Cooking for large groups

[British Red]

This one wants a home practice - but is delicious

Something chinese thats easy to whomp up and is BBs signature dish at meets - Chinese Lemon Chicken

(Serves 4 - adjust to numbers)

Take 4 chicken breasts. Split each into 2 natural fillets and place in ziplock bag.

Using a log as a rolling pin and a stump, roll each fillet out to 1/4" thick.

Take fillets from the bag and (on a plate) slice each into 1" strips across the grain of the meat (short not long strips)

Put chicken back in ziplock and add a tablespoon of soy sauce. Shake to coat chicken.

Add 4 tablespoons of cornflour to bag and shake well to coat all chicken strips (you may need to use washed hands to help).

Trim the roots and tips off a bunch of (about 8) spring onions. Cut diagonally to 1/2" pieces. Add a crushed finely chopped garlic clove.

Using a RAZOR sharp bush knife, thinly rind a lemon (use a grater if new to this) and juice the lemon into your cup (cut in half, stick your fork into the cut and gouge around to break the lemon up. Squeeze through fingers to catch pips into cup).

Add a 1/4 pint of chicken stock to cup (I use half a stock cube and 1/4 pint of water in the field). If you like a sweet taste add a tablespoon of sugar and / or a tablespoon of dry sherry. Add a tablespoon of cornflour and blend to a smooth paste.

Put about 4 tablespoons of olive oil in your wok / pan (it needs to be 1/4" deep). Get it hot. Fry off all your chicken strips a few at a time until golden brown. Place the fried strips on plate as they are done to remove oil.

Wipe your pan out. Add a spoon of clean oil and fry off your spring onions and garlic for 2 minutes till soft.

Add the stock / cornflour mix and return chicken to pan. Stir until thickened adding more cornflour if needed.

Serve on a bed of boiled rice.

Red

 

[Tadpole]

Chop 3 kg of shin of beef cut into large cubes or any cheap cut of red meat, place into a bowl and pour in two bottle of red wine. Soak over night with 5 pepper corms per kg (crushed with the flat of a knife) and five bay leaves per 3kg of meat and a big pinch of turmeric.
In a very large pot heat a quarter of a pint of cheap olive oil and fry 2lb of lardons or bacon trimmings until crispy (pour away any “bacon water” leaving only the fat,)
add and fry three onions and 6 cloves of garlic per 3kg of meat till the onions are just starting to go clear, either remove the onions, bacon and garlic or leave in the pot and brown off the meat (in batches) until all is done. Then remove and set aside.
Pour in to the pot the wine that the meat had soaking in overnight, add back to the pot the onions et al and Reduce by half, put back the meat and cover with either water or a good stock (about a gallon or 4.5 litres) cover (seal with a disk of baking parchment, and a heavy lid ) and cook on a very low heat for 3-5 hours.
After about three hours add 2lb of unpeeled potatoes and a couple of pounds of carrots making sure there is enough liquid to cover them (if the carrots are smaller than the base of your thumb use them whole) Add a kg of pre- soaked beans, cook for the final hour uncovered. Cook until most of the stock has reduced to a thick meaty gravy.
Or about half an hour before serving drop in 6 small suet dumplings per person and let them soak up the last of the liquid. With dumplings that quantity will serve 20 people with seconds for a lucky few. Goes further with rice or noodles but is not as nice.
Don’t stir to much as the meat will break up into tiny bits.

 

[Kevin McNamara]

fry onions lots, until soft add finely choped garlic if u want. then some cartons of choped toms ( u can then burn cartons, no waste to carry out) add dark soya granules and a packet of chilli seasoning mix and kiddny beans serve with flat bread and some cream fresh, cheese, salad. whatever. its cheap veggie and tasty
1large onion, 200ml toms, 2tbs soya, 200grms beans. aprox per person
you could also add grated carrot. dried beans are cheaper and lighter to carry but need to be boiled first.

 

[toonman]

done food for more than that on a budget.
usually go for a codfish recipe but replacing it with leek.

mince some onions and garlic, drop em in the large pan with some olive oil, and let fry till golden. add sliced leek (only the white part) and let fry some more.
add "straw" chips. don't know if you have a name for them, but they're thin small sticks of fried potatoes.
stir till the chips start to become soft.
add raw eggs, enough to soak the whole thing.
mix a lot, so the eggs don't burn or stick.

it should look like a golden grubbish mix.

drop the content on a dish, serve with olives and parsley.

if you're making a profit, add a bit of dry cod with the leek, so noone complains that there's no fish in it.

 

[belzeebob23]

Wel I woud sugest the old favourity mince and tatties everything in one big pot.
and do a soya mince version for the veggies making sure you don't get the pots mixed up
you don't want then hunting you down lol

sever the whole lot with fresh made Bannock.

scott

 

[rik_uk3]

This one wants a home practice - but is delicious

Something chinese thats easy to whomp up and is BBs signature dish at meets - Chinese Lemon Chicken

(Serves 4 - adjust to numbers)

Take 4 chicken breasts. Split each into 2 natural fillets and place in ziplock bag.

Using a log as a rolling pin and a stump, roll each fillet out to 1/4" thick.

