Okay. In the last post, I gave a quick overview on producing a quality, low cost "cook out" style buffet. Now, I'll outline a few tips to insure success! Let's proceed item by item:
Prepared Potato Salad:
Although rather generic in flavor profile, a pre-prepared potato salad can work well as an appropriate side dish. The key is to present the salad properly. Use an atractive china bowl (as opposed to a plastic disposable or other less attractive vessel. Use white, if possible. White looks clean, and is a blank canvas to present your food at its best). Garnish the salad. Sprinkle with paprika or chopped parsley. Garnish with radish slices or cherry tomatoes; however, remember that a vegetable garnish will need refreshing when the bowl is refilled, which can be intrusive to the guest who is making their selections from the buffet). Add to the bowl often, so it remains fresh looking. You can "run" the salad out to the buffet in a stainless kitchen bowl. DO NOT refill using the container in which the salad originally came in.
Pasta Salad:
Use the same tips as above. If the pasta salad was prepared the day ahead, which it very well could be, you'll need to make the decision if the dressing needs "refreshing," as most pastas will absorb dressing overnight. One way to solve this problem is to assemble the salad sans dressing, and dress the day of service.
Fresh Fruit Salad:
Use slotted spoons for service, as the fruit will shed juice throughout service. Again, replenish using a stainless steel bowl, not a plastic Cambro storage container, for example. You want to maintain the visual that your food items are as fresh as possible.
Bagged Chips:
Arrange the chips neatly, use wicker baskets lined with cloth napkins if possible. You should have enough bags of chips on the buffet so replenishing is not necessary: typically 1.5 bags per person.
Burger / Hot Dog Buns:
Use a medium quality bun. Use the same buns as you use on your Ala Carte menu (if you should happen to be a full service restaurant) since cross utilization of product simplifies ordering and use of left-overs.
CHAFER 1, Baked Beans:
Again, you can use a lower cost product here, since your staff can "doctor" the beans to create a unique flavor profile. Once the beans are drained in a colander, small amounts of BBQ sauce, mustard, even diced onion and bacon can be added to give a more robust flavor. This is a good way to exit product such as onions or red peppers that need to be used up in a timely manner. Five #10 cans will easily feed a group of 100 with all of the various options this buffet provides. All five cans will fill a 4" full size Hotel Pan. Wrap the pan in plastic wrap followed by foil, and bake in a convection oven at 350 degrees for approximately one and a half hours.
CHAFER 2, Hot Dogs, Bratwurst:
Quarter pound (4/1) hot dogs were used, along with standard sized brats. Brats were grill marked on the char-broiler, then steamed to retain moisture. Hot dogs were steamed. (50) hot dogs were prepared, along with (50) brats. Dogs and brats were held seperately in (2) 4" half Hotel Pans; both were held in the same chafer. Neither had to be replenished during service. These two items, when paired against the burgers and chicken, were the least popular. Both items were held on the buffet in a beer bath, which consisted of one part beer to one part water, simmered to remove the alcohol.
CHAFER 3, Hamburger Patties:
8 oz. frozen hamburger patties were used. The patties were prepared by marking them, both sides on the charbroiler (no need to thaw the patties before marking). At this point the burgers are fairly rare, but thawed through. The burgers are transfered to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, then stored prior to service on a speed rack in the "prepared foods" walk in. It's a good idea to store all of your protein items on the same portable rack, as to facilitate speed of production. Just before service, the proteins can all be easily transported near the cook's line. The burgers were seasoned with worcestershire sauce (applied by squeeze bottle), a blend of Kosher salt, pepper and granulated garlic, then finished in the convection oven for approx. 10 to 12 minutes. The first batch of burgers were then shingled into a two inch Hotel Pan, held for a short period of time in a warmer box, then transfered to the chafer at service. A beef broth was added to moisten the patties; no more than eight ounces. As burgers were consumed, more were cooked and held in anticipation of replenishment. Burgers were replenished to buffet using a bowl.This buffet required nearly 90 patties. Many patrons took two. Many took two without buns.
CHAFER 4, Chicken Breast:
IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) boneless, skinless chicken breasts were used. Breasts were "pulled" (transfered) from the freezer, broken out of the box and arranged on sheet trays to thaw for 18 hours in the walk-in cooler. Breasts were then lightly marinated in canola oil, granulated garlic and white pepper. No salt is needed. Chicken breasts are generally injected with a sodium solution. Breasts were cross-marked on charbroiler, one side only. Breasts were then transfered onto paper lined sheet trays, approx. 20 per tray. All chicken was finished by baking in convection oven for approx. fifteen minutes, just prior to service. The first batch was shingled in a two inch Hotel Pan. Chicken was replenished on buffet using a bowl. Although this happened to be more than enough chicken for our event, we always have a back up in anticipation of higher consumption. IT IS CRITICAL TO MONITOR YOUR BUFFET DILIGENTLY.
Condiments were described in the previous post. Six bottles of ketchup, six bottles of mustard, and six bottles of spicy brown mustard along with 5 cups of mayo in a bowl with a spoon were adequate and did not need replenishment.
Sliced Cheeses:
Put out enough cheese slices, shingled on a large platter, so that they will not need to be replaced during service. American is always the most popular between the two choices given.
LTO (Lettuce, Tomato, Onion):
Use leaf lettuce for color and appearance. Cut the lettuce head in half width wise, so as to create a "bun size" leaf. Stand leaf lettuce cut side down in a pan of cold water for around 30 minutes.. This will refresh wilted leaves. Arrange to one side of a large platter. Slice 15 medium sized (baseball) tomatoes, preferably on a slicer, for uniformity of thickness. Don't go too thin; patrons will just take more slices. A little over 1/8 inch thick works well. Shingle next to lettuce, partially overlapping lettuce with first row. Peel and slice 12 medium sized red onions the same thickness as the tomato slices. Break up into rings and arrange next to the tomatoes. You should not need to replenish, but be prepared to do so on short notice.
Assorted Cookies:
Your supplier should be able to provide you with a quality name brand cookie dough. We use Otis Spunkmeyer brand. Cheap cookies use shortening and butter flavoring in place of real butter. The taste is artificial and highly noticeable. Cookies come pre-proportioned and ready to bake. We use the 4 oz. size. Simply follow the directions on the box. Allow cookies to cool completely before plating. Arrange in an appealing manner; don't just heap the cookies on a platter. We baked a hundred cookies and had maybe twenty left over. Some patrons will take two, others will skip them completely.
Some of these tips may seem like common sense, but in the heat of production in a busy kitchen, some are easily overlooked.
I'm sure you've found at least one or two new ideas!
