Mexican buffet- help please

[indignatio]

Hi. I would like to feed 100 or so in the summer. I have settled on a Mexican theme. I was planning bbq hot food of chicken, beef Salmon and vegetables. Sides of different salads and then salsas, guacamole and soured cream.
Any advice welcomed
Help on the day will be abundant, as much prep in advance(frozen) is welcomed

Oh lordy. Barbecuing for 100 people? Good luck OP!

Gosh, what did I miss?

Dip recipe is as follows. Layer on a big platter - tinned re-fried beans ( spread out as the base) then tomato paste, finely chopped red onion, chopped tomato, and/or salsa then sour cream to cover. Top with grated cheese. Serve with corn chips. It is surprisingly yummy and everyone eats it. Can make ahead and don't need an oven so winning!!

You could add a guac layer but I usually don't.
Good luck with your party!!
Stock up on Coronas and limes.

I would still do refried beans for the vegetarians (well, everyone). They can be served room temp, especially in the summer when it will be warm anyway.

Do consider though if you have enough BBQ's to feed 100 though. We have a decent sized BBQ (my dh designs them) and we can cater for about 10 people at a push per BBQ. It will easily take 30-40 minutes per round of meat to cook per BBQ. That's a lot of BBQs to feed 100, if you want everything to be ready to serve at roughly the same time.

It would be much easier and more efficient to cook meat in oven/slow cooker to pull and keep warm on serving trays.

Thank you all

For the vegetarians, what would you like as a hot dish cooked on a bbq. I can ensure that it is a vegetarian bbq. The more I think on it, the more marinaded halloumi seems a bit of a cop out.

Hi, OP -

Does your BBQ have a hot plate? If so you could griddle some tortillas and do quesadillas, adding optional grilled veggies and cheese to one half after flipping the tortillas. Fold over when done, top with salsa, guac, sour cream, etc. Not innovative but very tasty

@poetryandwine thank you. All the bbqs will be old school charcoal. I might have access to a gas powered paella pan.
Can I ask again about Mexican soured cream.

Sorry, OP, I forgot. Thanks for reminding me.

Mexican soured cream or crema Mexicana
is thinner than American sour cream and I think a bit thinner than British soured cream. I have heard that it is made from a mixture if cream and buttermilk and that it is fermented with lime juice. It is very smooth and particularly delicious with Mexican food, unsurprisingly.

Also Mexicans serve their lager and that delicious Mexican Coca Cola (I don’t like beer or cola and I love both of these) very cold with a twist of lime.

There are a few online Mexican grocers based in London. I haven’t tried any of them but they look pretty good. I think a PP linked to the best of them.

Thanks. If I didn't have any sour cream, I would make it with fresh double cream and fresh citrus; so lime or Lemon
Might this work?

Costco do an excellent guacamole in large tubs

https://www.costco.co.uk/Business-Delivery/Business-Delivery/Westfalia-Fruit-Chunky-Guacamole-2-x-400g/p/379037_BD

They also do bulk bags of avocado s. Their fish and meat also excellent.

Might be worth joining?

I did a Mexican dinner party albeit on a smaller scale and did mushrooms on the bbq for tacos.
https://www.thelastfoodblog.com/mushroom-tacos/

Would really recommend the Wahaca Frijoles as a side and Jamie Oliver does an amazing pineapple salsa.
https://www.wahaca.co.uk/frijoles-recipe/
https://www.jamieoliver.com/features/how-to-make-pineapple-salsa/

Elote would be great too - easy to prep ahead and low maintenance on the bbq.
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/grilled_mexican_street_corn_elotes/

I have a recipe from the spicery that uses 75g sour cream, 75g mayo, juice from 1 lime and a pinch of salt. Don't let the mayo put you off, it's the closest I've managed to get. It scales up easily too.

@makeanddo Costco is definitely a good call. Thanks.

@Pompoms88 I will test out the mushrooms and beans. Thank you. For the sweetcorn I am going with esquites, as a pp has pointed out, bbq space will be at a premium.

@flatmop thank you, will try that out too. Would certainly make the expensive soured cream go further. Especially with a large tub of mayo from Costco!

Something like pork pibil could be made ahead and I think would freeze well - I think it would be good at room temp if keeping it hot is an issue. Although worth keeping an eye out for slow cookers if you're charity shopping! Tesco do a tomatillo salsa or Mexgrocer sell tinned ones which still work fine

A mango and avocado salsa goes really well with salmon/fish

As does a taco slaw

More TexMex but very good and slaw a great crowd food

I think that sounds worth trying OP.

Also Thomasina Miers (sp?) is a great source of Mexican recipes and she has some veggie ones, hopefully some are suited to the BBQ.

@steppingout Thank you. Unfortunately I don't have electricity for slow cookers and no room for more than the two chaffing dishes.

@RecentError Thank you, it seems I am leaning in the Tex Mex /Cal Mex direction- probably because that is what my palate is used to.

@poetryandwine I have ordered a second hand copy of one of TM's books, so looking forward to trawling that for ideas

I typed that out for nothin! Haha just kidding hope it all goes well.
Another tup is to wrapp apile of tortillas in oil and put them in a low oven. Will be lovely and warm when you need them.

I'd do a big vegan gluten free chilli in a slow cooker and rice in a rice cooker if possible, covers so many different groups. Cheap and easy too

@marshmallowburn My apologies and belated thanks for the recipe

The low oven tortillas warming is a great piece of advice

@indignatio If you don’t have the electricity for a couple of slow cookers, you do have the electricity for a couple of fridges, right? Because they come first, before anything else in your planning.

Fridges and then toilet paper then everything else.

Thank you. I have electricity, but not in the barn where the buffet is being served

Does anyone else have any suggestions please.