Take fillets from the bag and (on a plate) slice each into 1" strips across the grain of the meat (short not long strips)

Put chicken back in ziplock and add a tablespoon of soy sauce. Shake to coat chicken.

Add 4 tablespoons of cornflour to bag and shake well to coat all chicken strips (you may need to use washed hands to help).

Trim the roots and tips off a bunch of (about 8) spring onions. Cut diagonally to 1/2" pieces. Add a crushed finely chopped garlic clove.

Using a RAZOR sharp bush knife, thinly rind a lemon (use a grater if new to this) and juice the lemon into your cup (cut in half, stick your fork into the cut and gouge around to break the lemon up. Squeeze through fingers to catch pips into cup).

Add a 1/4 pint of chicken stock to cup (I use half a stock cube and 1/4 pint of water in the field). If you like a sweet taste add a tablespoon of sugar and / or a tablespoon of dry sherry. Add a tablespoon of cornflour and blend to a smooth paste.

Put about 4 tablespoons of olive oil in your wok / pan (it needs to be 1/4" deep). Get it hot. Fry off all your chicken strips a few at a time until golden brown. Place the fried strips on plate as they are done to remove oil.

Wipe your pan out. Add a spoon of clean oil and fry off your spring onions and garlic for 2 minutes till soft.

Add the stock / cornflour mix and return chicken to pan. Stir until thickened adding more cornflour if needed.

Serve on a bed of boiled rice.

Red

Red, sounds good and looks similar to the Chicken and lemon soup I used to enjoy when I lived out in Cyprus, but they would add a little rice to the soup.

Happy memories for me, several hours playing backgammon and drinking glyko coffee then a bowl of soup with cubes of slow baked bread (baked until hard and you needed to soak it in the soup); several Keo brandies then home just before sunrise

 

[pieater]

Hi,

I've been lurking around the site for a while now and just soaking up information. Good to see young Mr. Wood as well.

At last I have something to contribute back to the list, and I'm on safe ground here having done semi-pro open fire cookery demonstrations for a while with my "living history" hat(s) on.

May I suggest some recipes?:

BROILED VENISON in a PEPPER SAUCE

1 thick slices of venison fillet or haunch per person
A good nob of lard

For the Basting Sauce:
2 cups red wine
3 tblsp oil
salt & pepper
¼ tsp ground ginger

For the Pepper Sauce:
4 slices soft bread, crusts removed
Dripping
1 pint rich meat stock
1 tblsp red wine vinegar
A good pinch of ground black pepper

Make up the basting sauce by combining the ingredients.
Marinade the venison slices in it for 2 - 3 hours.
Remove the meat, pat dry with a cloth then cut the edges and rub over with the lard.

Grill as for steak until medium-rare to well done, basting with the marinade while cooking. Turn using a slice - do not prod with a fork.

Meanwhile, fry the bread slices in the dripping until light gold.

Break into pieces and blend to a pulp with all the other ingredients for the sauce.

Pour into a small pan and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring continuously.

Taste and add more pepper if desired.

When cooked, transfer the steaks to a serving platter and serve with hot Pepper Sauce.


ROAST GOOSE WITH SAUCE MADAM
- A Forme of Cury C1360

10 – 12 lb goose
Salt & pepper
Sprig of each of sage, hyssop, savoury
2 tspn fresh chopped parsley
4 tbspn quince jelly
4 pears cored, peeled and roughly chopped
4 oz black grapes halved and de-seeded
1 large garlic clove (crushed)
½ pnt of goose or chicken stock
½ pnt of red wine
A large pinch ground ginger
½ tspn each of ground cinnamon & ground nutmeg
A large pinch galingale


Sprinkle the cavity of the goose with salt and black pepper then stuff with herbs, jelly, fruit and garlic.

***** the skin well.

Rub well with salt and pepper then spit roast till it's done - consider wrapping in bailing wire or similar to keep it all together .

Once cooked, carve and keep warm on a serving dish whilst you prepare the sauce.

Spoon the stuffing from the carcass in to the roasting vessel, discarding the sprigs of fresh herbs.

Add the stock and cook to reduce slightly.

Add the wine and spices, then simmer for a few minutes, season to taste.

Pour over the carved goose and serve immediately.

The biggest group 6 of us ever catered for was 120 - and I don't recommend it unless you actively enjoy being massively stressed. We hired in some massive cauldrons (about 30 Gallons) for the pork chops with sauce and the prep & cooking took about 150 man hours. We got a visit from a geezer who was a field army cook in Normandy in WW2 who heard us complain about the ingredients sticking to the bottom of the pots who advised us to bung in a green / cleanly split timber spar about a foot long by 2 inches square which them bounced round the pot preventing sticking with genius results.

I hope this helps - I've got loads of this stuff!

All the best,

Martin

 

[jamin]

when in denmark with the scouts cooking for 100+ with basic tools. the danes built a raised fire place out of poles and the earth from the wet pit,so that you dont have to bend over all the time to cook.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46250097@N06/4248954454/in/photostream/
also it helps when you have a big pan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46250097@N06/4248954560/in/photostream/
sorry i dont know how to post pictures