Precooking Foods Feeding A Crowd

Precooking foods

chefjeb 16 years ago

Large quantity foods have different rules than small batches in home kitchens.mOne of the most important is handling foods that will be precooked, then chilled and served later. Foods cooked in bulk don't chill down quickly and can become unsafe. The rule is foods must be chilled from 135 to 70 degrees in two hours or less then to 41 in another 4 hours. That's had to do, unless you know what you are doing. For large roasts, break them into small pieces that will chill quicker. For liquids, put in an ice water bath, which is sink filled with ice water. For othr foods place in a stainlesss steel or aluminum pan and have the product no more than two inches deep. More than that it won't cook quickly enough. And remember that plastic containers don't conduct heat or cold and will cool much slower than stainless or aluminum. See the transportation topic for more on hot and cold holding.

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shirleyoma 16 years ago said:

Great info! I've cooked for large Church Groups years ago and it's not an easy job to cool down large amounts of food stuffs.. I used to put everything into smaller metal bowls... works well.. thank you for reminding me of my early years...hugssssss
ShirleyOma

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dottiet 16 years ago said:

Yes, thank for the friendly reminder. You do have to handle large amounts much differently. At our church we use the larger containers to prepare in but store in smaller ones to cool down throughly. Large zip lock bags are also a space saver and help to cool down prepared early foods. Thanks for your post. Dottie T.
Cheers!

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dandelion 16 years ago said:

Another thing that is essential in Large Quantity Cooking is have EVERYTHING ready to go. Clean counter space to do the packaging and have all of your storage containers ready to go. Most importantly is room in the refrigerator/s.

Having cooking buddies is a huge help too. :)

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