Outdoor cooking for 900

GotGarlic

New member
Hi, all. I have volunteered to join a grill team at work, for a grilling competition/fundraiser in June. They're expecting about 900 guests. There are about 16-18 teams; from what I saw in past years, they usually make 1-2 main dish meat items and 2-3 side items.

We haven't set a menu yet, but my idea was to make my favorite potato salad: small new red potatoes with a vinaigrette dressing. Normally at home, I slice and cook the potatoes (no peeling), then put them in a ziplock bag with the dressing, leave it out on the counter, and turn periodically, to marinate the potatoes evenly. I have a couple of V-slicers, to make the slicing easier.

Any ideas or tips on how to do this for 900, outdoors? And how many pounds of potatoes would I need? Since there are so many teams, I doubt anyone gets food from all of them.

Any and all ideas appreciated. Thanks.
 

Lefty

Yank
I agree with you that you will not need a full portion of the potatoes for every one. My guess would be to do 100 pounds just to be on the safe side, and I don't think you will use more than 3/4s of that. When going to one of those events people will want to save room for the meats or more expensive stuff served to get their moneys worth, they wont be filling up on sides as much. They will also be sampling which fills you up quick.

Good luck & please post pictures I would love to see all the set ups.
 

Fisher's Mom

Mother Superior
Super Site Supporter
Here's something I found here [ame]http://askville.amazon.com/pounds-small-red-potatoes-feed-60-people-long-cook-roaster-oven/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=9703732[/ame], GG:

Q: I want to serve small red potatoes in butter & herbs for an open house. How many pounds would I need for approx 60 people, how long do I cook in roaster oven, and any suggestions on herbs?

A: I learned (Culinary Inst. Of America) that four pounds of potatoes will provide about 10 servings. However that figure is based on peeling the potatoes and you have specified small reds as your choice so you can reduce the quantity by about 10% to 15%. I’ll assume that you are using unpeeled potatoes (reds are best unpeeled). The calculation is as follows; 60 servings equals 6 units multiplied by 4 yielding 24 pounds less 10% to 15%. So the amount of small reds you’ll need is approximately 20 or 22 pounds to serve 60 people.

Re the baking time; that doesn’t change based on the quantity. You want to roast them in a single layer so they will all have some sides exposed to the dry oven heat in order to brown appropriately. To cook you’ll need enough cooking fat to coat the potatoes and enough salt and seasoning to suit your taste. Dry the potatoes thoroughly after washing. If necessary you can cut the larger ones in half to ensure that they are all cooked at the same time. Coat with fat, spread on a baking sheet (not too closely packed) and salt them just before you put them in the oven. They should all be tender and nicely browned in less than one hour when baked at 425 degrees F. You will want to stir them occasionally during the roasting so that they brown evenly. How often to stir is an eyeball thing. Look at them and stir them when the exposed sides are lightly browned. Start testing for doneness at 40-45 minutes and remove when fork tender. Serve immediately or they can be held for about an hour in a warm oven but don’t cover them. If you cover them they will steam and lose the crisp skin you achieved by roasting them.
You want to use a roaster oven so I’ll guess that you’ll have to repeat the roasting several times to produce the quantity you need. I can’t say exactly since I don’t know the size of the roaster you will be using.
Re my choice of herbs, oils etc.; I use light olive oil as my cooking fat and I am inclined to use a mixture of fresh, not dried, chopped chives, flat leaf parsley, rosemary and marjoram (since I have them in my garden it’s easy for me).The exact proportion of each herb is another eyeball deal so just use the amount of each that you have available. (I like lots of chives.) I do urge you to use fresh herbs since the dried versions don’t taste the same. You will need about one and one half cups of chopped herbs and 1 ½ to 2 cups of oil to cover all of the potatoes. First I coarsely chop all of the herbs. To season the oil before coating the potatoes I chop 2/3 of the herbs more finely and whisk them into the oil (don’t heat the mix) then pour it over the potatoes in a large bowl and toss until evenly distributed. I reserve the other 1/3 of the coarsely chopped herbs for garnishing the finished potatoes.
BTW: you can parboil the potatoes to reduce the roasting time if you wish. If you chose to do that you should add some of the herb mix to the cooking water – helps infuse the flavors into the potatoes. I prefer to do all of the cooking in the oven because the potatoes are crisper but I have a large oven to play with.
Good luck and happy eating!

That sounds a little low to me, GG. I would be inclined toward 50-55lbs. for every 100 people you plan to serve. And I would definitely borrow a 14 cup or larger food processor to slice those spuds.
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
first question comes to mind is:

are all 900 guests going to eat a full serving from each of the 16-18 teams?

I think I might get meself too stuffed to make all the rounds . . .
 

RobsanX

Potato peeler
Super Site Supporter
You say it's a competition, are you making tasting portions, or full portions? You could call the organizers to see what they recommend.
 
Hi, all. I have volunteered to join a grill team at work, for a grilling competition/fundraiser in June. They're expecting about 900 guests. There are about 16-18 teams; from what I saw in past years, they usually make 1-2 main dish meat items and 2-3 side items.

We haven't set a menu yet, but my idea was to make my favorite potato salad: small new red potatoes with a vinaigrette dressing. Normally at home, I slice and cook the potatoes (no peeling), then put them in a ziplock bag with the dressing, leave it out on the counter, and turn periodically, to marinate the potatoes evenly. I have a couple of V-slicers, to make the slicing easier.

Any ideas or tips on how to do this for 900, outdoors? And how many pounds of potatoes would I need? Since there are so many teams, I doubt anyone gets food from all of them.

Any and all ideas appreciated. Thanks.

I have not cooked for anywhere close to that # of people, so can't help you out with the amounts.

How about doing a griled potato salad similar to this:

Grilled Potato Salad
From Texas Beef Council and Tom Perini

2 pounds small red or white new potatoes, cut in half
2 red or green peppers, cut into 2 inch chunks
parsley (optional), finely chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 scallions, minced


1. Prepare a medium-hot fire.

2. In a medium bowl, toss potatoes and pepper with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the parsley. Thread on skewers and place on an oiled grill 4 to 6 inches above coals. Cook, turning and moving occasionally until potatoes are lightly browned and just tender when pierced with a fork, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove potatoes from skewers and set aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients, except scallions, gradually whisking in remaining olive oil until well blended. Pour dressing over potatoes, add scallions and toss.

NOTE: Dressing and skewers can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance.
*********
The above recipe is just an idea. I would do a test-run of the recipe at home first. The potatoes can be scrubbed & halved at home, & the dressing can be made ahead.

If you make traditional potato salad, it needs to cool down somewhere, prior to adding the dressing/marinade; and it needs to be refrigerated after - for 1-24 hours. You could check & see if they have a refrigeration system there. You might marinate in large aluminum trays (Think Robert Irvine's Dinner: Impossible.) A plus, is that your marinade is not mayo-based. Have a great time.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Is there something like Restaurant Depot near you??? It's a place where restaurants shop for food in large quantity. You can buy peeled , fresh potatoes there. You can also buy quartered, unpeeled red bliss.

If there is no restaurant depot, are any of you friendly enough with the owner of a restaruant? You can beg to buy the food from his vendor, perhaps.

Food for 900 is daunting, but you won't need to exponentially expand the item from your normal recipe. Make enough for 500 regular portions.
 
Top