Billy gathering cooking
Mar. 3rd, 2009 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleYeah, that was a lot of work. After all the pastry development the week before I was already kind of bushed by the time I arrived. Up at 5 AM on Saturday then 6 AM on Sunday, and working until about 9 PM, is kind of a lot. But for what a real client would be paying it would be quite worthwhile.
It's fantastic having Bill in the kitchen cleaning things. I turn around for a few seconds and before I know it my cutting board is all sparkly clean again. The whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts; the flow works so much better when I don't have to shift gears between prepping and cleaning up.
I had aspired to, among other things, do a test run of the buffet kit and take photos. Well, I didn't haul out the whole kit and caboodle; the chafing dishes and nice silverware just seemed like too much of a burden at the time. But a few nice photos gave me a sense of where things need to go in the presentation department. I'd handed a box of linens and vases to some guests and told them to dress the table - gee, think a group of gay men might find some volunteers for that? - and they made it look quite nice.
The only website-worthy shots were of a nice looking bowl of oatmeal cookies I baked from frozen dough balls.
I'm wondering what the professional cooks reading this think about this volume of work - 30 people x 6 meals. What kind of manpower would it take you? I'm still doing a lot of things that I'm going to cut out - like peeling pounds of garlic at a time, what a pain. There is definitely room for greater efficiency, but I'm not sure what a realistic target would be.
It's fantastic having Bill in the kitchen cleaning things. I turn around for a few seconds and before I know it my cutting board is all sparkly clean again. The whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts; the flow works so much better when I don't have to shift gears between prepping and cleaning up.
I had aspired to, among other things, do a test run of the buffet kit and take photos. Well, I didn't haul out the whole kit and caboodle; the chafing dishes and nice silverware just seemed like too much of a burden at the time. But a few nice photos gave me a sense of where things need to go in the presentation department. I'd handed a box of linens and vases to some guests and told them to dress the table - gee, think a group of gay men might find some volunteers for that? - and they made it look quite nice.
The only website-worthy shots were of a nice looking bowl of oatmeal cookies I baked from frozen dough balls.
I'm wondering what the professional cooks reading this think about this volume of work - 30 people x 6 meals. What kind of manpower would it take you? I'm still doing a lot of things that I'm going to cut out - like peeling pounds of garlic at a time, what a pain. There is definitely room for greater efficiency, but I'm not sure what a realistic target would be.
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Date: 2009-03-04 09:41 am (UTC)shallots are also often bought in prepeeled with the ends cut off.
i don't have much experience with banquet/buffet style service, but for some perspective...
we do a variety of private parties at work with varying menus. the most complicated would be a passed hors d'oeuvres service/cocktail hour (usually 5-6 different HDs), choice of two different offerings for 1st course, three different entrees, three different desserts, all food individually plated and cooked a la minute. for this, we'll have 4-5 prep guys, 6-7 cooks, and two dishwashers (one for prep time, one for service). a dinner for 100-200 guests moves briskly, but easily with this much staff.