"aem" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Kellielabs wrote:
> > Help. We're doing a spaghetti supper for church for about 200 people
> > and are wondering how to cook the pasta and then keep it warm while
> > we serve all 200 people. We'll serve from 5 to 6:30 P.M. If we cook
> > all the pasta ahead of time, it will get cold. If we wait to cook
> > individual batches, it will take forever.
>
> Presumably you will have multiple large pots. Cook the pasta
> beforehand to just short of doneness. Drain and reserve. As people
> come in, finish batches of pasta by returning it to vigorously boiling
> water for a minute while stirring well. Won't be quite perfect, but it
> works well enough for your purposes. -aem
>
Or leave it in a large strainer in the pot in the still hot water; it will
finish cooking. Pull up the strainer when it's time to serve and top with
sauce. Might be helpful to have sort of a production-line thing where one
person dishes up the pasta and passes the plate; the next puts on the sauce,
the third adds some salad greens, the fourth adds a slice of bread and there
you go.

Or they could always rent those huge covered chafing dishes and mix all the
cooked pasta with the sauce and leave them on warm and let people serve
themselves.

Jill