William Penn Life, 2006 (41. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
2006-09-01 / 9. szám
The Hungarian Kitchen available and you can order yours from the home office. Just call 1-800- 848-7366 and someone very nice will tell you how to get your copy. If you will be attending the picnic, there will be a tent set up where you can buy a copy. In that same tent there will be some cooking demonstrations, knife handling skills and a raffle for a copy of the new cookbook. Please stop buy and say hi if you're able to attend the picnic. I decided this month I would write about what it takes to feed a lot of people three meals a day for a week. It's not as hard as you think, and, believe it or not, the same techniques and principles used for 30 can also work when feeding 3,000. All it takes is a step by step plan and teamwork. Okay then... The first thing you need to know is how many areyou feeding? Once you know that number, everything else is made easy for you. The next thing you need to know is what do people want to eaf? Maybe they want a variety of foods from hot to cold. They might even want to order take out one night (like pizza, Chinese or subs). Your group might even want to go out to dinner at a nice restaurant, which means you don't have to cook one night. The main idea is to put together a menu so you have some guidelines for good meal service. What time will the meals be served?Onee you know when people will be eating, you can plan your preparation time accordingly. If you need extra time to prep, let your people know the meal will be served a few minutes later than expected. A good cook not only prepares a good meal but serves it on time as well! Another thing you need to know is: how much money do you have to spend on food? It's good to have a budget to work with so you don't run out of money and you can plan accordingly to buy the right items. It also helps if one person does all the shopping so you can keep better track of the food. For the Hungarian Heritage Experience, I tried to get all the food from a major food supplier called U.S. Foodservice because they ( \ Have comments cr questions for the Chef? Then write to: The Hungarian Kitchen c/o William Penn Assn. 709 Brighton Road Pittsburgh, PA 15233. Or, you can send him an email at: wvasvary® camail.harvard.edu \________I_______/ pack their food in large quantities and they deliver. I didn't have to go running around to get the food, and I had more time to spend preparing the food. I also tried to buy all of my produce fresh because we were right in the middle of farm country. There is nothing better than fresh vegetables and fruits when having a meal! What will the weather be like?li you're going camping, you hope for sunny, warm weather which can affect what you will cook or prepare to eat. Warm weather usually means cookout or barbecue type food but can also mean cold meals like salads, greens or fresh vegetables to dine on. It's a good practice to prepare two menus so you have a backup plan depending on the weather. In rainy weather perhaps a soup or stew can be prepared to warm up wet campers. There is nothing worse than being cold and wet with no hot food to eat. I know because I remember my experiences from the Boy Scouts when we were camping in the great outdoors. What kind of storage will I need for the food? Coolers of any size and shape come in handy because you have to store food before and after you prepare it. If you're at a place like Penn Scenic View there is cold storage in the way of freezers and refrigerators. Properly storing the food is a good culinary practice to prevent spoilage. Does it make sense to prepare a nice meal only to have it go bad because you did not refrigerate it properly? You also take the chance of giving someone a mild case of food poisoning by not handling the food in a safe manner. An oven set at 170 makes the perfect warmer for holding your food until mealtime. How many people will be helping with the cooking? It pays to have the same people help with each meal so there is less confusion in the kitchen. Put together a job list OR have a five minute meeting before you start cooking so everyone knows what they are doing. If anyone offers to help once you have started cooking, just tell them you're all set for this meal but perhaps next time you can use their help. It's not very productive when you have lots of people in a kitchen getting in each other's way. If anyone insists on helping, find them a chair, tell them to sit so they can watch what your doing while they take notes. It's a nice way of letting them participate without them getting in the way. Last but certainly not least: What kind of kitchen equipment do I need to prepare the meals?Make a list of kitchen items you need for your meal service then make sure you have them in the kitchen or packed for your camping trip. There is nothing worse than getting to a location only to find the kitchen has nothing to work with or the utensils are too large for the stove or too small for the amount of people you are feeding. There isn't much else to add to the above except to say that if you are the one in charge of the food take charge and stay in charge. Every army needs a general and every kitchen needs a chef who takes charge! And now you know a few more ways to run food service for a family or a small army. For your pleasure this month, I have listed some of the recipes we prepared at the Hungarian Heritage Experience. Hoping you have fun with them. See you at the picnic! ftózo/Uee D*** William Penn Life, September 2006 9
