WOW...I'm overwhelmed even thinking of it but hats off...promise to give some constructive thought and be back!

The only thought that popped into my mind right away was to lose the wings. I have had zero luck in keeping them crisp "ish" when held for a period of time and flaccid wings are a turn off to me.....as is , oh well never mind ;) . Good on the thighs though.

If you offer free alcohol, be prepared for folks to drink a lot and you might run out. That's what happened at our wedding. We bought a lot of wine and it all disappeared. We ended up with a TON of beer and soft drinks and some hard liquor left over. I thought my friends were all bigger beer drinkers or would mix the hard liquor with soda pop, but apparently they have moved on to wine. So just over plan with alcohol, because that is one thing that keeps.

You are mighty generous! What happens if you wind up with mountains of leftovers?

Foods with bones might be a bit of a trash headache for such a large number, IMO...

What about different types of grilled sliders?

John, I'm pretty sure you can expect 135+. If I were invited to something like your event - with the promise of "basic BBQ" - I would expect hotdogs, hamburgers, sausage patties, various salads, watermelon, brownies, etc. Wish I were there. I'd bring beer and a dessert! :)

Well I know I'm thinking of going!!!

Wow...paella, ribs, chicken, various salads, veg/hummus, AND whatever people bring. Sounds like quite a feast!!! Would it work to have paella and ribs...or ribs and chicken? Just two instead of all three?

John, you're a braver man than I am. Hope it all works out well!

I'm checking plane fares now....
ambitious!!...not sure what your paella entails, but I see chicken bones, shrimp shells and maybe clam shells in addition to rib bones and more chicken.
I don't mind flabby wings.....in fact I rather like them.....but you could put sheet pan trays in your oven to rewarm and keep crisp-er.
I am all about no disposables....but for maybe "glasses" for taller drinks. And as many big parties as you give, it would be well worth your while to buy some cheap commercial grade stainless....say from Sam's Club.....and something like white corelle plates. I have stacks of china plates and can easily feed 70 on haviland...but more and I would have get into the pottery....but I could feed another 50 using ironstone pottery.
I just got through, yesterday, with a church luncheon of pastors and other members from churches in a wide area.....and 60 people ate food I had planned for a possible 100....all gone....rush to the store to buy more all gone!! so I know you can figure....but there is no accounting for people you don't know. and other big parties I have thrown I ran out of vodka....who knew all young adults drank vodka? Another I ran out of white wine.....who knew 60 ish adults were so into white wine? and yesterday I ran out of green salad....and had 2 enormous stainless bowls full....55 people made all gone!! Another thought instead of green salad, how about a Fred harvey coleslaw? It;s good, not overly saucy and 75 servings takes up less room than greens.
Oh and either rent a few more chairs....or borrow some picnic benches from neighbors...or the park...or something.

I'm a bit cloudy and can't even remember what I read up topic, so bear with me. What I think you really need is a plan for the leftovers. Make things that are easy to portion, vacuum seal, thaw and reheat. Then just be generous with your cooking, and relax a little. Maybe have some things you mean to cook later in the week available to throw on the fire if you start running out of food. Some fully cooked sausages, maybe, a couple of chickens, a slab of meat...

Good luck activating people!

Yes, that's what we did after our wedding, bagged up stuff and froze it. The potato salad was mostly a total loss though, I could only eat so much. The pulled pork and baked beans lasted me 9 months.

If you're committed to serving alcohol, I'd stick with the "modest amount". You don't want to be hit with litigation if someone gets legless and has or causes some kind of accident/injury as a result.

If RSVP numbers look like being closer to the 70 you've projected, can you rent some folding chairs or similar?

Otherwise, I think you're a very generous person! I wish you were my neighbour :-)

I put out the invite 3 days ago and so far only have 10 RSVPs which is disappointing - but I sent it out again today so maybe more RSVPs will start coming in. Fingers x'd. Maybe people hate me. Worry. Fret.

Planning food quantity is hard. I'm thinking I should try to actually calculate it. Like for each of n persons, allow X oz main, Y oz sides, Z oz beverage. Let's see, if X = 6, Y = 6, Z = 10, n = 70, that's 26 lb of paella+ribs+chicken (excluding bones/shells), 26 lb of green salad+pasta salad+dips, 10 gal of beverages. Looked at it that way, it's not that daunting. But that seems a bit skimpy? How do caterers figure this stuff out?

