Mexican BBQ food for 20+ people

[azteccamera]

I need help and inspiration. Mexican BBQ in two weeks. Drinks plan is wine, tequila beer, mojitos.
Menu plan - burgers, pulled pork, lime/rum chicken... Salsas

I'm a bit stuck for inspiration. And how much I will need for each person? How much food do you estimate?

Also does anyone have any fab BBQ dishes (Mexican or not) that are impressive but easy to do

How do you prep to feed 25 at a BBQ (all adults no children) and what can I do in advance?

Any help appreciated

[HolgerDanske]

I would see if you can get any of thomasina Meyers' cookery books. Full of Mexican recipes and would be great for inspiration, plus probably won't be all that much on ebay :-)

[HolgerDanske]

I would make a LOT of food. Apparently people eat about 30% more than they ordinarily would, at a BBQ.

Cook chicken beforehand (unless you're doing skewers) and then give it a quick go on the BBQ for char grilling.

A big salad, a couple of huge bowls of tortilla chips. Salsa, guacamole, sour cream dip. Or you could do two huge platters of nachos which you can do in the oven.

I love a marinated steak on the BBQ but I appreciate that this will get expensive real quick.

[HolgerDanske]

Fajitas are lovely. So easy and if you add some re fried beans, guacamole, salsa, grated cheese, salad, jalapeño peppers, coriander and so on, everyone can build their own.

[HolgerDanske]

Oh yes forgot the sour cream

[Pantah630]

Corn on the cob with lovely spicy butter...lots of Thomasina Meyers recipes online. Make proper guacamole but if you need to buy ready made the M&S one is delicious as are their own brand slightly salted tortilla chips.

[wantacatplease]

make a huge pot of Mexican rice to serve on the side

Cheap, easy and bulks out meals. Just keep it on low on the stove til ready to eat and bring it out in the pot to keep it warm.

[wantacatplease]

Fajitas, corn on the cob, and Mexican rice. Yum!

[HolgerDanske]

Oh yes corn on the cob! And I didn't even think of suggesting online recipes by thomasina :-) they are very good, easy to make. Look them up :-)

[SuzySheepSmellsNice]

Quesadillas (tortilla folded in half with grated cheese in, cooked in a dry frying pan) or Sincronizadas (same but with some chopped ham in too) are delicious and always very popular, they disappear in seconds! Make sure you cut them into small wedges!

[azteccamera]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I've eaten at Wahaca so great suggestion to look up her recipes.

Why didnt I think of fajitas! Will be good to fill people up on tortillas too.

How far in advance can I make guacamole?

And drink - everyone will bring a bottle in all likelihood but if I got 40 bottles of wine plus cocktails and beer that should be enough?

I'm stressing about it all already! Even where to put all of the food.

Good plan to cook chickens in advance. The more I can do ahead of time the better.

[azteccamera]

Suzy - they sound great. Could they be done on the BBQ do you think? There's a skillet/flat hot plate part to mine.

[OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat]

We recently had a BBQ for about the same number of people. They ate a lot less meat than I thought - maybe DP and I are greedy.

Perhaps buy, prepare and store your meat with a plan to put leftovers in the freezer. Therefore, you can buy generously so not at risk of running out of food, but not wasting any either.

We had McCain spiced potato wedges with ours - these went down a storm. I did 4 bags in 2 batches and could have easily used up twice this amount - look on mysupermarket to find out where they are on offer for a quid a bag.

[Cumberlover76]

The Mango Salsa in this recipe is amazing and a bit different from your usual salsa. You can make guacamole in advance but unless the top is totally covered, i.e. clingfilm touching the food, it will go brown on the top, you need to ensure no air gets to it for it to stay green, in my experience even tons of lime juice in doesn't stop the browning, but if you press clingfilm onto the top of the food it should help.

[HolgerDanske]

The LIDL own brand frozen wedges are good as well and only 59 or maybe 69p for a bag.

I think you could make the guacamole a few hours in advance as long as you put enough lemon in. But I'm not actually sure on that. Might be safer just to do it at the last minute.

Don't forget the biggest bucket you can find - maybe a baby bath? - fill it with cold water and a few supermarket bags of ice and you can put all your beers and cold drinks in there.

[SuzySheepSmellsNice]

azteccamera... Yes! Even yummier :) and people can dip then in the guacamole and salsas...
«awaits invite» [winks]

[SuzySheepSmellsNice]

In Mexico, my friends used to put the avocado stones into the bowl of guacamole to stop it from going brown

[HolgerDanske]

I want an invite too. It sounds loooovely!

[harverina]

Oh yes homemade salsa with tortilla crisps in the side. Mmmmm I want all of this now for lunch!

[SuzySheepSmellsNice]

I make my pulled pork in the slow cooker, lovely and easy :)

[HolgerDanske]

Brilliant idea - stick the pork in the slow cooker in the morning and hey presto it'll be done just as the BBQ is kicking off, without needing any further attention :-)

I want to host a Mexican BBQ too :-(

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

You can do everything bar the avocado for the guac early on, then just mash in the avocado at the last minute.

I make a mango salsa, which is really lovely - red onion, red chilli, red pepper, lime juice, coriander, s&p, mango.

[azteccamera]

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions. I sense you all have far superior organisational skills to mine.

I'll give the guacamole and salsas a trial run. Good excuse to eat lots of fajitas this weekend.

Slow cooker for the pork is a great idea. Any tried and tested recipes for the BBQ sauce/rub?

Everyone is welcome as long as they arrive early to prep and prevent my Mexican BBQ induced meltdown!

[azteccamera]

And the mango salsas sound fab. Feeling hungry now!

I hadn't thought of wedges either,another brilliant idea. Anything to make life easier.