If you’ve ever cooked with a wok, you know that making a stir fry is 90% preparation and 10% execution.
Staging a cookout for a large gathering of friends and family doesn’t stray too far from that basic formula.
Sure, a catering company would be one way to go. But for the intrepid grill enthusiast or pit master, cooking for 50 or more people for the first time is an all-out adventure.
Of course, there’s nothing you can do about the weather, except have a strong Plan B.
But what you can control—and the bottom-line question to the whole shindig—is: Can you get enough food out on time to feed everyone adequately?
With preparation, the answer is: Yes!
Think Through Your Menu
The first step is to plan your menu well in advance—at least a week or two. Keep it simple and limit it to things you know. This is not a time to experiment with that fabulous recipe you found in some cooking digest.
Choose foods that are fast on and off the grill, such as mixed kabobs and sausages, hot dogs, wings, burgers, and veggie kabobs. Some items require no preparation or can be simply dusted with salt and pepper and coated lightly with olive oil. Marinating is an extra step in the process and not really necessary when you are serving the best quality meats. Let the flavor of the meats stand out and leave the customization to your guests’ choices from a variety of toppings.
Make a list of every course—from appetizers to desserts—and a sub-list, including quantities for each item and the ingredients required for that course. Not only will this help you remember everything, but you’ve just created your grocery list as well.
Estimate 6 to 8 ounces of meat per adult. With sausages, kabobs, and burgers at about 4 ounces each, this will allow for a range of light to heavy eaters. Estimate 2 to 3 children’s servings per adult serving, depending on age.
Getting Your Mind Around the Idea of a Big Party
Think of a big party as a two-day event—one for you and one for your guests.
Your day is for advance preparation—how many side dishes, sauces, and toppings can be made the day before, covered securely, and simply brought to table or reheated the day of the party?
So the day before, prepare all your salads, side dishes, and sauces. Cold and marinated salads; beans baked on the grill with some hickory chips in the fire bowl; grill-roasted baby potatoes coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper; and grilled fruit basted with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon are all good candidates for day-before prep.
The day of the party, fire up the grills about 90 minutes before guests are due to arrive, and put on your grill master’s hat: This army is about to charge.
The Right Equipment
Chances are, if you’re cooking for 30 or more people, having two large-capacity grills is best. Two 22-inch Weber kettles or the massive Weber Ranch Kettle would fit the bill for about 50 to 60 people. A 6-burner gas grill would also be the way to go.
With both grills set up for indirect-heat grilling, you can keep the flow of food going very nicely—cooking on both simultaneously, or in rotation, with your chimney starters on round-the-clock duty getting the next batch of coals going. As an option, you could use one grill for grill-roasting poultry and the other for searing and finishing.
Make sure you have a prep table near the grills with serving trays stacked and ready. With two to three items on the grills at any given time, you’ll have trays of raw foods and trays waiting for cooked foods. NOTE: Do not put cooked food into trays or onto platters that held raw food. The risk of cross-contamination is too great. Having a pump bottle of hand sanitizer near the grill is a great idea, as well.
Use individual aluminum trays, one for each type of grilled food and labeled on the outside to indicate the contents. If you’re doing kabobs, for example, you want people to be able to tell the difference between lamb and steak kabobs after they are cooked. Same is true with various grilled sausages.
Grilling Strategy
The goal is to have some of each kind of meat on the table when guests start eating. Keep the grills hot and cook to replenish items as they begin to run low.
Enlist the help of at least two other grill team members to manage the food on the grills and the chimney starters. As grill master, this helps keep your mind clear to keep production moving while you also orchestrate next steps to stay on time.
Start with items that require extended cooking—bone-in chicken, for example. Next, grill the foods that will hold well, including sausages, hot dogs, and veggies. Kabobs should be next as they hold well, but for a shorter amount of time.
Cook burgers last. Burgers taste best when they are warm from the grill. Those that have been sitting for more than 20 minutes lose their sheen as they cool and, therefore, some of their visual appeal. Cook burgers in batches. Perfectionists may opt to take short orders for burgers so they can be cooked and served at their peak. Form the burger patties the day before and keep refrigerated until just before they are to go on the grill.
And if all goes right, you’ll have time to enjoy your own party with satisfaction that you pulled the whole thing off to the appreciation and enjoyment of all in attendance.
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