Linda, your story of running out is worrying me! Any guesstimate of what your X, Y, Z was with your n=60?

Any other guesses of X, Y, Z for the large n parties everyone has thrown or are planning (lpink?).

Okay, on specific foods.

I have to have paella because I haven't done one this year and summer is winding down. Its a filling dish with moderate food cost - not that I've calculated, but all that rice...This paella will probably be like shrimp+chorizo+sausage+green beans. [edit: no, I did do a paella earlier this summer. Apparently it was forgettable :-)]

I'll probably pick up two whole chickens and make the stock on Saturday to use on Sunday. The dish definitely has to be started well ahead so that the backyard isn't all smoke and chaos and people falling into the fire pit. Ideally the dish is done and the fire is dying right at 3 pm.

Pork ribs and chicken thighs are hard to over cook, which is why I chose them. They are also not that expensive, which starts to matter at these quantities.

I forgot to mention I plan to pull out our chafing dishes with Sterno. We have four I think. So no worries about cold rubbery meat.

The wings are kind of my fun project. The plan is to have these precooked, dried, and portioned into 1 lb bags, with a pot of melted butter+salt+cayenne and a bowl of flour ready . Pull out a bag, dust wings with flour, dump into the deep fryer, remove and drain, dump into a large stainless bowl, pour in a ladle of the melted butter, toss, and refill the chafing dish. I need to set up the (electric) deep fryer somewhere safe and ventilated - probably outside by the grill. If this proves impossible to keep up with, then it's on to sheet pans and under the broiler in mass and soon-to-be flabby quantity (sorry plllog).

I think I'm going to include a big jug of sangria, inspired by lpink. It'll be hot enough (by Pac NW standards) that people will want something cool. And it'll be nice to not have to haul three big bags of cans and bottles to the redemption place. I can't just put them curbside anymore, we've started trying to get folks to return them using bags bar-coded so the neighborhood association gets the refund. Each bag is $5 and it adds up.

I know people will expect burgers and dogs, but I just can't stand there grilling patty after patty, adding the cheese, helping people sort through the burgers to find the exact doneness they want, figuring out how to cook the weird plant-based faux-meat someone just handed me, including keeping it off the part of the grill that was touched by animal flesh...I went through this a month ago and decided I wasn't going to spend my next bbq chained to the grill. It would be different if I had a friend who loves to take over grill duty. Everyone has a friend like that. But not me.

Also a remarkable number of my friends are trying to eat less flour so you end up having to supply gluten-free buns or puzzle out how to lettuce wrap a vegan not dog which starts to get overly personal for cook and dog alike.

Burgers and dogs will just have to be BYOB and DYOG. Its almost Un-American but There You Are.

SWMBO will handle the green+pasta salad and dips. She's currently kind of grumbly about this, but has a dependable Pavlovian "Party? Whee!" reflex that always kicks in. And she kind of owes me because she agreed to care for a (now former) friend's large, untrained, and dumb dog ALL LAST WEEK at our house. Cat and husband were not amused.

Real ware or disposable. We don't have enough dishware that I'd be willing to risk. We have a ton of china dishes but I really don't want to see it getting broken right and left. So it will have to be paper plates and compostable utensils. Medium-ish plates, I think, like one step up from cocktail party size.

We actually have enough glassware, because SWMBO has put on some big neighborhood events and its cheaper to buy wineglasses than rent them, amazingly. Technically all the glassware belongs to the neighborhood association, but if I'm going to store it, I'm going to use it. With the Hobart dishwasher that can do 30 racks per hour, washing up is easy. I don't like using paper cups if I don't have to, and using disposable plastic cups is getting to be like clubbing baby seals in Portland...no-one believes they are actually recycled, and I frankly have my doubts too.

Do I sound a little...I mean, I've internalized saving the earth and all, but I also remember when everyone ate cruelty-indifferent red meat and no one admitted being allergic to anything and disposable plastic things were cool and all NASA like. Okay, back to studying my dietary-allergen-sustainability food matrices.

