Breakfast for 80

[Jenise]

Another one of my mass-feeding projects, and this time it's breakfast for our Yacht Club. It's complimentary to members and I have a budget of around $400.

Am definitely going to do a huge baked ham and have a carving station. Everything else is up for grabs. Will be testing a few recipes this afternoon, and am leaning toward anchoring the meal with some kind of egg-and-potato combination that can be cooked ahead, reheated or kept warm, and cut into squares for neat and easy service. Should keep that vegetarian, so that meat yes or no is a personal option--we do have some vegetarians.

One recipe we're testing today will be a savory-sweet muffin involving crumbled, cooked sausage and sweet potatoes. Will need at least two other muffin/coffee-cake like items, and we'll presume that most people will take one of each. Fresh fruit needs to be an item, too.

Not sure what else. Or if that's enough. Any of you do large-scale morning meal dishes or have any ideas you'd reccomend? Do-ahead ideas are highly favorable, since we don't want to get up and start cooking at 4 a.m. This event will start at 10 a.m.

Frittata and quiche come to mind as good bake-ahead breakfast food.

How about Pineapple Muffins? http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14715&start=0

Strata. One including meat, and another for the vegetarian crowd. Lots of different accompaniments (salsa, grated cheese, sour cream, ketchup, hot sauce, etc.) so that they can be personalized to suit different tastes. I like coffee cakes rather than muffins, as a time saver, with a few store bought items thrown in. And, of course, fruit.

Spanish tortillas? Not sure how well they'd scale up, but I bet people would like them.

80 people, 400 dollar budget, =$5.00 per person. That's indicative of really tough times in a YACHT CLUB. My God what's the menu for the 47%? bread & water?

The make ahead breakfast casseroles are great, and you could enlist a few volunteers to help you assemble them the day before. How about including a few of the French Toast casseroles, as well as the egg, potato versions? Most of the ones I make can be served at room temperature. Ham is always great at a carving station....I find it rather elegant to have a nice looking, sweet gentleman there carving my ham, with a smile on his face!!!!

am leaning toward anchoring the meal with some kind of egg-and-potato combination that can be cooked ahead, reheated or kept warm, and cut into squares for neat and easy service.

Sounds like the Spanish "Tortilla" that you see everywhere in Madrid. Thinking of it as Spanish might justify a dusting of paprika...

Or something else tapas-inspired.

Can't go wrong with poached eggs done to personal specifications

80 people, 400 dollar budget, =$5.00 per person. That's indicative of really tough times in a YACHT CLUB. My God what's the menu for the 47%? bread & water?

There's a fee for the bread, payable to JPMorgan/Chase.

These sounded good when I saw them a few days ago:

http://abeautifulbite.com/good-morning-muffins/

[Jenise]

How about Pineapple Muffins? http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14715&start=0

Howie, I served those this past summer at another Yacht Club event so can't re-use, but they're sure good. But since you put it on the table, I'm suddenly asking myself how the same recipe would work with frozen peaches.

[Jenise]

These sounded good when I saw them a few days ago:

http://abeautifulbite.com/good-morning-muffins/

Those DO sound good!

[Jenise]

Can't go wrong with poached eggs done to personal specifications

For 80? I'd kill myself.

[Jenise]

80 people, 400 dollar budget, =$5.00 per person. That's indicative of really tough times in a YACHT CLUB. My God what's the menu for the 47%? bread & water?

You made me laugh! But yes, it's a pretty rinky dink little Yacht Club.

[Jenise]

am leaning toward anchoring the meal with some kind of egg-and-potato combination that can be cooked ahead, reheated or kept warm, and cut into squares for neat and easy service.

Sounds like the Spanish "Tortilla" that you see everywhere in Madrid. Thinking of it as Spanish might justify a dusting of paprika...

Or something else tapas-inspired.

