Catering for a BBQ

prawn_86 said:

Hi all,

We are looking at having a smallish gathering and was wondering if anyone has any catering experience.

We will have about 30 people coming for a casual bbq and afternoon drinks. What is appropriate levels of beer, wine, and meat/food to buy for this number of guests?

Thanks

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Sir O's Barbie Extravaganza tips.

People always rave over my BBQ's Prawn because I hate doing things by half.

Starters.

Buy about five good sized Chorizo and slice thinly and cook on the barbie as your starters. Serve with some marinated olives, artichoke hearts, roasted capsicum and crusty bread on the side. Serve crackers and dips as well.

The good stuff..

You need to serve 1 chicken dish, 1 fish dish, and 1 meat dish so you can cater for all the whiners who don't want to eat XX because of XX.

Lets start with the easiest -

Fish Dish

either buy a whole cleaned fish or some good sized fillets. Simply coat the fish in butter, lemon juice, and parsley and wrap in alfoil. When cooking, your fish will take 4 minutes on each side on a high heat so it needs to go on last.

Chicken Dish

Butterfly three small chickens and marinade them overnight in a good butter chicken sauce. Brush off most of the butter chicken sauce before you cook and heat the sauce in a small saucepan and once simmering add 200 ml fresh cream. Cook the chicken on the barbie - each side will take 10 - 15 minutes on a high heat - 20 -25 minutes on a medium heat. Allow the chicken to sit for a minute once off the heat and cut into smaller pieces and place on large serving platter. Serve Sauce on the side.

Meat Dish

Buy a Large Leg of Lamb. (make sure it's not a shoulder) - Debone the leg and slice the removed meat in half to make it thinner (about 2 to 3 centimetres thick). You'll end up with some quite large sheets of meat. Prepare the meat by massaging with olive oil then coat with Mustard seed, garlic and fresh rosemary. Leave for a couple of hours to absorb the flavours and then cook on the barbie - Will take about 8-10 minutes on each side.


Serve the above with lots of salads I normally do a standard greek salad, a pasta salad with sun dried tomato, a standard garden and a ceasar salad.

With 30 people you want

4 bottles of red, 4 bottles of white
4 cases of beer (2 mids, one lite, one heavy)
2 cases of bottled water
4 bottle of coke, 2 bottles of lemon squash, lemonade, diet coke and LLB

Bottle of good scotch for me

Cheers Sir O

Sir Osisofliver said:

Bottle of good scotch for me

Cheers Sir O

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You can have my 12yo 1L bottle of Glenfiddich if you come and cook : Otherwise i have a bottle of 15yo single malt Glen Rothes that may be to your tastes

Good tips btw

prawn_86 said:

Thats the plan

As a side note, how long should one let a 22yo Imperial (6L) of red breathe (in its decanters) for before it is drank? Is overnight sufficent?

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If you have enough decanters my advice would be to decant the whole bottle 2 hours before the party into the 5~6 decanters you'd need.

It is all about letting the CO2 and other nasty tasting crap escape the wine, as such the amount of surface area exposed to air will be the determining factor in how long it needs to breath.

Don't do it the night before!

(I have no qualifications but I work fine dining with a French qualified sommelier, so maybe something rubbed off)

~Kieran