Good dishes to bulk cook for a dinner for 28 people?

[allaboutme]

I am guessing that the most cost effective way of feeding this many people is to bulk serve everyone the same one or two dishes, but to serve in big pots and everyone to help themselves... rather than a full on buffet or a sit down meal?

Any good ideas for such dishes? Am thinking so far curry and goulash with lots of rice?

Nigella's chilli is fantastic - she does both a meat and a veggie version.

What if you do maybe 2 choices plus a veggie option and some big bowls of salad and maybe some bread?

I agree, it's much easier than fiddling around with sandwiches and quiches, etc

I agree with BitTilly re Nigella's chilli. It's very good.

Not just cost effective to cook something up in bulk but the only way to feed so many people and stay sane.

Nigella's veggie chilli is lovely. I cook it in the oven rather than on the hob, as the flavours seem to intensify and almost caramelise. Have never made the cornbread topping though - is it nice?

Curry is also a good option.

I've only made the cornbread topping once but I really like it, good to crumble into the chilli and a bit different to the usual rice.

Doing a huge amount of rice and keeping it warm may be a problem. You could do Jacket potatoes instead.
Lasagne goes down well and is inexpensive for masses.

If i had to do this, I'd cook jambalaya, along with lasagne or something.

Chicken Fricassee with rice

Trying very hard to think back to my days catering for 50/60 regularly, now (yikes!) 15 yrs ago. What options do you have re cooking/reheating a meal? If you've access to a full oven, then for at least one of the dishes I'd make use of the oven itself (eg lasagne, veg crumble etc) as then it won't matter if you're running a few minutes (or half an hour) off schedule. Remember if you are cooking anything in a big pan - whether rice or pasta - it takes longer to cook than the normal specified time. If you are cooking meat, think about which meat people are likely to be happiest eating - eg pork doesn't always go down well, mince or chicken is safer bet. Beef for goulash should be OK.

With cooking rice you have to keep it hot, not warm - and it's best not to reheat (v nasty food poisoning can result). Cook it on site perhaps 15mins before you need it then you could decant it into trays & cover with foil in a preheated oven. A quick google suggests oven temp of around 140C for this.

Jacket potatoes might be a safer/easier option if anyone has any allergies - serve with dishes of toppings so they can choose themselves what they would eat.

This info on estimating quantities might be useful. We used to use a normal recipe for 4-6 then multiply it up but as most recipes are generous anyway, you can end up cooking more than you need. But if you've got big eaters, have bread and butter on hand just in case...

I would follow BigTillyMint's basic suggestion. A Chilli (although the Jumbalaya also sounds good)which can be cooked on the stove top, with rice. Fish Pie with potato topping in the oven, and something vegetarian which can also be done in the oven like stuffed peppers using some of the rice, and some of the same cheese that you are grating over the fish pie. Joined up government sort of thing.

For feeding large groups cost effectively I'd second the curry or chilli suggestions but highly recommend using cheaper cuts of meat like lamb shoulder. Additional benefit is that you can leave it on the stove for hours and it just gets more and more tasty. Ditto, if you feel that curries or stews or whatever don't look right and you want actual meat, slow cooked joints of shoulder or pork belly are cheap and go down a treat if slow cooked right.

I would also consider dumplings for bulking up - I haven't done it myself but my brother's MIL is a master of cooking vats of dumplings which she passes round the table to fill people up and which go well with goulashes etc.