Sometimes you can pick up sets of china, or even just buffet plates, at thrift shops for the same price as good quality paper. Sometimes not. Flatware also sometimes, especially if you're happy with a mixed bucket. But then you have to store it all.

The cheapy cheap Dixie paper plates with the colorful border/design (not the cheaper yet ones with the fluted rims) in the really big package is what we used when I was in charge of organization food. It's real paper, but coated so it doesn't go soggy. They work well. If people are standing around, give them two or even three, and you're still ahead on cost. Again, flatware is the big issue. The "disposable" ones that are actually good enough to eat things like chicken with are washable but expensive. The danged cheap ones are one time and IIRC not recyclable and are adequate for coleslaw or rice, but maybe whatever else is in the paella. If you can get the giant packages of medium quality from Costco or a catering supply (or Amazon), the price might be okay. They're not really great to eat from but get the job done. You can also get party sets, mostly aimed at DIY weddings, with combos of service items like place settings, or plate, fork, napkin, or plate, fork, cup, for a decent price.

You can also put the word out. Getting someone to contribute service items is a lot easier than getting them to cook. :)

https://www.sammic.com.au/news/conservation-of-meat-or-fish-cooked-using-sous-vide-and-subsequent-regeneration/

interesting article.

John, I have absolutely nothing to contribute and my apologies for taking up post space. Just wanted to say I read your threads often just for pleasure (your sense of humor)! Love the 'mess of ribs and mess of chicken' (are you sure you're not from the South?). And no, no one hates you, they couldn't possibly. I hope your turnout is wonderful and you 'just' run out of food when the last guests leave : ) It sounds like a fantastic menu, too!

I have only had one bad breaking disaster with a big yard party using china.....and that was my fault...I tied the dog to the leg of a card table piled with cups and saucers....

But I have had many many many parties for 50 and up to more than 100 ( think eating sitting in tiers on the stairs) and never had a broken plate. I have bought haviland or austrian plates for around $1 each whenever i see them....They are light weight and strong. and most of mine are white.

Running out of food....eek!

We had reservations for 67 with 5 vegitarians. I have done lunches for variuos church functions since about 2005....easily 100 affairs....and have served this meal of chicken salad bean salad, green salad warm French bread and trays of cookies and bars. I always have been good figuring 6 eaters to a pound of cooked chicken....and the recipe for the bean salad has easily served 100 with 10 or more servings left....and that amount of green salad, 4 big heads of lettuce, 2 10 oz packages of spinach and 2 pounds of strawberries has easily served 70, with leftovers.

People just piled their plates....really piled! With every gathering, there is always someone who piles it on....or 2 or 3....but not almost everyone. I have done funerals for young men in their 40's who were farmers, and they didn't eat this much....for teen agers....and all their teen age friends....and they didn't eat like this....just saying....now and then the unexpected happens.....and have something standing by!!

Wow, linda your food is obviously too good for your own good, if you know what I mean. Hopefully it's just that plus random chance, not some warning sign of community distress.

Well....these were mostly pastors of very small churches....so maybe they were hungry!...several people said because they knew your recipes were good....but these people piled their plates before they even tasted and most didn't know anyone in our church but the pastor.

One time I hosted a cast party for the local community theater. show...both my kids and husband were cast members. I had an 18 pound turkey and a big bone in ham...piles of home made buns, slaw and pasta salad.....and ended up raiding the freezer for pizzas.

A doctor had gotten called on an emergency and arrived late looking for a sandwich, after I had relegated the turkey carcass and the ham bone to the kitchen....turned him loose with a sharp knife and he managed to carve off enough for a sandwich. never underestimate the skill of a hungry surgeon with a turkey carcass!

John: I think you live in CA. ? One thing I've discovered since moving here is that people rarely RSVP, they just show up. I give you full credit for trying to do this. May the Food Gods be with you. Since you are bringing together two opposing groups you might want to limit the amount of alcohol you serve them. People who've had too much to drink rarely listen to another's opinion... and can get feisty.

You might also plan on taking any extra food to somewhere where they serve up a meal for the homeless daily. If you do, I know they will appreciate a call ahead of time saying what you are bringing.

