Cooking ideas for 20 people

[NikolaeVarius]

Pulled pork. Get 4 shoulders, brine, oven at 225 for 13-14 hours.

Done. Fed 30 people with that at a party like that.

 

[Kaido]

Pulled pork. Get 4 shoulders, brine, oven at 225 for 13-14 hours.

Done. Fed 30 people with that at a party like that.

My buddy did a pig roast for his family reunion a couple years ago. Couldn't believe how much food was left over. They had like 100 people there and still had TONS of leftovers.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Pulled pork. Get 4 shoulders, brine, oven at 225 for 13-14 hours.

Done. Fed 30 people with that at a party like that.

4 Shoulders would be a bit much....when planning pork for a group, you go 1/4lb-1/2lb per person. Most roasts are 6-8lbs. You could get by with 2-3 roasts. Get some liquid smoke and hit the brine with (not too much) so you don't have to smoke them and you get a hint of flavor.

Lasagna is another option. You can get aluminum disposable lasagna pans and make up 3-4 pans in advance. Leave them in your refrigerator for 24 hours before baking them and the flavors will come together more. Since the oven will be hot, it'll be easy to get frozen garlic bread.

3-4 boxes of noodles, 3-4 lbs of ground beef, 3-4 onions, 3-4 green bell peppers, 4 cans of cheap spaghetti sauce.... Mix some 96oz of Ricotta cheese and 96oz lowfat cottage cheese as a filler.....Add in 48oz of mozzerella, 3-4 eggs and a little salt for the cheese layers. (cottage cheese makes it go further for cheap)

 

[WelshBloke]

Pulled pork. Get 4 shoulders, brine, oven at 225 for 13-14 hours.

Done. Fed 30 people with that at a party like that.

I was going to suggest a big pork roast.

Seriously it's really hard to fuck up cooking a pork joint.

Cook it the day before and get everyone else to bring a dish to go with it.

 

[manimal]

so what are you thinking of doing OP?

 

[Scarpozzi]

Buy like 6-8 gallons of milk and a bunch of boxes of Captain Crunch + disposable bowls.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Habanero poppers....

Bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers are good too, and very easy to make.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

ask people if they would like to bring a dish. take it from there.

if you want to do a fun idea would do something like hot pot.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Life isn't a fricken game! How you play is the point. Nobody wins in the end. There aren't any saves and, there aren't any exploits. However, you do earn the derision, distrust and. distaste of people everywhere who seek to build a better life rather than scam one.

You can spend your time in the kitchen in you want - I have a life to live.

Be a dear and box up some leftovers for me, will you? I'll be home late.

 

[DrPizza]

barbecue. +salad +ricesalad +fruitsalad

you do not have the tools and/or skills to cook for 20 people, trust me. (i have 6 years of experience in restaurants and i would have a hard time cooking for 20 people, and i got every tool and stockpot and monster sized casserole you can think of in my kitchen)

if you dont have a bbq / grill then just get some takeout. i doubt your stove/hotplate/firething can keep 20 portions of food hot at the same time. we're talking 3 whole pot roasts.

I respectfully disagree. (But agree with the barbeque.) I have 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry, and he doesn't need a ton of extra tools for 20 people. 20 people is a relatively small group. And, keeping 3 pot roasts warm would be difficult?? Maybe in a very poorly equipped apartment kitchen.

My suggestion: a small buffet with a variety of foods available. Some of the food can be prepared the day before & reheated the day of the event (and foods like meatballs always taste better the 2nd day!) Get a whole inside round; about 15 pounds worth. The day before, season it, and very slow roast it (225 or 250 degree oven) until it just reaches medium rare. Slice it very thin. Reserve juices and perhaps cheat and even buy some beef stock to have a hot au jus sauce the next day. Slice the beef very thin (just barely thick enough to hold together; thickness of a napkin), and store in the fridge. Next day, put out rolls next to a crock pot of hot au jus. Hot or cold beef sandwiches. (I prefer kimmelweck rolls, with horseradish as a side; some people like mustard, throw the ketchup lovers out of your house and out of your family.)

Get a cooked ham and slice it up (spiral cut hams are awesome, and if you're lucky, you can get what my grocery store sells: precut chunks of ham in a shrink-wrapped package; about 4-5 pounds per package, and it's delicious; runs about $1.60/lb for those packages). Trim up the ham, remove fat or anything that doesn't look great, toss in some pineapple slices in a 9x13 baking dish, and warm through.

As a 3rd choice, make some homemade meatballs the day before (Or, if you're lazy, get the frozen ones. But, if you do, and you're Italian, may you catch on fire the moment you ever go visit the motherland.) With a $30 slow cooker, you can easily have enough meatballs ready for 20 people, even if that was your only food.

Alternate, if you just want one meal: purchase 20 boneless skinless chicken breasts. Hollow them out and fill with stuffing. Cover with cream of chicken soup & coat top with ground corn flakes (or bread crumbs; but they don't work quite as well). Alternately, butterfly each breast, pound thinner with a meat hammer, then roll up a big wad of stuffing inside. Cook until it reaches a safe temp for chicken (160). You can usually get about 7 in a 9x13 baking dish; so you'll need 3 baking dishes. (A whopping $10 each at Walmart.) You can easily squeeze in 20 baked potatoes on the oven racks. In one big pot on the stove, cook up enough of one vegetable that is easy to do in a larger pot: corn. Everyone likes or at least will eat corn.

