What’s on the menu? Three seasoned professionals open up about what it’s like to feed the crowds from their kitchens
W hat’s on the menu? Every day is different which is why one morning might entail preparing roast rack of lamb with English mint sauce and watercress salad for a crowd of 80 while the next will have you painstakingly piping mini tzitzis onto 50 cookies only to finish off the week by churning out 20 pans of schnitzel. Three seasoned professionals open up about what it’s like to feed the crowds from their kitchens
31 is a personal chef at The Kosher Gourmet her home-based business in Brooklyn New York. She’s been working in the food industry for seven years.
Dealing with a large crowd means you’re dealing with a bunch of different tastes, dietary restrictions, allergies, and so on. When I cook in my house, either you eat what’s served or you don’t, but when I’m cooking for a crowd, my job is to please every person in that crowd. If one person leaves unhappy with the food, then I’ve failed.
Sushi and hors d’oeuvres. Everything made mini always goes; it’s amazing how much more people eat when it’s bite-sized. In terms of what men eat versus what women eat, I guess the stereotypical assumption is that men like the meat, while women eat the salads, but that’s not really true — women like their meat, and men like their salads, too. What I’ve noticed is that men like bigger bolder flavors, they prefer more spice, while women like things a little blander. Women also eat more desserts than the men — even though they pretend they don’t.
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