Taco Buffet for 40 Adults + 20 Children
Michelle
11/17/10 		My buffet consists of slow cooker prepared shredded beef and shredded pork. I've calculated that 25 pounds of each meat will suffice as we are serving other side dishes and appetizers. Is it advisable to cook individually in a slow cookers, transported and then held in a working slow cooker for a 1-2 hour event? If no, what other cooking methods are advisable? I am using a home kitchen. We are serving a taco buffet with two meats, black beans and spanish rice. Thank you!
Michelle
11/17/10 		Clarification to "Taco Buffet for 40 Adults + 20 Children": We plan to use brisket and pork shoulder cuts. Buffet is at a museum for a toddler birthday. Seating is available but not enough for a sit down dinner. Should we consider 2 tacos + 2 tortillas per person? As well as use 1/2 the condiments recommended for 100? It just seems like so much food. Many thanks!
ellen
11/17/10 		25 pounds each is way too much meat, 25 pounds boneless total would be plenty. Then the sides at a scant half of the amount for 100, toddlers eat very little. Then the 2 shells plus 2 tortillas will work.
3 popunds each dried rice and beans, cooked, unless the adults are very heavy eaters. You can make the meat a few days ahead, refrigerate; bring to 180 on the home stove, transfer to the pre-warmed crockpots, and hold up to 2 hours, including transfer time.
MIchelle
11/17/10 		Thank you!!! Would that be 25 pounds cooked brisket & pork? Or 25 pounds raw weight? We thought we would cook the meats in a slow cooker at home, refrigerate, reheat on stovetop, transport and hold for 1.5-2 hours in a heated chaffing dishes. As well as the spanish rice and black beans side dishes. Would that be safe? We're also using an allrecipes.com 4-serving ecipe for guacamole when scaled up for 50 calls for 38 avocados. Original recipe calls for 3 avocados. Does that sound correct? Lastly to scale up a recipe for 6 servings to 50 should I first scale the meat based on the aforementioned 25 pounds meat (12.5 per brisket/pork) then scale the other ingredients up based on the amount of meat? Instead of using a basic multiplier of 8.33. Because if I truly use a multiplier of 8.33 (50/6=8.3333) than we end up needing 45 pounds raw meat for single recipe.
ellen
11/17/10 		That would be 25 pounds boneless raw, with other ingredients scaled to the weight of the meat, and I would do 15 beef, 10 pork.

Guac, that's about right if the avocados are not large. You can buy a case at a wholesaler a week ahead and have better for less.

The transport as outlined is OK. Transport in preheated ice chests (see the baked potato bar).

Michelle
11/17/10 		Can I use your method #1 to reheat tortillas, transport, then upon arrival, place tortillas in a full sheet pan in a chafing dish to keep tortillas soft? I'm worried about corn tortillas becoming hard or dried out. Unsure how warm chafing dishes become and if they can keep water hot enough to create steam. BTW, you're amazing!
ellen
11/17/10 		Yes. they make steam, that is why there is a water pan under the food pan and why the food pan should not touch the water. Also why you can scald yourself changing pans.

Could be you just want to stick with crisp shells and chips. I Do not like chafing dishes around 4 year olds...