Cooking For a Crowd

Introduction

Everybody experiences occasions that cry out for a crowd to help celebrate. Milestone birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, holidays, and family reunions become extra special with many friends and family members gathered around. This course is designed for those who want to prepare and share food at home while creating an occasion that is a little special.

Surveys have shown that many people regard entertaining as stressful as having a root canal, especially if you don’t regard yourself as an expert chef. To avoid the trauma, you can hire a private chef or caterer, or take everyone to a restaurant or function hall. But sometimes these options simply don’t work– whether due to cost, or space availability, or more likely that you want your guests to feel an intimate, at-home ambiance.

So you draw up the guest list, send out the invitations, and bask in anticipatory pleasure. As they respond, guests congratulate you for taking on such a daunting challenge. Then the date approaches and panic sets in.

There are some easy ways out. Make the party a potluck event or call your local deli and order meat platters or hot trays of pasta. There’s nothing at all wrong with that, but you have a real desire to give a gift of your own time and talents and make it your own special achievement.

The course picks you up at the point of panic, but before you fall back on the tried and true. We’ll show you how to select recipes that produce great food but don’t require extraordinary culinary skill. If necessary, we’ll supersize them. We’ll walk through timetables that don’t rush you. We’ll calculate how much food to serve. We’ll work out a beverage plan. You’ll have a road map and checklist for the preparation and cooking, as well as advice about hiring help. We'll discuss food safety. Topics for discussion will be proposed, and hopefully we'll share ideas and experience. At the end, you’ll enjoy the compliments.

Let’s take one example. You’re having a large birthday party and the cost of a bakery cake to feed 75 is exorbitant. But baking is not one of your specialties.

Here’s a road map for dessert. First, select an appropriate cake. A carrot cake is ideal – people love it and it’s rich, so you can satisfy people with a single layer. Carrot cake doesn’t require the finesse of a genoise or angel food cake. You don’t need special equipment and the cake isn’t fussy about a little variation in baking time or temperature.

You can prepare the batter a couple weeks ahead of time. The only time consuming part of preparing a carrot cake is peeling and shredding all those carrots. The easy solution is to use jars of baby food, as the carrots are wholesome and already prepped.

Refrigerate the batter until you’re free to bake three layers, which you can do at one time or at different times. Make each layer in a 13 x 9” pan. If you don’t own one, you can buy foil ones cheaply at the grocery store. After baking, wrap each layer and freeze them separately. Carrot cake freezes very well.

Sometime during the week before the party, make a simple cream cheese frosting and refrigerate. On the day of the party, lay each cake layer side by side on a large piece of cardboard or boarding that is wrapped in aluminum foil. Frost the top, sides, and cracks between the layers. Decorating can also be simplified. Buy or pick fresh flowers (no pesticides used) and decorate the top. If the guest of honor is older, you’ll have lots of room for candles.

So sit back, relax, and join the course. Not only will you enjoy the kudos at the end of your party, but you’ll even have time to enjoy it yourself.

What Students Are Saying...
"I needed an IMMEDIATE course in planning for a large party. I liked paying with Paypal and doing the course immediately (hence no time to buy the book nor to wait for the interactive course.) This met my needs today, but I would like to take an interactive course in the future. I thought the topics of the course were specific and I feel more confident of what I'm doing now.

Lessons

Click here to see course syllabus