Yes, very much like that. We made two yesterday, one that included artichoke/parmesan/herb and another seasoned with sharp cheddar and green onion, essentially. Both were delicious and both reheated absolutely beautifully this morning, but the difference between them wasn't measurable enough to justify the more expensive ingredients so I'll probably go with the latter. The smoked paprika would be a great addition.

[Jenise]

Strata. One including meat, and another for the vegetarian crowd. Lots of different accompaniments (salsa, grated cheese, sour cream, ketchup, hot sauce, etc.) so that they can be personalized to suit different tastes. I like coffee cakes rather than muffins, as a time saver, with a few store bought items thrown in. And, of course, fruit.

I love stratas but find it a bit daunting on a volume basis--number of pans, amount of oven space required. Should I rethink that?

I'd do quiche in large, rectangular foil baking pans. The only sticking point is making the paté brisée in large enough format to line the pans, but I have faith in your abilities, Jenise (and it certainly beats poaching eggs for 80! ) You could even make both veggie since you've got the ham.

Mark Lipton

I find stratas very forgiving and you have the ability to adjust the ingredients accoding to what you have on hand as long as you crack enough eggs. The bread and other ingredients can slide up and down the scale (more or less of one or the other). And, they can be as sophisticated or casual as you would like -- especially given the accompaniments (caviar and creme fraisch or salsa and sour cream). It's like a quiche, but without the burden of having to produce a pate brisee. Have you also considered making gravlax? One 8-10lb salmon should be sufficient to serve ~80?

[Jenise]

I find stratas very forgiving and you have the ability to adjust the ingredients accoding to what you have on hand as long as you crack enough eggs. The bread and other ingredients can slide up and down the scale

All that part I see. It's just the logistics of getting the quantities needed for 80ish panned and baked off with three ovens, one of which does the ham, and the pan situations of your typical home cooks. I have three large hotel pans, but two are going to be involved in the egg-potato frittata/tortilla-like dish and after that at best we have a small squad of 9 x 13's. That's what I meant about the importance of do-ahead.

If you have roaster pans you can make a dish for a bunch of folks. I've seen that done at events I've attended. Big casseroles in 20 -22 pound roasters. Seemed to work very well. I would think that two roasters full would serve 80 ish with the other sides you are having. Has your club invested in large chafing dishes?

I'm a visual person when it comes to this kind of thing, so without looking at the kitchen and the utensils, it's hard for me to visualize. But, I would think you could make stratas the night before and bke off to just before fully cooked. The issue the next morning would be the heating/warming apparatus. Hard for me to call it from here. But, you are a professional. I'm certain you will figure out a way to make it work if this is how you decide to go.

Are you having food items donated ? Not sure you can do your meal for $5.00 and include fresh fruit and all the rest you propose.
In any event, those large, electric roasters may ease your oven crunch. The ham, for sure , could be done in one. Have never used said roaster for something like strata but have used them for industrial servings of lasagna which worked. For eggs, would look for a non-stick interior. At the very least they work very well as warming ovens.

I love planning large # events but have only gone as high as 60 for a do it myself event. Good luck

[Jenise]

I'm a visual person when it comes to this kind of thing, so without looking at the kitchen and the utensils, it's hard for me to visualize. But, I would think you could make stratas the night before and bke off to just before fully cooked. The issue the next morning would be the heating/warming apparatus. Hard for me to call it from here. But, you are a professional. I'm certain you will figure out a way to make it work if this is how you decide to go.

Our clubhouse has a conventional POS (piece of shit) electric stove and double wall ovens. The POS oven is the largest and I'll need it for holding already cooked food, which leaves me the wall ovens for anything that has to be baked just before service. I need to check on weather or not the Clubhouse has chafing dishes. I have one I'd completely forgotten about, and if it has one that might expand my ability to keep food warm. Better check it out. I haven't relied on any clubhouse utensils for a long time as in general I own more large catering vessels than it does, but since it's a community space things have a tendency to magically appear as well as grow feet and walk away. No other group who uses it is half as ambitious as I am about group feeds, but one never knows!