My wife and I cooked dinner for about 70 of the children's workers, sunday school teachers, etc. at our church last night. The menu was brisket, pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans, collards, coleslaw, and biscuits. And for dessert we did 10 pies: apple, pecan, cherry, blueberry, and coconut cream (2 of each).
Friday was shopping day. Went to Costco and the grocery store and got the vast majority of what we needed. Of course there were a few trips to the store for stuff we forgot or needed more of but I was happy I got most of it done. And the briskets came from SRF so didn't need to pick those up at Costco either.
Saturday I made sauces (Columbia Gold, KC style, and Lexington dip) and the rub for the pork butts (Memphis Meat Dust).
Sunday I didn't need to do much except the coleslaw. It is definitely better after a couple days so wanted to get that out of the way.
Monday I got the briskets trimmed and the pork butts tied (they were boneless) and got everything dry brining.
Tuesday was pie day. Made all the crusts, baked the fruit pies and pecan pies, and baked the crusts for the coconut cream. I didn't want that one to get soggy so I made the custard for that one on Wednesday morning. In the evening I made the potato salad (20 lbs of potatoes) and around midnight I got the meat cooking. Everything finished up around 1:00 on Wednesday afternoon so after the meat came off I threw the beans on the smoker.
Wednesday afternoon we headed to the church and got the collards cooking and the biscuits baking. My wife has a business selling frozen biscuits so it is nice we always have those around. Dinner was at 6 so we got the food out and sliced the brisket as people came through the food line.
It is always fun doing big cooks like this but man, it wears me out more and more as I get older and older. Every time I do a big dinner like this I learn more and more how to make it all easier. Any of you regularly cook for large groups like this? Any tips to make things go smoothly?
Friday was shopping day. Went to Costco and the grocery store and got the vast majority of what we needed. Of course there were a few trips to the store for stuff we forgot or needed more of but I was happy I got most of it done. And the briskets came from SRF so didn't need to pick those up at Costco either.
Saturday I made sauces (Columbia Gold, KC style, and Lexington dip) and the rub for the pork butts (Memphis Meat Dust).
Sunday I didn't need to do much except the coleslaw. It is definitely better after a couple days so wanted to get that out of the way.
Monday I got the briskets trimmed and the pork butts tied (they were boneless) and got everything dry brining.
Tuesday was pie day. Made all the crusts, baked the fruit pies and pecan pies, and baked the crusts for the coconut cream. I didn't want that one to get soggy so I made the custard for that one on Wednesday morning. In the evening I made the potato salad (20 lbs of potatoes) and around midnight I got the meat cooking. Everything finished up around 1:00 on Wednesday afternoon so after the meat came off I threw the beans on the smoker.
Wednesday afternoon we headed to the church and got the collards cooking and the biscuits baking. My wife has a business selling frozen biscuits so it is nice we always have those around. Dinner was at 6 so we got the food out and sliced the brisket as people came through the food line.
It is always fun doing big cooks like this but man, it wears me out more and more as I get older and older. Every time I do a big dinner like this I learn more and more how to make it all easier. Any of you regularly cook for large groups like this? Any tips to make things go smoothly?
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