Buffet dinner for 30

[filipe]

Any ideas on some nice buffet menus, to be cooked at home, for 30?

Thanks for the help

[Chris Amirault]

Give us a little bit more, filipe: what kinds of foods, ingredients, styles are you looking for?

[filipe]

I was thinking on some fusion-style menu.

It's my 30th birthday so I would like to do something that could be in any way related with these last 30 years of my life. For example, since I've been studying one year in Italy, I would like to do some italian cooking...a risotto for example, or maybe some pasta. But doing a risotto makes me spent 20 minutes away from them in the middle of the meal just to cook it properly... It's the sort of "problems" that are annoying me when I try to create a menu...

I would also like to use some fish or seafood, since I've allways lived near the sea and spent a lot of time at the beach with my friends. And since cooking is my last passion, and many of them have heard about it but never tasted anything I had cooked, i need them to remember this dinner for the rest of their lives eheh

Cold Entrées/ Tapas

Hot entrées or Pasta

2 main courses (one fish and one meat)

About the desserts that won't be a problem (my specialty), i have a lot of options that i would just need to combine with the rest of the menu when it's drafted.

[Torrilin]

Keep in mind that even if you confine yourself to traditional Italian dishes, it will have a "fusion" feel. Italian cuisine has a broad base of traditional dishes ranging from very simple to very complex, and they use a lot of flavors that you wouldn't expect given what most Italian restaurants serve.

Try one of the (many) traditional Tuscan bean dishes? They're Italian, many of them will hold well for a buffet, beans *like*being prepared in advance...

Depending on how far in advance you're planning and your preferred style, a selection of Italian sausages would be really nice. They'd also work into a wide range of dishes.

IIRC there are traditional Italian fish soups. I'm not sure how well or poorly they'd hold, but it would be worth looking at since most fish soups I've had have held very well indeed.

Risotto can be par-cooked in advance, but it doesn't hold well and is ill-suited to a buffet. Risotto cakes would probably be a better choice if you're really fond of risotto.

Italians are supposed to make Really Great Ham, and ham is a buffet classic because it's yummy and holds well. Ham also finds a way into a lot of traditional dishes.

Many pasta dishes hold very well, others don't hold well at all. Lasagne, manicotti and things like that tend to hold better. Tortellini and ravioli can also hold well.

I'm not sure where you're located, but green salads hold well for buffets and depending on the preparation, work well with an Italian meal.

When you serve a buffet, people tend to eat very differently from a sit down meal. If you want the people eating to not load up on appetizers, you need to not bring them all out at once. If you don't mind them loading up on appetizers, it's better to focus on lighter ones like crudite platters and trays of crostini. If you don't have seating for 30, it's good to dodge tomato heavy dishes, soups and very juicy dishes. Spills can be a real problem. Expect that people will go very light on the "main" course if the buffet is laid out in the order you expect people to eat the meal in. If the appetizer dishes are mixed in with the main dishes, you probably won't have anyone devouring a plateful of appetizers *g*.

Emily

[sabg]

how bout

poached salmon or gravlax

i love chix marbella from the silver palate and can be made ahead

i love the idea of a ham also...one of those spirals, v good and really no work

aspargus with a bit bousin on the end with a procuitto wrap...people love it and another make ahead

white bean salad, v tuscan and v inexpensive

Keep in mind that even if you confine yourself to traditional Italian dishes, it will have a "fusion" feel. Italian cuisine has a broad base of traditional dishes ranging from very simple to very complex, and they use a lot of flavors that you wouldn't expect given what most Italian restaurants serve.

Try one of the (many) traditional Tuscan bean dishes? They're Italian, many of them will hold well for a buffet, beans *like*being prepared in advance...

Depending on how far in advance you're planning and your preferred style, a selection of Italian sausages would be really nice. They'd also work into a wide range of dishes.

IIRC there are traditional Italian fish soups. I'm not sure how well or poorly they'd hold, but it would be worth looking at since most fish soups I've had have held very well indeed.

Risotto can be par-cooked in advance, but it doesn't hold well and is ill-suited to a buffet. Risotto cakes would probably be a better choice if you're really fond of risotto.

Italians are supposed to make Really Great Ham, and ham is a buffet classic because it's yummy and holds well. Ham also finds a way into a lot of traditional dishes.

Many pasta dishes hold very well, others don't hold well at all. Lasagne, manicotti and things like that tend to hold better. Tortellini and ravioli can also hold well.

I'm not sure where you're located, but green salads hold well for buffets and depending on the preparation, work well with an Italian meal.

When you serve a buffet, people tend to eat very differently from a sit down meal. If you want the people eating to not load up on appetizers, you need to not bring them all out at once. If you don't mind them loading up on appetizers, it's better to focus on lighter ones like crudite platters and trays of crostini. If you don't have seating for 30, it's good to dodge tomato heavy dishes, soups and very juicy dishes. Spills can be a real problem. Expect that people will go very light on the "main" course if the buffet is laid out in the order you expect people to eat the meal in. If the appetizer dishes are mixed in with the main dishes, you probably won't have anyone devouring a plateful of appetizers *g*.

Emily

←

[Fat Guy]

Why not bring a portable burner out to the buffet table and do the risotto right there, in front of your friends while talking to them -- and then have them line up and you serve it right into their bowls. That would be memorable.

