Hi! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I are doing the food for my
daughter's wedding next month. My daughter specifically requested
chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. I had planned to
serve it as a passed appetizer, but the in-laws felt we had too many,
and it got relegated to the buffet table as an entree. So I'm going to
make the skewers more substantial, but here's my question:

Can these be made ahead and frozen? If so, do we skip soaking the
skewers? Should the chicken be marinated then drained, skewered and
frozen? Or should they be skewered, frozen, then defrosted and
marinated? Or ??

Your insight would be very much appreciated! Thanks! :-)

chris wrote:
> Hi! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I are doing the food for my
> daughter's wedding next month. My daughter specifically requested
> chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. I had planned to
> serve it as a passed appetizer, but the in-laws felt we had too many,
> and it got relegated to the buffet table as an entree. So I'm going to
> make the skewers more substantial, but here's my question:
>
> Can these be made ahead and frozen? If so, do we skip soaking the
> skewers? Should the chicken be marinated then drained, skewered and
> frozen? Or should they be skewered, frozen, then defrosted and
> marinated? Or ??
>
> Your insight would be very much appreciated! Thanks! :-)
>
Two options:

a) I would suggest you marinate and drain the chicken and put it on the
skewers before freezing. I don't think there is any point in soaking the
skewers if they are going into the freezer, anyway. Then on the day you
can defrost them, and cook them as usual.

b) If you are really going to be pressed for time on the "big day", you
could marinate and cook them as usual on the skewers in advance, and
then freeze them although they will not be *as* nice... But if possible,
vacuum seal them before freezing (if you have a sealer, or can borrow
one from somewhere). Then on the day you can defrost them and just heat
them up - and if the plastic you use is heat-resistant enough to be
dumped into very hot (almost boiling) water you can heat them up in the
bag(s).

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

"chris" > wrote in news:1154238000.032687.154020@
75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Hi! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I are doing the food for my
> daughter's wedding next month. My daughter specifically requested
> chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. I had planned to
> serve it as a passed appetizer, but the in-laws felt we had too many,
> and it got relegated to the buffet table as an entree. So I'm going to
> make the skewers more substantial, but here's my question:
>
> Can these be made ahead and frozen? If so, do we skip soaking the
> skewers? Should the chicken be marinated then drained, skewered and
> frozen? Or should they be skewered, frozen, then defrosted and
> marinated? Or ??
>
> Your insight would be very much appreciated! Thanks! :-)


chris,

Personally, I couldn't dream of freezing my finished Thai chicken satay.
ICK! Either serve it up hot off the grill or don't bother, imho.

Andy

Andy wrote:


>
> Personally, I couldn't dream of freezing my finished Thai chicken satay.
> ICK! Either serve it up hot off the grill or don't bother, imho.

Andy,

As one chicken satay fan to another, I have to agree that "fresh" is
better, as with most food...

However, the OP is talking about having this at a wedding - and the
bride has specifically requested it. Unless they are having only a dozen
people at the wedding, making them from scratch on the day might be a
bit, shall we say, "inconvenient".

And, ahem, I wouldn't dream of having ready-made peanut sauce out of a
jar with my chicken satay either - as a few other people around here
have been known to do

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Chatty Cathy > wrote in
:

> Andy wrote:
>
>
>>
>> Personally, I couldn't dream of freezing my finished Thai chicken
>> satay. ICK! Either serve it up hot off the grill or don't bother,
>> imho.
>
> Andy,
>
> As one chicken satay fan to another, I have to agree that "fresh" is
> better, as with most food...
>
> However, the OP is talking about having this at a wedding - and the
> bride has specifically requested it. Unless they are having only a
> dozen people at the wedding, making them from scratch on the day might
> be a bit, shall we say, "inconvenient".
>
> And, ahem, I wouldn't dream of having ready-made peanut sauce out of a
> jar with my chicken satay either - as a few other people around here
> have been known to do


Cathy,

Heh, heh, heh. You must be referring to me and my Trader Joe's peanut
sauce in a jar! :d

So what if it's a wedding. If everything is going to be served cold I
could understand.

It would take less time to make freshly marinated satay than it would to
defrost and re-heat it.

