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brooklyn1

On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 19:17:20 +0000 (UTC),
(Charlotte L. Blackmer) wrote:

>
>I ended up running our monthly "free community meal" this last weekend.
>Because a lot of our volunteers are college students, I knew our numbers
>were going to be light. I'm going to tell my story, but if you have your
>own stories in large scale/hotel-pan cooking, by all means chime on in.
>(If the food is cheap, so much the better. I'm always on the lookout for
>ideas.)
>
>I wanted something that would go together with minimum people in the
>kitchen. The food bank selection didn't change my mind, so I went with my
>fallback meal:
>
> Chili Mac for 140 (With Seconds, Thirds, and Leftovers)
>
>If you are one of those incredibly pure cooks who never opens a can of
>anything, avert your eyes. I've done it with the dry beans (in fact I did
>it in January) but Cash and Carry made me a respectable deal on the cases,
>and I was glad to not have to make the extra trip in to cook the beans before
>showtime. I had already been to the food bank, to Costco, to Cash and
>Carry, and the Grocery Outlet (YAY HARRIS RANCH BEEF FOR CHEAP), with
>trips to unload inbetween. (Then I went to Whole Foods for a chair
>massage to ease my aching back.)
>
>I had three people helping me in the kitchen (and one came in to make
>salad dressing). They also cut up the day-old bread for garlic bread
>while the chili was simmering. ROCK STARS.
>
>The rest of the crew made 120 sack lunches and opened up 85 cans of
>peaches (from the food bank) to serve out in paper bowls. (That was
>dessert.)
>
>I'm glad this made a pile (IIRC it was seven hotel pans of "with meat" and
>one "without meat") because we had a huge rush. We served at least 140
>and probably closer to 150 people; our hall capacity is 120, but some
>came in later without tickets (we try to not turn them away), and some
>took their dinner out. We definitely ran out of the 165-pack of Chinet
>I had purchased at Costco (we serve on real plates when we have enough
>volunteers to run the dishwasher, but this was not one of those months).
>We had one person show up very, very late (after we had taken all the
>tables down) and sent him away with plenty. My friend Scott, who did the
>door, and I split the last of it. It was pretty tasty.
>
>The guests were very, very happy with this meal and I was delighted there
>was enough left for my dinner.
>
>Le Menu:
>
>Chili Mac
>Garlic Bread
>Salad with vineagrette
>Canned peach halves (well drained)
>Coffee, milk, water
>
>16 lb macaroni
>15 lb ground beef it would have been better with 20
>1 10 lb bag white onions chopped/sliced roughly
>5 #10 cans kidney beans drained and rinsed
>5 #10 cans pinto beans drained and rinsed
>2 #10 cans tomato puree
>27 cans (28 oz) whole or diced tomatoes (if whole, you will need to break
>them up) (if you have #10 cans instead I'd say 5 or 6)
>1 industrial jar taco seasoning with a supplement of the chili powder in
>the cabinet
>salt, sufficient (for boiling macaroni)
>Olive oil for noodles/onions
>Minced garlic (about half of the large jar I got at costco for garlic
>bread)
>15 lb shredded cheese (cheddar or cheddar-jack - we used two 10# bags
>cheddar and some mozz from the FB)
>3 #10 cans corn niblets drained
>
>N.b. for vegetarian version include some "extra" beans: garbanzo, black.
>About 4 standard 11 oz cans should be good with the mix.
>
>
>I got in 90 minutes before the first volunteers were in because I wanted
>to start the water for pasta. It takes a long time to heat up, even on
>our industrial stove.
>
>By the time the first volunteers got in, I had the first pan boiling and
>was busy cutting up tomatoes to start pots of the beans-and-tomatoes so
>they could get acquainted while we got the rest of it organized. (I
>learned this trick from Cook's Illustrated, in their Pasta Fazool recipe.
>I've done pasta fazool for 140, as well, when our ceiling collapsed and we
>had to serve out on the patio. We added sausage to most of it.)
>
>So here was my Action Plan:
>
>Start water for macaroni with salt and olive oil
>Put tomatoes, beans, garlic, most of seasoning in pots and simmer on low.
>Stir occasionally to keep from sticking on bottom. (n.b. start with
>tomatoes, add beans)
>Prepare hotel pans by spreading layer of olive oil in bottom
>Boil noodles till advanced al dente, drain, and hold in hotel pans (thank
>God a strong young man had arrived by this time)
>Chop the onions while this happens
>Wilt onions by themselves (vegi) or with hamburger. Use remaining spice
>powder in this to get a little "toasted" action going
>Brown all other hamburger
>Dump onions or onions-and-meat into appropriate bean-and-tomato pots
>Let them simmer, stirring often
>Taste, correct seasoning
>
>While it was simmering, I had the kitchen crew assemble the garlic bread
>bundles.
>
>Then, assembly:
>Layer of mac (pan should be no more than 1/3 full)
>Cover with a layer of corn
>Cover with handsful of cheese
>Ladle chili in and mix it all up
>Correct ratios until it looks right. Chili and mac should be well
>integrated
>Top with remaining cheese and hold in oven.
>
>-- Charlotte

Phooey, no pictures. :-(