For a seafood item, why not do a deconstructed cioppino, bouillabaisse or chowder? In other words, when you're done with the risotto, put out a pot of broth on the burner and, separately, several types of seafood and garnishes on platters. Each person takes a bowl, loads it up with shrimp, mussels, whatever, and then you ladle the hot broth over everything.

[k43]

My parents did this frequently. My mother always got several eyes of round, marinated them overnight in oil, lemon zest and Lawrey's and cooked them at 250 until they was lightly crusted and medium. My father then sliced them 1/8" to 3/16" thick with an electric knife. He cut up two or three and then did another when those were close to being eaten up.

It fans out beautifully on a platter, there's no gravy to spill, everyone likes it and it makes great leftovers.

A whole, bone-in ham is also great. If you're near NYC, get it at Kurowycky's, which is the best ever. At our wedding, we figured 1/2 pound per person, and it disappeared in a blink.

Here's an infallible and inexpensive roast ham recipe I've cobbled together from several versions:

12-15 lb. absolute cheapest loss-leader bone-in ham, whole or butt end

1 quart maple syrup, preferably grade B

2 tablespoons dry mustard (preferably Coleman's)

20 or so whole cloves

1. Trim off any skin and all but 1/4" of fat from the outside of the ham. Score the fat down to the meat in a diamond pattern.

2. Stab the ham all over with an ice pick.

3. Massage the dry mustard into the ham and stick it with the cloves.

4. Put the ham in a deep roasting pan, dutch oven or deep baking dish just big enough to fit, with enough room to turn it over. Pour in the maple syrup to come halfway up the ham.

5. Put the pan in a cold oven, set the temperature to 300 and cook for 30 minutes.

6. Turn the ham over, reduce heat to 250 and cook for 3 hours for a 12 pound ham, adding 30 minutes for each additional 2 pounds.

7. Drain the ham on a rack for 20 minutes before slicing.

Cool the cooking liquid, strain through a coffee filter and freeze. It can be used 2 more times before it loses flavor and gets too salty.

Edited May 24, 2006 by k43 (log)

[filipe]

Thank you guys for all your tips

I took some time to sit at my sofa, gathered some books and started to draft a menu. I'll tell you the whole menu as this way you can tell me what you thing about the flavour combinations and variety. On what concerns to deserts and petit-fours I know there's a lot of chocolate, but I just can't help it - that's what I am!

It goes like this:

amuse-bouches

cold :

- tulips with prawn paste

hot :

- shitake mushrooms with spinach pesto topped with a thin lobster slice

- pate filo baskets with genovese pesto and duck confit

soup

aspargus créme with mozarella and corn croutons

main course

yuzu and garlic chicken stripes with lime-vanilla mash

deserts

orange crépes cake (from Cordon Bleu)

parfait glacé au chocolat (from PH's Larouse du Chocolat)

petit-fours

chocolate-coated candid citrus peel (from PH)

chocolate-dipped candied mint leaves (from PH)

chocolate and banana brochettes (from PH)

mini-ecláirs au chocolat et matcha

ice-cream petit-fours

mango bars with yogurt+black pepper ice cream (from El Bulli)

crackled pineapple ice-cream with marshmallow heart (from El Bulli)

[Torrilin]

soup

aspargus créme with mozarella and corn croutons

main course

yuzu and garlic chicken stripes with lime-vanilla mash

Do you have a tureen or some other suitable serving dish for soup on a buffet? Will you be serving the soup hot or cold? Will your guests have to walk more than ~10 ft or 3m with the soup? Pre-portioning the soup may also work. The soup strikes me as something meant for a plated meal tho, rather than a buffet. (that's not to say a soup can't work, but this sounds very much like it's *intended* to be presented as single servings, and much of the balance and effect may be lost if it's not).

The main dish also sounds like it's meant for a plated meal. A lime/vanilla mash of what? How will you present the mash and the chicken strips so it's clear they go together?

Most of the other items look lovely. It's a very impressive menu, and will take a lot of preparation in advance. Have you checked that you have enough space for seating, displaying the food, and storing the food? I know my apartment would not have enough space for a meal this ambitious even if I could seat 30 .

Emily

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Sounds like an ambitious, but fun meal. I have just one suggestion for you. I feed 35-50 people a week, every Saturday night (mostly the same crowd,) and people get spoiled after a while, and I find that I try to outdo myself, etc. etc. It's fun, but a lot of work... and it was only because a very wise friend cared enough to point out that on my own birthday weekend, I should probably design a meal so that I could actually have the time and energy to enjoy my friends and my party. Do as much as you can ahead of time, and enlist some help with the last-minute preparations & the serving if you can. What's the point of wowing your guests if you're soo busy that you don't even get to enjoy "that look" on their faces -- the look that says you've locked in a culinary memory for them?

Have fun, and happy birthday.

[annachan]

soup

aspargus créme with mozarella and corn croutons

main course

yuzu and garlic chicken stripes with lime-vanilla mash

Do you have a tureen or some other suitable serving dish for soup on a buffet? Will you be serving the soup hot or cold? Will your guests have to walk more than ~10 ft or 3m with the soup? Pre-portioning the soup may also work. The soup strikes me as something meant for a plated meal tho, rather than a buffet. (that's not to say a soup can't work, but this sounds very much like it's *intended* to be presented as single servings, and much of the balance and effect may be lost if it's not).

←

I think it'll be fun serving soup in small cups (espresso size) or shot glasses.