150 Mouths to Feed.

The dinner party was a success -- with 7 intricate courses and twenty appreciative family members. Unfortunately, that experience in no way prepared me for the following weekend's exuberant festivities, where I fed 150 high school reunionees who were not innately inclined to liking my food. The week leading up to the event pillaged countless hours from me as I formed a deep and meaningful phone relationship with Harold, my Sysco Food Supplier representative. Turns out,  developing a ubiquitously appealing menu is pretty much impossible. Another exhausting hurdle was the thought of multiplying recipes by 25, and hoping it will taste somewhat normal. This, my friend, is not an easy task. How much salt should I put in 10 gallons of chili? Do I seriously need to peel and chop 100 shallots for the chicken? Good question, kiddo. 

 I asked my two friends from school to help out with the event, which eased my mind and made the whole experience much more fun and quite comical.  Thankfully, everything went smoothly and the food was incredible -- considering we were cooking in land of the giants. 

my accomplices in the world's largest kitchen

the breakfast spread before the guests arrived

freshly baked muffins and pastries

lox

dry rubbed pork shoulder

searing the 10-lb pork shoulders

slowly braising the pork shoulder (6 hours)

pulled pork with tangy tennessee BBQ sauce

garlicky vinegar & lemon oregano chicken

crisped up and juicy!

creamy béchamel macaroni and cheese

slow cooked 3-bean and beer chili

cornbread in the largest mixer of all time

cornbread with jalapeño lime compound butter