Cook deserts the night before - pies are easy. Again, cheat if you suck at pie dough (get the premade doughs that you just unroll. Cheat even more and use canned pie filling, may the ghost of Julia Child haunt you in your sleep.) Since it's Thanksgiving, people might like pumpkin pie. You can have 2 pumpkin pies in the oven in less than 15 minutes. Then make a couple loaves of banana bread, or zucchini bread. Maybe an apple pie too. And go lazy: premade graham cracker crust, cook up a batch of chocolate pudding (do not get the just add milk, mix, stir stuff; you need the stuff that sets up), and fill the pie with chocolate pudding and refrigerate. That's another 10 minutes or less. But, getting a package of pre-made dough that you unroll, and two cans of pie filling (per pie) - the pie is in the oven in 5 minutes or less. "Did you make these pies yourself?!" "Yes, yes I did." Wins bonus points with relatives.

With meatballs, beef, and ham: sandwiches. You can get a variety of types and sizes of rolls. Chips go well with sandwiches and it's pretty effortless to open a bag. Set out a couple veggie platters - broccoli, olives, baby carrots, etc., with some ranch dip in the center of each, and you're good to go. I cook enough food in my kitchen for at least 40 people each Christmas, and it's all easily kept warm enough. If you have to, simply ask a relative or two who will be attending if you can borrow a crock pot. Or, if it's an annual tradition, simply get some things for your kitchen to make it trivial to cook for 20 people each year.

(Edit: these were my suggestions of "easy" foods to serve to 20 people that will make it look like you actually put forth effort. If you serve foods that make it look like you put in zero effort, it makes it look like you don't care about family. For Thanksgiving, we're eating at my son's house, but I've been tapped to cook all the deserts for 20-25 people. I'll make enough desert for 50 people, because it sucks to want a piece of apple pie and get stuck with the last piece of pumpkin pie. My apple pies take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours from start to when they come out of the oven. The crust involves using apple cider that I freeze concentrated as a replacement for the water.)

 

[Denly]

I cook almost everyday, I am no expert but I can prepare 20 people meal in perfection.

The most important think is write it down. when to do what.

Last time I did

Roast Tomato seafood soup
bread/salad
Steak slice with guacamole
Roast turkey - or beef or pork
beans w/ garlic butter
Muchroom Quinoa
Cake - store made

done.

 

[Kaido]

Alternate, if you just want one meal: purchase 20 boneless skinless chicken breasts. Hollow them out and fill with stuffing. Cover with cream of chicken soup & coat top with ground corn flakes (or bread crumbs; but they don't work quite as well). Alternately, butterfly each breast, pound thinner with a meat hammer, then roll up a big wad of stuffing inside. Cook until it reaches a safe temp for chicken (160). You can usually get about 7 in a 9x13 baking dish; so you'll need 3 baking dishes. (A whopping $10 each at Walmart.) You can easily squeeze in 20 baked potatoes on the oven racks. In one big pot on the stove, cook up enough of one vegetable that is easy to do in a larger pot: corn. Everyone likes or at least will eat corn.

Yum, that sounds pretty good! Hammering chicken literally changed the way I cooked chicken:

http://asweetandsavorylife.com/how-to-cook-tender-juicy-not-dry-chicken-breasts/

I just throw them in a ziploc bag & pound them with a wooden rolling pin to about 1/4", works awesome! Best chicken ever is with a bit of olive oil in a cast iron frying pan over medium for 5 minutes per side - makes an awesome sandwich or dinner. I always wondered how restaurants did chicken parmesan, chicken sandwiches, etc. so that they were biteable but not dry!

 

[zerocool84]

Life isn't a fricken game! How you play is the point. Nobody wins in the end. There aren't any saves and, there aren't any exploits. However, you do earn the derision, distrust and. distaste of people everywhere who seek to build a better life rather than scam one.

Yup because buying something instead of cooking it is such a huge part of life!!!

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Yup because buying something instead of cooking it is such a huge part of life!!!

Hey, I get it. You and Dave don't give a damn about food or anyone else who may (whether they're relatives or not). It's a crying shame the world isn't populated by NPC's, you and Dave could be kings!

I recommend the OP order take out, since putting food for twenty in the microwave is problematic and anything else is just too much darn effort.

 

[Howard]

Yum, that sounds pretty good! Hammering chicken literally changed the way I cooked chicken:

http://asweetandsavorylife.com/how-to-cook-tender-juicy-not-dry-chicken-breasts/

I just throw them in a ziploc bag & pound them with a wooden rolling pin to about 1/4", works awesome! Best chicken ever is with a bit of olive oil in a cast iron frying pan over medium for 5 minutes per side - makes an awesome sandwich or dinner. I always wondered how restaurants did chicken parmesan, chicken sandwiches, etc. so that they were biteable but not dry!

Except for the part about cooking the chicken to not less than 160F...

 

[Kaido]

Except for the part about cooking the chicken to not less than 160F...

I did a turkey test-run last weekend to 165, boy was it dry! Talked to a fellow smoker buddy at work and he said do it to 150 instead, as long as it's not pink - still edible, but will come out way juicier. Going to try that for Thanksgiving!