should probably check your chafing dish, because often the warmers only hold food at 110 to 120 degrees--a good growth temperature for some bacteria.
• "Rest the serving dish containing cold foods on a bed of crush ice and re-plate it with fresh, full trays after two hours.  It's not safe to add new food to a serving dish that has sat out at room temperature more than two hours. Not so long ago, I attended a graduation party where the family had a plastic children's swimming pool on the serving table-- they had dumped a whole lot of ice into it--  with all the dishes that needed to stay cold sitting among and on the ice cubes, the 'cold food' WAS COLD! 
• "Let's say you're planning to take 100 pieces of marinated chicken to church for a dinner.  It's not a good idea to transport them in a big plastic trash bag.  The bag doesn't provide enough insulation to keep chicken warm for over two hours.
• "Next, check the package to see if the (trash) bags are approved for use with food.  If there is no such statement, assume they're not.  It's possible the marinade3 could allow chemicals in the plastic bag to get into the chicken.  Also, a deodorant is sometimes used in trash bags, and it could harm the taste of the chicken.

Hotline can help hurried hostesses

• "Brion says the USDA has a meat and poultry toll-free hotline that hostesses can call weekdays for answers to their cooking questions (1-800-535-4555). Again, just to see if this hotline is still up and working almost 24 years after this article was written, I dialed it right now-- YES!, it is STILL available to help you out with any questions you have.
• "Brion says a common mistake when setting up buffets is crowding too much on the table.  The general rule for arranging the table is to start with plates, then cold dishes, hot dishes, salad, bread and beverage.  The silver, placed parallel to the edge of the table, and napkins (not stacked) are picked up last.
• "Removing main dishes for a big sit-down dinner and serving the desserts can be tricky.
• "'Ask for help,' Brion directs.  'One person can remove two main course plates, take them to the kitchen and return with two servings of dessert.  Or if the guests are going to serve themselves dessert from a buffet table, ask them to place plates and silverware in a designated spot.'"

As this newspaper article continues, various menus, shopping lists, and recipes are listed (including one for a large breakfast event).  I don't know how much of this I'll get typed up as time goes on, but if you have some particular question, and if she answers it in this article, I'll share when you post a comment/question about it.  For example, she gives  'Recipes to serve 100' for Scrambled Eggs, Pancakes, Barbeques (I already posted that recipe on my blog), Brownies, Meat Loaf (this recipe, also, I've posted), Cole Slaw, Scalloped Potatoes, and Peach Coffee Cake.

Farm Journal's Brownies for a Crowd

Just the mention of Farm Journal and my mind/memory go back to when I was growing up.  Each time the magazine would come, it was fun to look at their recipe section to see what good cooks (besides my mom!), were making.  I don't know how/when the recipe section was discontinued, but I do know it seems like AGES since I've 'gone down that lane'.  My memory was jogged while I was in Qualheim's True Value yesterday to buy milk replacer and mineral for our  cattle-- there on a rack were recipe books filled with old recipes (some dating back to 1931) from the food section of the Farm Journal's I remember.

One of the many popular recipes 'from those days' is for this large pan of brownies.  My husband (these days, my main tester person) said he likes these because they seem like a 'cross' between brownies and chocolate cake.  He likes that they aren't overly 'heavy' with chocolate flavor, something others wouldn't like.  What do I think?  I like them-- they are moist, they have chocolate in 'em and, as a result, they are dark brown!  This will be an easy kind of keeper recipe for me.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup regular margarine (my choice is to use butter, which I did)
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate syrup* (the recipe I followed for 'copy cat' Hershey's chocolate syrup is at bottom of this post)
• 1 cup PLUS 1 tablespoon sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the margarine (butter!) with the sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs, two (one) at a time.
3. Add vanilla.  Mix very well.
4. Stir in chocolate syrup.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; stir this into the chocolate mixture.  Mix only until well incorporated.
6. Add chopped nuts.
7. Pour into well-greased 15½ x 10½ x 1" jelly roll pan, and spread evenly.  (For beauty/ease in cutting and transferring to a serving plate, I prefer to spray pan very lightly, line with foil or parchment paper and spray that... and,... then, pour batter in-- yep!, after all that 'monkey business', they easily lift out to cutting board when cooled.)
8. Bake in moderate oven (350°) for 22-25 minutes, or until slight imprint remains when touched very lightly with finger.  (With my oven, it took almost 27 minutes.)
9. Remove pan to cooling rack (or to a cold porch!), and allow to cool.