Would you freeze a poached salmon???

GIMMEABREAK! The OP's request is just rediculous, imho.

Andy

Andy wrote:
> Chatty Cathy > wrote in

>
>
> Heh, heh, heh. You must be referring to me and my Trader Joe's peanut
> sauce in a jar! :d

<nudge, nudge, wink, wink> Ya got it

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Hi Cathy,
Thanks for being so helpful. With literally dozens of dishes being
prepared for over 200 people, it's just impossible to make everything
from scratch the day of. I appreciate your understanding.
Thanks again!
- Chris

Hi Andy,
I appreciate your purist stance. In normal times, I'm in total
agreement. But imagine you have to make satay for 200+ people, and
can't do it all the day of. What would you think about marinating and
grilling the day before, then having the catering staff reheat the
skewers? I guess my question is, if you *must* compromise, what is the
best solution?
Thanks,
- Chris

chris wrote:
> Hi Cathy,
> Thanks for being so helpful. With literally dozens of dishes being
> prepared for over 200 people, it's just impossible to make everything
> from scratch the day of. I appreciate your understanding.
> Thanks again!
> - Chris
>
No problem, Chris. But... its gonna cost you! I wanna see the wedding
photos...(including pictures of the food, of course!)

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

"chris" > wrote in news:1154280598.801221.134290
@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

> Hi Andy,
> I appreciate your purist stance. In normal times, I'm in total
> agreement. But imagine you have to make satay for 200+ people, and
> can't do it all the day of. What would you think about marinating and
> grilling the day before, then having the catering staff reheat the
> skewers? I guess my question is, if you *must* compromise, what is the
> best solution?
> Thanks,
> - Chris


Chris,

It's a wedding. There should be no shortcuts. No matter what, imho.

Andy

On 30 Jul 2006 10:29:58 -0700, "chris" > wrote:

>Hi Andy,
>I appreciate your purist stance. In normal times, I'm in total
>agreement. But imagine you have to make satay for 200+ people, and
>can't do it all the day of. What would you think about marinating and
>grilling the day before, then having the catering staff reheat the
>skewers? I guess my question is, if you *must* compromise, what is the
>best solution?

Can you skewer them the day before and let them marinate overnight,
letting the caterers do the actual grillining on the day of the
wedding?

Carol

chris wrote:
> Hi! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I are doing the food for my
> daughter's wedding next month. My daughter specifically requested
> chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. I had planned to
> serve it as a passed appetizer, but the in-laws felt we had too many,
> and it got relegated to the buffet table as an entree. So I'm going
> to make the skewers more substantial, but here's my question:
>
> Can these be made ahead and frozen? If so, do we skip soaking the
> skewers? Should the chicken be marinated then drained, skewered and
> frozen? Or should they be skewered, frozen, then defrosted and
> marinated? Or ??
>
> Your insight would be very much appreciated! Thanks! :-)

Soak the skewers. The cooking method won't change simply because the food
arrangments did. It's still satay, no? I'd be more concerned about the
sauce than the chicken satay. And yes, they can be frozen and then thawed
prior to grilling. Um, you do plan to grill these?

Jill

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> chris wrote:
> > Hi! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I are doing the food for my
> > daughter's wedding next month. My daughter specifically requested
> > chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. I had planned to
> > serve it as a passed appetizer, but the in-laws felt we had too many,
> > and it got relegated to the buffet table as an entree. So I'm going
> > to make the skewers more substantial, but here's my question:
> >
> > Can these be made ahead and frozen? If so, do we skip soaking the
> > skewers? Should the chicken be marinated then drained, skewered and
> > frozen? Or should they be skewered, frozen, then defrosted and
> > marinated? Or ??
> >
> > Your insight would be very much appreciated! Thanks! :-)
>
> Soak the skewers. The cooking method won't change simply because the food
> arrangments did. It's still satay, no? I'd be more concerned about the
> sauce than the chicken satay. And yes, they can be frozen and then thawed
> prior to grilling. Um, you do plan to grill these?
>
> Jill
>
>

I think chicken satay and grill is synonomous, isn't it? I wouldn't think
it would be any good unless it was grilled. Then again, that's just me.

kili