Well....I think you are crazy....but also know you are a glutton for punishment....LOL!
Are you really up to thinly slicing 20 pounds of flank steak?.....and are you really ready for 40 kids to say...."Ewww broccoli!"....and how are you going to cook or keep hot 5 gallons of cooked rice? And another problem would be cooking the flank steak....you have to cook it very little to be tender....or a long time to get tender...

But if you are game for the problems, I would have the sauce simmering in the roaster....and have a big frying pan with a little oil and brown the beef in batches and toss into the sauce, adding thawed frozen broccoli flowerettes as you add the meat. and I would sub some carrot buttons just blanched to be crisp tender for about 1/3 of the broccoli.

The rice.....you will need to cook about 15 to1 6 cups of rice. You could do it in batches over a few days and refrigerate and then reheat....
But....really there are a lot of easier meals to do for a mob!!

Hi Linda!

I'm always open to menu ideas for mobs! Your Walking Tacos were a HUGE hit!

I am a bit crazy, but I'm having fun. :-)

What if I brown all the meat in advance and have frozen broccoli thawed. Then an hour before serving I could heat the sauce in the Roaster Oven (RO) until good and hot and add the meat and broccoli at that point. Give it all a good toss to coat and heat through. What do you think?

Last night, I used 1 lb of meat, and 1 lb of broccoli. DH and I thought it would feed 6. The menu included rice & egg rolls, and I would also offer Chinese salad to the kids. Do you think 6 servings per pound would do it?

Do you think I could get 12 lbs of sliced meat and 12 lbs of broccoli in a 22 quart RO?

I have access to a 60 cup rice cooker - would 3/4 cup pp be enough? I have a smaller rice cooker too, so I can make plenty with little effort on my part.

More of my thoughts: I can't please everyone, so I'm not going to try. Kids can pick out the broccoli or they can skip the dish all together and fill up on write rice, vegetable egg rolls, salad, and cookies... Am I being too hard nosed???

I would do something more kid friendly. It's one thing to know your own family and have them like something but quite different when you have a large group.
I'd also worry that the meat mixture could come out looking like .....slop? I know that's not a good way to put it, but you get my drift.

What about BBQ pork sandwiches on a bun? Spaghetti? There are many kid friendly ideas around.

Nancy

I think the broccoli beef is a great idea. I can't say whether the RO will be big enough (I'd have to actually see it to guess), but I think you could make everything ahead except adding the veg (which could be lightly cooked, maybe) and then mix and heat on site. As for rice, I'd say 1/2 cup per person, especially with all the other stuff. Never hurts to have extra rice, though.

And the rice can be reheated in an oven or maybe in crock pots?

I think your finished product would not turn out as planned. You say "when I made this last night, my meat steamed rather than fried." Imagine doing this with a larger about of beef in small batches. I'm afraid the first meat to be cooked might be stewed (if placed in simmering sauce) by the time the last batch was done.
Good luck if you take on this task. I agree that there may be other choices that would work better / be easier.

Thanks everyone :-

The fact that the meat didn't brown just tells me that it is not critical to the dish, which gives me options for cooking it. I was thinking of cooking all the meat ahead of time - so what would be the easiest way? Place it in a hot oven for a few minutes? Perhaps use 4-5 cookie sheets so it can be spread out? Or, I could use the roaster oven for this - it would give me a large are to "fry" the meat in larger batches.

I also think when I make the sauce, I will substitute the fresh garlic and ginger for dry. This will make it easier as well.

I can (and will) run a test - I'll cook the meat a day ahead, and mix up the sauce too. When I'm ready to serve it, I'll heat the sauce in my Dutch oven, then add the beef and thawed broccoli - just until coated and heated through.

Can anyone figure out if a 22 quart RO can hold 12 lbs of thinly sliced meat and 12 lbs of broccoli???

Just so you know I'm not totally nuts, I do have things like sloppy joes, pulled pork, Stouffers lasagna, even those dinosaur chicken nuggets ($3.00 off right now at CostCo)) on the list for upcoming events. I have already served Walking Tacos (thanks to Lindac) and they were a hit, so I will be doing those a second time too. :-)

How do you know that all the kids will like beef broccoli? Some don't eat beef; some don't do broccoli. Is there an alternative??? Others have hinted at this, but it is a reality.

Hi Beachlily!

I was thinking that steamed rice, vegetable egg rolls and salad would be the alternative for those who don't like Beef & Broccoli. Maybe I'll add Watermelon too. Would you suggest adding something else?

jeri, don't count on "frying" anything in a roaster oven, most heat on the sides, but not on the bottom.

Other than that, I don't believe that browning is critical to beef and broccoli either, so you could probably cook it all in there, but it's going to "roast", not fry. Depending on the cut, it could be tough.

I think a 22 quart roaster would hold the beef and the broccoli, it should hold 88 cups, full to the top and broccoli will "cook down" as it heats. How much sauce, though? I think you might be better off with two roasters, then they could be filled less full. Serving would go more quickly and so would heating, if you are using them to heat cold ingredients.

I also think that extra rice isn't a bad idea, although I think 3/4 cup per person should be plenty.

Both of my girls were in band and they never got any free meals, other than a potluck banquet at the end of the year, so I think the kids are darned lucky to have you, crazy or not, LOL.

What? No fortune cookies? (grin)

Annie

The part that concerns me is the broccoli. Between cooking it just right on that scale and the potential for a larger amount of kids not liking it, it might be a little risky.

I do like the general idea though. There's a reason why Beef and Broccoli is practically synonymous with Chinese take-out and that's because people like it. I'd consider subbing the broccoli with a blend veggies that are less finicky about getting just right, such as peppers, carrots and snow peas.

I'd cook everything ahead, undercooking the veggies a bit. The beef can't take more than a minute per batch to fry so the hard part there is prepping. Figure on gently reheating in the roaster, not simmering. I say go for it!

Now, how are you going to keep the egg rolls warm and crisp?

p.s. I'd be trying to brown that meat. Dryer, hotter, smaller batches. I wouldn't get too neurotic over each batch since you had good results without, but I think it's worth the effort to try.

I also think I would do something besides flank steak....it can be terribly tough....how about chuck?...fattier but more likely to be tender after cooking for 10 minutes.
Jeri, I don't know where you live nor what kind of school these kids attend....but I don't know a lot of kids who would be even slightly acquainted with beef and broccoli, with oyster sauce and fresh ginger....not to say that they wouldn't like it....but I'll bet you will have a run on the egg rolls, rice and have a vat of broccoli left.

Other kid favorites....chili and cinnamon rolls...not sure why the combo....but kids go bonkers for that.

and breakfast for dinner...pancakes or French toast, sausage and fruit.

And cheesey potatoes....that awful recipe with frozen hashbrowns, canned soup and fake cheese....hot dogs and cheesey potatoes...blech but kids love it!!