heating and serving
maria
05/13/11 		I am serving semi bnls ham for a party feeding 190. I was told it is best to slice ham FIRST and then bake with mixture of gingerale and brownsugar and cloves in an aluminum roaster. We thought this may best conserve the heat in the ham that would be lost carving AFTER baking. We will be placing hot ham in cambro with tight alum. lids and deliver to party. My questions are: will the ham dry out baking it this unconventional way? how many hours can HOT food be safely stored in these insulated boxes? We will be placing hot foods directly on table without chafers or roasters. We feel by keeping food in cambros and running a total of 4 buffet lines , food will not be out for more than 1.5-2 hours max. Is this wise? How would you suggest keeping our other sides ( green beans and smashed pots) warm that do not fit in the cambros? We have one household oven on site. Thank you for your wise counsel!
ellen
05/14/11 		Cambros must be preheated- hot water or cambro heaters- for safe holding up to 6 hours.

Why no chafers? They are cheap.

The other dishes also need to be held hot; get more Cambros.

maria
05/16/11 		Thank you and we'll get more cambros. What are your thoughts on how we plan to bake the semi boneless ham. Will it produce the same results as the conventional manner of baking? Are we correct in assuming that foods can safely sit out for 2 hours max in an airconditioned party room?
ellen
05/16/11 		See the reheating info in the holiday cooking section at the top of the big pots page. e Yes, you are correct about to 2 hours.
maria
05/16/11 		I appreciate the service you provide and I know that this may seem like a redundant question. But I was kind of hoping that you would kind of give me your personal opinion and experience on baking the ham in that manner. It's something that I'm not experienced with and was hoping for a little more than logistics. Thank you
ellen
05/16/11 		I regularly reheat cooked ham this way. You do not specify if this ham is already cooked or you are going from scratch.
Maria
05/19/11 		It is a semi bnls. smoked ham that the butcher tells me is completely cooked. But we plan on opening the wrapper from the store, slicing it thin, pouring some pineapple and brown sugar over it and sitting it in fridge overnight to bake it the next morning @ 325 for around an hour. What do you think? Oh and thanks for all of the feedback!
ellen
05/19/11 		Maria, this is just reheating, and I am unsure why you are worried about it...