Old-fashioned Chocolate Icing:
Meanwhile, ...even if this recipe sounds 'weird', for a thin sort of 'old-fashioned' kind of smooth/self-leveling icing, do this:

1. Combine 6 tablespoons of margarine (I used butter), 6 tablespoons of milk (equals 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons), and 1 cup sugar in a 3 qt. saucepan. Stir until very blended. 
2. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 seconds (I boiled mine for 2 minutes).
3. Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips; remove from heat and stir to melt.
4. Continue stirring until mixture thickens slightly and cools down a bit (For this, I used an electric hand mixer and beat it for close to five minutes.) 
5. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir well. 
6. Pour icing over cooled pan of Brownies.  Cool all, again, until icing sets up.  Cut into 2.5" x 1" bars-- makes 3 dozen.

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I adapted a recipe from CopyKat to make this Hershey's Chocolate Syprup as below: 

First, why would I bother making my own when it's so readily available in store-bought containers?  Because the first ingredient on their label these days is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP-- that's a good enough reason for me to get mixin' and boilin'!  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I refuse EVERYTHING that has 'that kind of corn syrup' in it, but I try not to add it to anything if there's another choice.  So, having explained that, here goes....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Hershey's cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cups water
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in 3 quart saucepan.
2. Add water, and whisk until very smooth/blended.
3. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring/watching carefully.
4. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes.  Be careful/watchful because this can easily boil over.
5. Remove from heat; after it cools a bit, add vanilla and refrigerate.  It will thicken some more as it cools.

Meat Loaf (100 Servings)

Here comes another recipe from a newspaper article, "Cooking for Large Crowd Need Not Be Colossal Task" which was published in our AGRI-VIEW paper, May 13, 1988.

Servings:  100

INGREDIENTS:

• 20 pounds ground beef (not the fatty kind)
• 2½ pounds bread crumbs (2½ quarts)
• 2 pounds ground pork
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 2 quarts milk
• 12 eggs
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix everything together well.
2. Pack into 10 greased (or sprayed) pans, OR shape into 10 loaves and place in roasting pans.
3. Bake at 325-degrees for 1½ hours.

Potato Salad (about 100 Servings)

I don't remember where I copied this recipe from, but... it's in my recipe box.  If you like the following flavors, this might work for you.  If not, use your own 'salad sauce' and just use the  list below to give you an idea on how much of the 'basics' is recommended for 100 servings.  My comments are in red print below.

INGREDIENTS:

• 40 pounds potatoes
• 5 cups finely chopped onion
• 20 teaspoons salt
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 5 cups Italian Salad Dressing
• 10 cups mayonnaise or salad dressing (like Miracle Whip)
• 1 cups chopped celery
• 3 dozen hard-cooked eggs, cut up

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash potatoes. 
2. Heat water to boiling.  Add un-pared potatoes to boiling water.  Recently, while watching a program on Food Network, it was said that we will end up with a more evenly cooked potato if we start their cooking in COLD water and let them heat along with the water.
3. Boil for 30-35 minutes OR until tender (not mushy!)
4. Drain, cool and peel.
5. Cut potatoes into small cubes (or slices, or ??) and combine in bowl with chopped onion.
6. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper.
7. Add Italian salad dressing and gently mix well.
8. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
9. JUST BEFORE SERVING, add salad dressing OR mayonnaise.  Toss until the potatoes are well coated.
10. Stir in chopped celery and chopped eggs.
11. Refrigerate promptly and KEEP cold.

Sloppy Joe's (BBQ mix) to Serve 100

This is a recipe I found this on Page 14 of our farmer-oriented AGRI-VIEW  paper on May 13, 1988, and I made this up for the high school graduation parties we had for our children.  Other times, I've made this up and had it frozen in family-sized portions for when we'd get so busy with seasonal work around here.  Since then, I've had a number of requests for it.

BARBEQUE (100 servings)

18 pounds GROUND BEEF (CHUCK)

2 tablespoons SALT

1 of No. 10 can (the biggie!) of CATSUP

1/2 cup CIDER VINEGAR

1 teaspoon ground BLACK PEPPER

1/4 cup WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE

4 cups (1 quart) finely chopped CELERY

2 cups finely chopped ONIONS

1 cup prepared MUSTARD

1 cup BROWN SUGAR

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Brown GROUND BEEF (this works great in a Nesco type roaster)-- drain fat.  Add all other ingredients, mix well, and continue heating on low heat for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, checking and stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking on bottom or sides of roaster.