"Charlotte L. Blackmer" > wrote in message
...
>
> 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
> --

Try this link:
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/jc...ipes/cover.pdf

FBS used to cook in the Navy. Some of their recipes serve up to a thousand
before you have to start 'doubling'
-ginny