RSKY
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2003
- Messages
- 2,475
- Tractor
- Kioti CK20S
Complete and total success!!
After a few miscues one of which nearly caused my wife to have an instantaneous nervous breakdown everything went off perfectly. More on the nervous breakdown later, it was entirely my fault.
I have a new appreciation of people who cater or serve large groups of people.
First, it took three loads in the dishwasher to wash all these giants taters. The largest was weighed on our digital scales at one pound and ten ounces. The trial run for our own consumption turned up perfect baked potatoes. Actually the best I've ever had. So on the morning before the event I poured olive oil into a shallow pan, and kosher salt into another shallow pan. Potatoes were rolled in the olive oil and I rubbed it in for a few seconds making sure they were completely covered. Then they were rolled in the salt, placed on a pre-torn piece of aluminum foil, and tightly wrapped. Placed into a large laundry basket, and put in the back of the Highlander. The back of the Toyota was completely full as were the back seats when we left for the Extension Office about 2PM. The meal was supposed to start about 5PM.
We used three of the four stoves in the kitchen. Potatoes were put in throw away metal roasting pans with eight or nine in each one with six pans total. Potatoes were not touching in the pans. Two pans went in each oven. Ovens pre heated to 400, potatoes put into the ovens, then temp turned down to 350. Timer set for two hours. While I was doing this part my wife was setting up tables and putting out the rest of the 'potato bar'. She had our biggest crock pot bubbling away full of chili. She had containers of salsa, guacamole, butter, sour creme, chopped green onions, cheese, finely chopped veggies (tomatoes, onions, etc.), chopped sweet peppers, diced ham, bacon bits, and a couple other things that I've forgotten.
There were a couple ladies hosting a cooking class with about a dozen 10-15 year old girls also using the kitchen and one of them mentioned that the ovens on the four identical stoves didn't seem to heat up to what they were set on. Said she had brought an oven thermometer and always added 15-25 degrees to the setting. So about an hour into the cooking cycle my wife came into the kitchen to check on me and I casually mentioned that fact to her. I also told her about the story one of my sisters had told me the day before about a guy fixing baked potatoes for her church and cooking them for two hours and they weren't done. The part of the story I didn't know was that the guy had stacked fifty potatoes in one oven and the ones in the center were barely warm. Anyway, instant meltdown for thirty seconds. Got her calmed down, turned ovens up to 375 and let them cook for an extra thirty minutes. People were just gonna get very hot taters instead of some that had cooled down a little.
Everything went perfect. Potatoes were hot and done all the way thru. We didn't run out of any toppings. We didn't have many toppings left over. The Extension Agent was thrilled with the meal and even called her husband and son to come by and get one. We also ate, then cleaned up, put everything leftover into the huge commercial refrigerator, loaded our supplies up, and went home to collapse on the couch.
I have a new appreciation for the people who do this kind of work. It took my wife a week to make plans and gather supplies for this meal. Counting the time we spent at home it took us seven hours BEFORE the meal to get everything ready. And she had already made the deserts the day before. More than two hours after the meal to clean up, load up, unload at home, and load dishwasher for the first of two loads. And add in the fact that she had spent most of the two days before getting supplies gathered and prepared.
We slept very well that night.
RSKY
After a few miscues one of which nearly caused my wife to have an instantaneous nervous breakdown everything went off perfectly. More on the nervous breakdown later, it was entirely my fault.
I have a new appreciation of people who cater or serve large groups of people.
First, it took three loads in the dishwasher to wash all these giants taters. The largest was weighed on our digital scales at one pound and ten ounces. The trial run for our own consumption turned up perfect baked potatoes. Actually the best I've ever had. So on the morning before the event I poured olive oil into a shallow pan, and kosher salt into another shallow pan. Potatoes were rolled in the olive oil and I rubbed it in for a few seconds making sure they were completely covered. Then they were rolled in the salt, placed on a pre-torn piece of aluminum foil, and tightly wrapped. Placed into a large laundry basket, and put in the back of the Highlander. The back of the Toyota was completely full as were the back seats when we left for the Extension Office about 2PM. The meal was supposed to start about 5PM.
We used three of the four stoves in the kitchen. Potatoes were put in throw away metal roasting pans with eight or nine in each one with six pans total. Potatoes were not touching in the pans. Two pans went in each oven. Ovens pre heated to 400, potatoes put into the ovens, then temp turned down to 350. Timer set for two hours. While I was doing this part my wife was setting up tables and putting out the rest of the 'potato bar'. She had our biggest crock pot bubbling away full of chili. She had containers of salsa, guacamole, butter, sour creme, chopped green onions, cheese, finely chopped veggies (tomatoes, onions, etc.), chopped sweet peppers, diced ham, bacon bits, and a couple other things that I've forgotten.
There were a couple ladies hosting a cooking class with about a dozen 10-15 year old girls also using the kitchen and one of them mentioned that the ovens on the four identical stoves didn't seem to heat up to what they were set on. Said she had brought an oven thermometer and always added 15-25 degrees to the setting. So about an hour into the cooking cycle my wife came into the kitchen to check on me and I casually mentioned that fact to her. I also told her about the story one of my sisters had told me the day before about a guy fixing baked potatoes for her church and cooking them for two hours and they weren't done. The part of the story I didn't know was that the guy had stacked fifty potatoes in one oven and the ones in the center were barely warm. Anyway, instant meltdown for thirty seconds. Got her calmed down, turned ovens up to 375 and let them cook for an extra thirty minutes. People were just gonna get very hot taters instead of some that had cooled down a little.
Everything went perfect. Potatoes were hot and done all the way thru. We didn't run out of any toppings. We didn't have many toppings left over. The Extension Agent was thrilled with the meal and even called her husband and son to come by and get one. We also ate, then cleaned up, put everything leftover into the huge commercial refrigerator, loaded our supplies up, and went home to collapse on the couch.
I have a new appreciation for the people who do this kind of work. It took my wife a week to make plans and gather supplies for this meal. Counting the time we spent at home it took us seven hours BEFORE the meal to get everything ready. And she had already made the deserts the day before. More than two hours after the meal to clean up, load up, unload at home, and load dishwasher for the first of two loads. And add in the fact that she had spent most of the two days before getting supplies gathered and prepared.
We slept very well that night.
RSKY
