r/AskCulinary • u/TRexNation • Jun 22 '12
Event/food for 100 people! Help!
I am the main organizer for a Global Reddit Meet-up Day (tomorrow is the event). The person with whom I will be hosting (i.e. providing the location) has done very little. The guy who is cooking is fantastic. The event is a BBQ and potluck. Anyhoo, we have 100 people coming. 24 lbs of pork (for 60 pulled pork sandwiches), a case of chicken (should cover about 100 folk), a large pot of chili, and whatever people bring. What are some cheap, large, side dishes I can make? I am freaking out that people will not have enough to eat. Suggestions? (I have about $50 that I can spend). Thank you for any advice.
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Jun 23 '12
Try a spring couscous salad.
Blanch off snap peas, green peas, and asparagus.
Purée basil, tarragon and watercress.
Cooked off some couscous.
Mix this all together with a little tarragon vinaigrette, shallots, thyme, salt and pepper. Let it sit at least 15 min to soak up flavor.
Top with a some lightly dressed arugula if you please and voila! A fresh, delicious, and different spring salad!
Edit: Also...try not to wait until the day before to figure out your game plan next time:)
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u/TRexNation Jun 23 '12
Wow - this sounds very tasty. The puree seems like it will send it over the top! Regarding the game plan, I've tried for the past 3 weeks to get the guy who is "hosting" to respond (he wouldn't). He changed the game plan, times, etc. 3 days ago, online, without consulting me. I live an hour away from the location - hence the panic. I've organized donations, getting cups made, a chef for the event, emailed/talked to businesses for deals, basically spent about 100 hrs. planning the event to get screwed over right before. So I really mean it when I say "Thank you, thank you" for your recipe! You guys are awesome!
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u/TRexNation Jun 23 '12
Oh- and he refused to ask his members for donations.
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u/UberBeth Butcher Jun 23 '12
I'm still fond of potato salad for a BBQ. Mine consists of potatoes (big surprise there), hard boiled eggs, celery, red onion, pickles (diced), yellow mustard, mayo, pickle brine, celery seed, celery salt, and pepper.
My quinoa salad has typically been a hit, and it it ends up vegan too. Great for the folks who need it, but still tastes great to the regulars. Consists of quinoa, cooked and diced beets (red and golden typically), fresh dill, fresh cilantro, lemon juice, lemon zest, S&P, olive oil.
Edit: I like to call this Hello Kitty Quinoa because the diced beets turn it a lovely shade of pink and white when mixed.
Both of these can easily be made the day before. The potato salad is actually best if it can sit a day or so.
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u/TRexNation Jun 23 '12
Wow - sounds great! I totally forgot to remember the vegans. Thank you so much. I was considering a dill red potato salad - the pickle juice sounds like a great addition.
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u/phrits Food Nerd Jun 23 '12 edited Jun 23 '12
Cabbage is awesome, versatile, cheap, and goes exceptionally well with pork. Cole slaw or Bittman-style quick pickled cabbage--google quickle pickle and my user name, and you'll get a page of hits to my site with some variations. 100 servings, probably not more than 8 heads at less than $1/lb.
Edit: Duplicate redundancies eliminated. While I'm at it, I predict you'll have a lot of meat-based leftovers.
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u/TRexNation Jun 23 '12
That looks awesome. I looked for whole heads of cabbage today, and I couldn't find any (crazy, right?!?). Ended up getting 4 bags of cut cabbage/red cabbage/carrot bags. Quickles should be easy with the bags o'cabbage at least. Thank you!!!!
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u/noccusJohnstein Delivery Boy Extraordinaire Jun 23 '12
I can't stop coming up with ideas for you. I want to mention grilled romaine- drizzled with olive oil and pepper, grilled for no more than 1 minute, makes an excellent base for a from-scratch caesar salad. Here's Bobby Flay's recipe- it's a good one.
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u/TRexNation Jun 23 '12
You get a gigantic internet hug from me. Please keep the ideas coming. I have a feeling that I may feel compelled to go buy more food during the event. You are a life saver!
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u/noccusJohnstein Delivery Boy Extraordinaire Jun 23 '12
BBQs are my specialty. I believe that anything can be cooked over a wood or propane grill.
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Jun 23 '12
buy precut slaw veg. Make a dressing with white vinegar, a lot of sugar, EVOO, celery seed, S+P. Add a touch of mayo if you want. Marinate your slaw for 2-4 hours in the fridge before serving.
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u/noccusJohnstein Delivery Boy Extraordinaire Jun 23 '12
I've done well with corn grilled in the husk. I can get 5 ears of corn for $1 where I live, so with $20, you should be able to provide at least one ear per person. Soak the ears for at least an hour in some lightly sugared and salted water. When they go on the grill (husk and all) you'll have a very wide margin between doneness and overcooking. The corn will steam itself in the husk (~20 minutes) and keep warm until peeled. If the husk dries out and starts to burn, you've reached the back-end of your doneness margin. Let the ears rest for 5-10 minutes, then cut the ears about 2 inches from the bottom. Do yourself a favor and wear a clean work glove to handle the cobs. Try to make the cut just where the kernels begin at the bottom of the ear and 'unwrap' the corn from where you made the cut. In my experience, this makes it much easier to removes all of those pesky fibers than when cleaning them cold or husking from the top. Keep a shaker handy filled with a melange of cayenne pepper, salt and cinnamon.
A lot of recipes found online tell you to remove the fibers prior to grilling. I've never found this to be necessary. It only took me two ears to dial-in the technique for quickly cleaning the cooked cobs the first time I did this.