The General Chat Thread

NOS3 wrote: »

I might get the cookworks slow cooker for €16 in Aldi. I think it's 2.5L. Does anyone know if they are a good brand?

Ah, you've got me torturing myself looking at the special buys now, even though I am 1000km away from Ireland. :P I'm drooling at the Italian stuff, even the spice mill. :pac:

I'm on mobile so I can't search, is there a thread with tips and ideas for catering for a large group? Thinking of hosting a party at home and need some good casual-but-not-too-casual finger and buffet food ideas.

It might make more sense to have it catered or just hire a venue. Trying to keep costs down though.

bigronnie9 wrote: »

How large a group? I recently hosted a party for about 25/26 adults and used a good few cooking club recipes to feed the masses, I still have my list here, nothing fancy but you might get some idea for a buffet:

Pulled Pork (3kg shoulder) (cooking club)
Tandoori Chicken Drumsticks
Honey BBQ Chicken Wings
Burgers (on the BBQ)
Sausages (on the BBQ)
Red Lentil Dahl (green saffron recipe x2)
Falafel (cooking club)
Potato Salad (had apples etc in it, actually turned out lovely)
Cous Cous (with sundried tomatoes/roasted peppers&red onions)
Spicy Mac n Cheese (cooking club)
Caramelised Red Onions
Little Goats Cheese and Caramelised Red Onion Tarts
Also naan breads/pittas torn up and toasted for with the dahl / falaffel

Had a good bit of leftovers the next day(and the next day after that ), and everyone was impressed with the food (especially the vegetarians)

Managed to have it all prepped beforehand so all I had to do was delegate BBQ duty to my brother in law on the night!
And also afew people offered to bring stuff so all the deserts were brought thank god, loads of these left over too..... I find it hard to know how much to have for a crowd!

Thanks. So helpful.

Holy moly that's impressive. We haven't done up numbers yet, but I'm guessing about 30 plus some kids. It could end up MUCH smaller if it seems too costly when I work out the budget.

Couple questions on your menu if you don't mind:

You had most of it done before the day, how did you reheat to serve the Dahl and mac'n'cheese?

Did you fry the falafel the day before? How were they served? Room temp?

Would you mind sharing a pic of how the spread looked? It sounds very impressive!! (No prob if you'd rather not)

Can I get an opinion: BBQ in December under marquee attached to the kitchen/double doors with heaters. Would it work?

Whispered wrote: »

Thanks. So helpful.

Holy moly that's impressive. We haven't done up numbers yet, but I'm guessing about 30 plus some kids. It could end up MUCH smaller if it seems too costly when I work out the budget.

Couple questions on your menu if you don't mind:

You had most of it done before the day, how did you reheat to serve the Dahl and mac'n'cheese?

Did you fry the falafel the day before? How were they served? Room temp?

Would you mind sharing a pic of how the spread looked? It sounds very impressive!! (No prob if you'd rather not)

Can I get an opinion: BBQ in December under marquee attached to the kitchen/double doors with heaters. Would it work?

I don't have any pictures im afraid

This is going to be a belter but I figure if I type it up ill have a reference for next time I decide to host a get together!

Thursday:
spent about twenty minutes Thursday night putting the spice rub on the pulled pork, about 5 minutes making up my tandoori spice mix for the drumsticks, and about 5 minutes making my flour/spice coating for the wings

Friday:
Friday night after the gym / dinner, we cracked open a bottle of wine and I enlisted the other half to help with the chopping (i've never seen so many chopped onions in one place before! ). So say from around half 8 Friday night to about 11 I managed to:

Get the pulled pork in the slow cooker with the cooking liquids (slow cooker in the shed so house wouldn't have too strong a pork aroma!)
Coated my drumsticks in spices and put in fridge
Coated my wings, baked them for 45mins until nice and crispy, then let cool and put in fridge
Made up the falafel mixture and put in the fridge to fry the following day
Oh and had a rake of red onions with a bit of sugar/butter/balsamic vinegar caramelising while all this was going on (always amazes me how long onions take to caramelise)

Also chopped all veg for the couse couse/potato salad. Balmed out on the couch then wrecked from the heat in the kitchen

Saturday:
Added yoghurt to the drumsticks and stuck them back in the fridge to marinade.
steamed the potatoes/made the cous cous and roasted the veg for it.
Other half made up the potato salad (cant remember where she got the recipe,can find out if you want, had vinegar and stuff in it and was delish!)
Covered up the cous cous and potato salad once done.
boiled up the pasta and made the buffalo sauce, added it to pasta in an oven dish (didn't put in the oven, just covered and put aside)
cooked those little jus roll pastries in the oven, and once they had cooled spooned some goats cheese and caramlised onions into each, covered and put aside
next up was the dahl, made in a huge frying pan with a lid and left it in the pan once done(I think we even served it just on the table in the pan )
out to the shed, got the pork, shredded it, sauced it up and back in the slow cooker on the 'keep warm' setting
fried up my falafel and wrapped in tinfoil.

Saturday Evening:
Think we were aiming to feed people at 8, so started the cooking at half six (people arriving and my tiny kitchen made this a very hot affair, thankfully the weather was good so we had a gazebo set up out the double doors)
Threw the drumsticks in the oven (I cook these the same as my wings, 30 mins, turn them them, 15 mins)
So once I turned the drumsticks I got the BBQ going and the brother in law took over that thank god
set up my wings/falafel/mac n cheese and tartlets on trays so they could be put in the oven to heat once the drumsticks were done
Covered the drumsticks in tinfoil, banged everything else into the oven to heat up, turned the heat on under the dahl again, and made up my honey bbq sauce for the wings for once they were hot.

Just served it up as a buffet then:
Pulled Pork served in the slow cooker dish just brought it in
Dahl served in the pan
Potato salad, cous cous, bbq wings, left over caramlised onions and Mac n cheese served in big bowls
drumsticks, sausages, falafel, burgers and tartlets all served on big plates then
Along with all condiments and burger buns/naans/pittas

Just left everybody grab a plate and help themselves (which after afew drinks they loved doing!)

NOT SO PRO TIP: invest in some cheap paper/plastic plates and plastic cutlery, feck cleaning up after that many people! :eek:


Think that covers everything, definitely my longest ever post on boards
Will be handy to have here for next time actually,seems like a lot but I knew what I had to do each evening/sat morning so took any bit of stress out of it!

As for BBQ in the winter, if you have a heater/gazebo id say go for it, would be a nice change at that time of year!

Whispered wrote: »

Would you like to come to a party

That sounds like a hell of a lot of work. Fair play to you.

it wasn't that bad really, I was knackered on the sunday though...could of been from the booze though!

Dolbert wrote: »

Is it for your son's first birthday Whispered? We're contemplating ours too, think it'll be tae and sandwiches! And cake of course, lots of cake.

Yep yours is the 8th right? Ours is the 13th. Because we didnt have a christening we are thinking of having a welcome/birthday party.

It's a bit nerve wrecking tbh. First time since our wedding for 4 families to get together but I do want to make something of it iykwim.

Have you anything set in stone?

I've a basil plant going for a few months now, but my coriander and parsley are looking done after only a couple of weeks.

I was in town today, and after all the big build up with the doughnuts and all, I dropped into Vice in Abbey street to see what they're all about.

Nice they are too. But small. So I had two!