Questions about cooking unusually large amounts of food, scaling up recipes for a large number of servings (for example a big party, catering, etc) and related techniques / specific equipments
Questions tagged [bulk-cooking]
41 questions
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Once a month cooking
I've heard of "once a month cooking" or "freezer cooking," where you basically spend a day cooking and fill your freezer with the next month's worth of food. This could especially come in handy when preparing for a baby. (Take-out food gets boring…
Dinah
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How do I cook and hold pasta for 200 people?
I am making spaghetti dinner for 200 people. I am not sure how to make 20 pounds of pasta ready for a three hour dinner. I thought about a steam table and cooking all the pasta and putting it in a steam table. Would that work, or is there a better…
James Kemp
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Automated stirring in a domestic kitchen
I'm currently making 9 litres of quite thick lentil soup in a 10 litre stainless steel stockpot. It needs to simmer gently for an hour or two. Despite the sandwich base and my weakest gas ring on minimum*, it needs stirring every few minutes or…
Chris H
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Pasta Bar for 250 people
My ladies church group has been asked to cater a wedding dinner. It is a pasta bar for 250 people- 3 kinds of pasta, 3 sauces, 3 toppings (broccoli, chicken, cheese), salad and bread. My question is how much pasta to prepare of each kind? I think…
Marie Niemeyer
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Ways to make my cooking routine more efficient?
I enjoy cooking. In an ideal world, I'd spend some time messing around in the kitchen four or five nights a week. But as it stands, I'm very busy, on a very tight budget, and trying to keep up with my body's high caloric demands so I can put on some…
user242007
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Catering event for 1st time. How should I prepare?
I'm just starting a catering service for my cooking.
I'm not into too fancy style yet, like using metal silverware or china plates, but more casual version like paper plates and plastic-ware.
The events will be about for 40 people, the menu…
KumikoGoingCrAzY
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Appropriate process for bulk sauteing onions?
In doing some bulk cooking for a vacation, I needed to cook 12 sliced onions and later 6 minced onions for two different dishes; both as a first step in a sauce. In both cases, I used a large Le Creuset dutch oven. I found that the evaporation of…
yossarian
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How much meat should I serve per person?
Catering a small event tomorrow for twenty people. Serving beef brisket, pulled pork, and veggie lasagna. Question is how much brisket & pork should allow for each person? also serving three sides, rolls, etc.
Johnny Wayne Mitchell
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Party scale sous-vide
I have used the chilly bin (cooler) sous-vide hack at home for a while and get excellent results for up to eight servings
I use extra insulation on the lid and a digital submersible flexible probe thermometer. The whole setup only loses around one…
TFD
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How can I efficiently render 100 lbs of suet into tallow in a home kitchen?
As I mentioned in another question, I'm about to undergo a 100 lb suet-to-tallow rendering process. The problem is, as much as I love tallow, I've never rendered suet myself before and I have a million questions (though I'll try to keep it to a few…
stephennmcdonald
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Is there a technique for making larger batches of roux?
Following along the approach of freezing roux, I would like to make some in bulk. I am also trying to do more batch cooking for freezing and making 8 quarts of mac and cheese ends up taking a lot of roux for the starter.
As such, is there a…
mfg
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How should I pre-cook a burger to be micrwaveable?
Start with a generic 1/3rd lb patty of ground beef, either frozen or fresh.
Normally I follow the advice from How do you grill a perfect burger?, however, I want to make many. How can I cook and store the extra patties for lunch the next day or…
Eris
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How to cook rice for 60 people
I have to cook for 60 people, and one of the things I am going to make is (japanese) rice. Normally I cook it in a rice cooker, or in a pan with an amount of water and let it cook until the water has 'dried up'.
Can I use the same way of cooking…
Noralie
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What is the most effective method for cooking a massive amount of sweet brown sushi rice
I have about 8 quarts of dry brown sushi rice and am looking to cook all or most of it to incorporate into a handful of dishes on the same day. What is the most effective way of cooking that much rice, minus a pressure cooker, that would allow me to…
mfg
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Sautéing big batch of onions
So I like making pasta sauce with lots of sautéed onions, but to properly sauté, at least as far as I understand it, I can only put a limited amount of onions into my one medium sized pan.
I am fed up with using half-steamed onions in my quest for…
salmonlamp
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