The good thing about using paper plates here, if they are non-coated (think Chinet type) they can be recycled in our Green bin along with bones, shells, uneaten food.

I am pretty sure that I know John's neighborhood, maybe I'll drive around next Sunday :). We have been involved in our NA, the largest one, north and a little east of the one the party is for. What I'm interested in is a Mayoral candidate!? Council candidate-I know one I'd like to see challenged (Neighborhood Assoc. debacle).

Hey, leah, want to get in touch IRL? I'm in Laurelhurst by the way.

I don't know how to send DM via Houzz but I'll try.

Nope, can't figure out how to send DM. My email (one of them) is my screen name, but no space between the first and last, at earthlink dot net.

We should talk about candidates. I like one of the mayoral candidates, not sure about the ones running against the commissioner who has it out for neighborhoods.

John, that certainly is an ambitious plan, but I'd love the paella, yum.

My big fear when I'm having a dinner or party is that I'll run out of something, so I always over cook, I just can't help myself. I think Chase said she does the same thing. So, I would have to have extra bread for quick sandwiches or extra chicken already cooked that I could then freeze and make into food later if it doesn't get eaten.

I don't know if protein will last "for weeks", but it does keep well for several days, so cooking in advance and then rewarming is a good option, I think. I also prep things ahead to be added at the last moment, like chopped vegetables for the pasta salad as well as the dressing, then assembly at the last minute for a freshly prepared salad.

Of course, you know these things already, so I just wanted to basically tell you good luck and I hope your party goes well.

Good luck and have fun!

Annie

Annie, I'm glad you said that about protein lasting "for weeks". It may be ok to consume, but I think the taste goes off after days. I'm a rare host that always prepares everything as fresh as possible. I grew up with my parents frequently hosting large parties and that's how they did it. They always had a ton of food and drink -- never wanted to run out of anything. The one and only time that every morsel was consumed was at my sister's engagement party when they met the new in-laws. lol! Several of them openly admitted that they skipped meals so that they could eat a lot. And they didn't touch any alcohol. :O)

John, how are the RSVPs going? :)

Only 26 RSVPs so far. Boo. At this rate I am going to give everyone half a PBJ and show them the door.

Today is Wednesday and the party is sunday? Eek! I would be on the phone tomorrow....

One time I threw a wedding shower...invited couples and the gift was to be a joint one, asked every couple for soemthing like $5....cheap shower gift! Plan was to buy something from their registry....what depended on the response....so I needed to know who was participating.. A few days before I bough the couple a weber grill with the money and the promised money I had.....and 3 couples showed up that evening money in hand.....what to do? Presented the bride and groom with an envelop with cash, saying for some meat for the new grill...Luckily I had enough food....but people are clueless and rude!!

Good luck....as annie said....have a chicken in reserve!

John, 26 RSVPs sounds like you may end up with a crowd the size you originally anticipated. I'm guessing some more will show that respond late or not at all. Be happy that it relieves the stress on you! And now I'm wondering how a PBJ would be on the grill. :O)

It might be a good idea to have someone minding the beverage/alcohol table. When I said "people drank a lot" at my wedding, I didn't mean individuals drank a lot, it was that a lot of people I thought wouldn't drink, or would drink beer not wine, decided to try the wine and we ran out of wine and had practically a case of beer left and a ton of soda pop and even some hard liquor which I thought folks would mix with the pop or drink on the rocks. The great thing about wine is it keeps if unopened and I know you like wine and entertaining, so it won't hurt to have plenty of wine, you can always serve it at other functions. And someone minding the beverages helps avoid some one person or a couple of folks drinking too much and ruining a good thing. We did not have that problem, but I know some gatherings have that one person in attendance!

I personally hate to throw out food so I would try to serve as much food as possible that could hold over to be eaten by my family at a later date. Being single most of my life, I have learned that if package properly, a lot of stuff keeps great in the freezer. Even a crudite platter I usually turn into stir fry with the left over. That's why I tend to serve marinated salads rather than lettuce ones, lettuce is one of my worst issues with having to throw it out because it went bad!

