A Feast in the Making - Part II

I have finalized my menu for my up coming buffet dinner for this Saturday. I think I've overestimated my ability to cook for a crowd with my original plan - 4 starters, 6 mains, 2 dessert. So I've scaled it down a little but will increase the portion of each dish. Also, this meal is to let my friends taste what I've learned and tasted during my Europe trip.

Most of the below dishes can be made a day in advanced and some can be prepared up to a certain stage and you can assemble it the day of the party. I will provide the recipes once I have some photos.

Now let's talk portion control cause really, when you are serving a crowd, the hardest thing is figuring out how much of each dish do you make - you don't want to be over ambitious and cook a crap load of food with a lot of leftovers; but you don't want to leave your guests only 50% satisfied. Some factors that affect how much food you make for a party: time of day (ex. afternoon tea or dinner), style of your party (ex. cocktail party or baby shower) type of food served (ex. all finger food or 5-course dinner), the people you will be feeding (ex. teenagers with unbelievably high metabolism or ladies who are watching their diets).

My party is going to be: housewarming dinner, buffet style, 15 grown ups - guy girl ratio 50:50.

Now, onto planning the menu and the rest of the game plan. This is usually how I figure out how much food to make. Think of a one-person portion of a 5-course meal at a restaurant. You often will get:

1) On-the-house canapes, say 1-2 pieces. And/or you get a fancy bread basket, filled with gourmet breads which you always can never stop eating.

2) Appetizer (around 6 - 8 bites. why so specific you ask? think about it, you get a tuna tartare with a few toasts on the side. I am pretty sure you can only get max. of 8 bites of that dish. OR if when you order mussels in white wine sauce to share, i really doubt you will eat more than 8 mussels with or without bread to mop up the sauce).

3) Soup (3/4 to 1 of a cup) / Salad (a little more than a handful of salad greens, lightly dressed).



4a) For meats, Guys usually order 8-10oz steak and they can finish that. Ladies 'usually' opt for the 6oz.

4b) You need some starch. Guys can usually finish the entire baked potato or mash that comes with the steak. Ladies, maybe half of that. Another tip, when you cook pasta, is usually 100g (3.5oz) per person.

4c) The side veg. Guys leave their broccoli untouched. Girls eat them.

Conclusion: portion around an average of 6-7oz of meat and 4oz of starch (i.e potatoes, rice and/or pasta) and just have a big plate of veggies around cause any leftovers, you can make a salad for yourself the next day.

5) Desserts. 1 portion per person at least.

The above is a rough estimate for your reference. Remember 1lb = 16ozs. I usually like to make a little more, in case there are some big eaters in the group and/or if anyone would like to doggy bag some home. :)

Just to be safe, I asked my friend Katie, who cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the same group of friends and she told me that they eat like as if they've just been let out of prison. She made some creamy baked seafood appetizer for each of them, 1x 12lbs turkey, beef bourguignon (she bought 4 catties worth of beef for this stew. that's roughly 5.32lbs of beef), sides of potatoes and veggies. ALL GONE! I don't understand how they could eat so much meat. And I don't know why I just gave you that portion control blurp above since I probably can't use this as a 'standard guide' to feed my 15 big eaters. anyhooo ....

Because I don't have a 12-pound turkey to stuff them with, I am adding a significant amount of starch into my menu - bread. Make more saucy dishes so they can mop up their plates with bread.

Starters & Canapés
- Assorted Spanish Hams Platter: Serrano, Sachichon, Lomo, Iberico - with sweet cantaloupe on the side (enough for 6 slices per person)
- Canapés Platter: Golden onion & roasted tomato mini quiches; Chorizo & potato mini quiches; Marinated crab & avocado salad on toast; and Smoked salmon on cucumber with dill & capers creme fraiche (around total of 6 pieces per person)

Bits and parts of the canapes

Soup
- Butternut squash & roasted cauliflower soup topped with bacon bits. Serve with homemade Parmesan crackers

Core ingredients for my soup

Main Dishes & Sides
- Poulet a la Moutarde (15pcs of chicken thigh)
- Duck braised in red wine (1 whole duck)
- Stewed beef (5 catties worth of beef)
- Seafood paella (2x)
- Steamed green beans & carrots topped with herbs and melted butter
- Roast spuds

My new paella pans

For seafood paella

Flavor base for beef stew

Desserts
- Mixed berry strudel with vanilla sauce (1pc per person)
- Coffee or tea

Drinks (all safely stored in my house already)
- 12 bottles Spanish wines (6 reds, 4 white, 2 rose)
- Coke x 3 bottles (regular + diet)
- Lemonade x 1 bottle
- Chinese & English teabags
*I am sure my guests will bring a bottle or 2.

Bread will be available throughout. With the wines, I think it will be enough food to go around. *fingers crossed* If they are still hungry, they can snack on olives. I have cans and cans of olives.

Here are some tips for cooking for a crowd:

Doubling recipes can throw you off in cooking time & seasoning. Doubling doesn't equal to doubling every single ingredient in the recipe. For example, you don't need to double the amount of fat to saute your vegetables. So use your common sense.

If you have a few dishes that can be made ahead of time, make sure you have enough space in your fridge to store them. One of the goals is not to give your guests food poisoning.

Set up a mini bar for you guests so that they can help themselves with drinks. The last thing you want is to have them coming in and out of your kitchen asking you for water, sodas and wine. Have plenty of ice around too.

Have fun and be able to enjoy yourself at your own party. Get all the help you can (ex store bought stuff, ask a few of your guests to bring desserts) so that you won't have to be stuck in the kitchen the whole time. Is OK to serve your guests store bought gourmet salsa or cheese platter with grapes and quince jelly. Is classy stuff. It shows them your taste in food and they will probably ask you where you got them from.


Stay tuned for Part III - the actual day.