Grilling 60 steaks for dinner

[TPO]

My friend's family is hosting a family reunion and her dad decided he wanted to grill steaks for everyone. We tried to convince him to do something else, mainly because he could end up spending all of his time at the grill instead of visiting with his family. But since he isn't changing his mind, I'm looking for a little advice.

He has two grills and should be able to grill at least a dozen steaks at a time, and he wants to wait until all 60 are cooked until he serves them. Someone suggested that he grill them only until they are rare, then put them in an electric roaster pan with au jus to keep them warm while he continues cooking. I thought that would turn a grilled steak into a braised steak and would defeat the purpose of grilling. But other than using an electric roasting pan as some sort of a steam table, I can't think of another solution.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, especially by his guests!

[chezcherie]

is an indoor oven also available?

if so, he could grill them very rare, and finish them on sheet pans in a low oven. i teach cooking classes, and in order to have enough grilled steaks for all the students to sample, we do this--the students usually can't believe that the steaks were grilled before they arrived at class, and served an hour later. (we show grilling one or two in class, but don't have room on the grill nor the time to grill enough in class for everybody, so we employ this method, which has the bonus of being a good learning point!)

Edited July 24, 2006 by chezcherie (log)

[Carolyn Tillie]

is  an indoor oven also available?

if so, he could grill them very rare, and finish them on sheet pans in a low oven. i teach cooking classes, and in order to have enough grilled steaks for all the students to sample, we do this--the students usually can't believe that the steaks were grilled before they arrived at class, and served an hour later. (we show grilling one or two in class, but don't have room on the grill nor the time to grill enough in class for everybody, so we employ this method, which has the bonus of being a good learning point!)

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I worked for a "name" caterer in Los Angeles and this was exactly the same method he used to grill and serve over 2,000 steaks simultaneously (i.e., the Emmys). Works just fine.

[woodburner]

Having cooked steaks as your friends dad a few times for about as many people, I will attest, that he'll be cooking more than socializing. Now depending upon his outlook on the relatives, this could be a good, or bad thing.

I cooked whole boneless ribeyes, as Chris Schlessinger advises in his book, The Thrill of the Grill.

About 2 hours before sit down, I rub the outside of all of the whole ribeyes with EVOO and salt and pepper, then char all sides over a hot fire, until the internal temperature is about 100ºF. Remove from the grill, wrap well in plastic wrap, stick in gallon size baggies and seal, put them in the bottom of the ice cooler and load as much ice as possible on top, to cool them down as quick as possible. About 15 minutes prior to service , remove one whole ribeye from the cooler and cut into desired steak thickness. While one cooks on the grilles pull another one from the cooler and repeat the process. You should yield about 10-13 steaks from each rib eye.

One large grill does a much better job of two, most rental centers have a 4 foot long charcoal grill called a "Big John" that can handle about 25 steaks at one time.

Oh yeah, a pop up tent is your best friend.

woodburner

Edited July 24, 2006 by woodburner (log)

[jsolomon]

put them in an electric roaster pan with au jus to keep them warm

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With jus, dear. With au jus is redundant.

[dano1]

mark em, sheet em, finish em.