I feel your pain on the guest count. I threw a porch party at one of my houses when I moved in, and invited all my friends and neighbors. Friends came from an hour away, but none of my neighbors showed. I could even see my one neighbor eyeing us up from inside her house but she never came over. Some people!

No advice, but I can’t wait for next week’s update. I wish you the best of luck and hope all goes well. Love your planned menu.

Paella, ribs, wings (soggy or crispy, I don't care), hummus and salads... booking my reservation right now!

Seriously though - hoping you have the best gathering!

Yes! Good Luck for this weekend. I really do hope it will be as successful as you had hoped.

It is too bad that I can't change the title of this post. I would change it to "Hosting a BBQ of Disappointing Size". I only have 28 RSVPs so I'm expecting maybe 25-35 people. A lot fewer than I'd hoped for :-(

Nevertheless, the event goes forward. SWMBO and I went to the Foodservice Warehouse today and loaded up on food. I got 20 lb of pork spare ribs, 10 lb of chicken thighs and wing drumettes, 5 lb of arborio rice, 2 gal canola oil, 3 lb of shrimp, chorizo, green beans, many heads of lettuce, a giant bag of pasta, strawberries, and lots of other stuff.

I portioned the ribs, salted, coated with a homemade rub (salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, herbs, garlic, onion, cayenne, etc), and put into six gallon-size ziplock bags with liquid smoke, Worchestershire, olive oil and butter. All this went into a cooler full of warm water, along with my sous vide stick set for 160F x 24 hours.

I am figuring out how to cook the chicken - will probably press my Nesco roaster into service, as a makeshift slow cooker.

Tonight I'll pick up a whole chicken and make the stock for the paella. I've always been fascinated by the Ina Garten cooking show's recipe for chicken stock that requires an entire chicken. That has always seemed like overkill, but why not try it out.

Tomorrow I'll get up early and help SWMBO prep the green and pasta salads, and start the paella around 11 am.

For dessert we bought pre-made chocolate caramel brownies that we'll warm and serve with ice cream. We have a couple gallons of vanilla ice cream left from the neighborhood picnic. Our neighborhood association throws a picnic every year, with a live band, face painting, palm reading, tarot cards, balloon twister, little toys for the kids, lots of tables with various groups giving out information, and free ice cream. SWMBO ran it this year and we bought just slightly too much ice cream...

For drinks, we changed plans from sangria to mojitos. Because we realized that we already have French mint growing in the yard, lots of rum, powdered sugar, and soda water, so we just needed to buy limes and it'll be a pantry cocktail. We'll also have some wine and beer, and a big dispenser of strawberry water.

Lacking any better ideas, I put the half frozen chicken thighs and drumettes in my Nesco roaster, doused liberally with dry rub (similar to the rub I made for the ribs, but no cumin or coriander, and no liquid smoke or Worchestershire or oil), added a few cups of hot water to cover the bottom of the roaster, set to 200F and figure I'll let it go for a few hours then check. My goal is simply to get the chicken slow cooked and fat rendered out, then I'll cool it down and refrigerate overnight, before finishing under the broiler or deep fryer tomorrow. Does this sound sensible? Would you instead do 160F for several hours?

(I was going to do the sous vide thing, and there is probably room in the cooler for the chicken to sous vide with the ribs, but I got lazy. I could switch directions and bag the chicken then sous vide it.)

I think cooking at 200F in the Nesco and then finishing off tomorrow is a good idea, that way the chicken is hot and seems "fresh", but doesn't require the longer cooking time that raw chicken would.

You may still have more show up than you expect, I know that people don't always RSVP but come along anyway if nothing else happens. I'll cross my fingers for a better attendance than you expect and if you have leftovers, well, double bonus!

Annie

Thanks Annie. We just finished our block party. Neighbors on a few blocks got together and closed off two streets, rolled in grills and set up tables, chairs, games. I got grill duty, as usual. We had lots of little kids and dogs running around, young parents and old grandparents talking, and a big cake for V and L who have lived in their house for 40 years. It was fun.

Ribs are SV'ing away. Chicken is done.

Sleep well, John, your feet earned that!! Too bad about the chicken thighs, but I don't think anyone was disappointed, and I can't feel too badly about leftover paella, what a hardship. (grin)

You had a decent turnout of people who exchanged ideas without insults or fistfights, everyone ate well, no one drank too much and ice cream won't spoil before the next party. I'm sad with SWMBO, though, and surprised. Pasta is usually something that people like and will readily consume.

