Help doing a dinner

gumgum1

Hi I stupidly deciced to host my son's holy communion at home . I would like to do a roast beef dinner. I'm looking for advice on how to pull it all together and get it out warm . Also some advice on what I can have done in advance of the church. There will be 33 sitting down for dinner.

Thanks

dee_mc

I'd roast a few joints of different meats the day before, cool and slice them, make up a load of salads and slice lots of bread. Maybe premake and heat a big pot of soup or chilli or something. Cooking a roast for 30 people is madness IMO unless you're prepared to spend the day before and most of the day of the event preparing, cooking, checking temperatures, carving etc for something that needs to be a sit-down meal...
A friend of mine has hired out a large bain marie from a local catering company so that she could serve curry and rice etc for events without worrying about keeping things at the right temperature etc, also means people can serve themselves, maybe this could work for you?
But in my experience, serving a largely cold range of foods that can be eaten standing up makes things so much simpler for everyone.

Keane2baMused

Honestly it would not be worth the stress doing a hot roast dinner for that number.

You won't get a minute and it'll be hard to relax.

As the previous poster suggested cold cuts and salads are great. Also lasagne or a big pot of curry if you want a hot option. Tasty and always go down a treat.

I agree. You'd need 3 ovens to turn out sufficient roasties for 33!

Soup, cold meats, salads and breads are the way to go IMO.

Ryan Mac Sweeney

Hi there
I have read your post. Yes I agree that cooking a roast for 33 people is stressful and hard work so my advice would be to do a cold buffet which would involve cold meats salads salad dressings etc and put everything in different bowls and then let everyone help themselves. It certainly is a lot easier as that way you dont have to worry about keeping everything hot and that way you can also relax and enjoy the day. Also if the weather is nice it would be better as that way people would enjoy it better and also some nice desserts would go down well. Again things such as pavola cheesecake banooffee pie etc would be perfect for this.

Whispered

We hosted a party in December, with 60-70 people coming and I got great advice here.
We served a lump of cooked cold ham with cheddar cheese and whole grain mustard.
Smoked salmon on oatcakes with cream cheese.
Pasta pesto caprese salad.
Goats cheese, walnut and honey crostini.
Basket of breads.
Greek salad.
Pizza (for the kids)
Then a selection of oven party foods that were cooked and served as needed.
Big Dessert table

It worked out really well because we weren't sure how many to expect so dishes could be partially made and kept refrigerated to be put together and served as needed. It was a lot easier than I expected and it was great. I had been hoping to do a sit down dinner too but it definitely worked out better with finger foods.