I always over estimate food, as I've said. I have a horrible fear that I'll run out and then I'd feel badly, so I always make too much. If you figure out what people want to eat (both in amounts and in menu) you'll be doing much better than me,

I'll be hosting a birthday party for my mother in a couple of weeks, she'll be 84, and I only hope the attendees can behave as well as yours did. I'm hoping I can talk Elery into putting a pork butt in the smoker and then I only have to worry about....well....everything else, LOL.

Annie

John, it sounds like it was a good size test run for you and everything worked out well. I knew it was going to be a tough weekend for you after I read about your block party on Saturday. That's like playing golf tournaments back-to-back and that's not easy with drinks involved. :)

Annie, I wish I could sample some of that smoked pork butt!!! Good luck with 'everything else'. lol!

i am very good about estimating food amounts for large crowds.....with one recent exception....:(

Always better "too much than too not"....to quote a crochety old Scots man.

Sounds like all went well.....now write it all down....what you bought made and what you had leftover....and what went well and what didn't.

Glad to hear that all went well.

Sounds like it was quite the success! Wish I could help out and take some of that pasta salad off your hands. But I am just now finishing up a huge cache of potato salad from one of my group meals! Kudos to you John for stepping up for your community!

I love how involved you are in your community! I always fret over having enough food, but also struggle with being wasteful. When I worry I will run out at a 'casual' affair, I try not to overdo the food to be thrown out. I will buy a spiral cut ham and rolls so that if I need to pull it out for sandwiches I can, if not used then they can be frozen for later. Sides are difficult but at least meat is not getting thrown out and some doctored, canned baked beans are easy.

Congrats on all your work for your community!

John, sounds like your party went well and other than the pasta salad, not unreasonable amount of leftovers and I bet you've already found a home for that.

I'm glad to hear that you are involved in community and government; we need more people that care enough to give of their time and talent and I think from reading your posts, you have plenty of the latter.

Sorry, late again. John, for our part of the states that would have been an unusually large crowd of 'new people', and it sounds like you had quite the success; food, guests, expenses, et al : ) Great job, though I am sorry about SWMBO's pasta salad and feel sure it wasn't the salad, but rather so much other good food in addition, it was hard to choose : )

I am not proud to say that I've eaten most of the leftovers all by myself :-(

I've received several emails from guests thanking me for the event, so that's nice.

The cook-ahead workflow was very helpful. As were all of your ideas and encouragement. Thanks everyone!

Headed off on vacation tomorrow. Going to spend a week in a Tahoe lakeside cabin with some good friends. We have a physicist, an accordion player, a Chinese guy who cooks, a standup comedian, a person who does hair and makeup for TV, etc.

SWMBO and I are driving down with four kayaks (two folding), a bicycle, and a coffeemaker. The plan is to lounge, cook, eat and paddle for a week.

I'll get up early and work in the mornings as usual, I'm bringing two laptops and a monitor to set up my work area. Then I'll quit work before lunchtime.

I remember we spent two weeks in an apartment in Paris one fall. There I worked from about 5 pm to midnight every day. That was kind of disruptive to vacationing. But a few hours of work each morning is no problem! Especially when the lake is just 40 feet away.

If we cook anything cool, I'll post a pic.

I would have trouble working with that gorgeous lake 40 feet away! Enjoy and remember to keep your eyes on the monitor!

"Headed off on vacation tomorrow. Going to spend a week in a Tahoe lakeside cabin with some good friends. We have a physicist, an accordion player, a Chinese guy who cooks, a standup comedian, a person who does hair and makeup for TV, etc."

I don't get it. What's the rest of the joke, John? The punchline? I know there must be one.

; - )

... walked into a bar ....

No punchline! I just like hanging out with people from all walks and stripes, and this will be a good group to spend a week with. Hopefully there will not be dietary issues :-(

Oh no!! not a lot worse than "dietary issues" when all you want to do is cook good and eat!

whadya mean, no punchline ... you are gonna have a standup comedian there!