subject: Grilling For A Crowd: Be Prepared [print this page] If you are planning on grilling for a whole army of friends, neighbors, and family members, you must do a lot of advanced preparation to make sure the event comes off as perfectly as your food! Here are some tips for making your party enjoyable and as relaxing as possible for both your guests and yourself.
-- Do as Much Ahead as Possible
You can arrange for tables, chairs, canopies, drink coolers, a tent, and all of the other accouterments that go with making your guests comfortable weeks ahead of time if need be. Do as much ahead of time as possible so that you won't feel rushed when the event is upon you.
-- Delegate if You Can
Do you have a family member or close friend who is a music fanatic? All good parties are made better by music. Let the music aficionado in your life worry about creating an appropriate mix, providing a sound system, and handling musical duties during the event. If there are other jobs that can be delegated out: do it. You don't have to do everything, and delegating is a great way to help others feel involved and important.
-- Choose Your Menu Wisely
The focus of any barbecue or backyard grilling part is, of course, the food! When you are cooking for a huge crowd of 15 or more, it is definitely not the time to experiment with new dishes. If you want to be creative, try some interesting salads and other side dishes, but save your creativity on the grill for less stressful occasions.
For meat, you can always stick with tried and true favorites such as chicken, burgers, sausages and hot dogs. Because not everyone will eat at the same time and because the cook will be distracted from time to time, it's best to stay away from steak, fish, and other meats that taste best when they are precisely time-grilled. Nothing ruins a cook-out like dried out trout or rubbery steaks. If you don't want to stay tied to the grill the whole time, you may want to consider smoking a whole turkey a day ahead of time.
-- How's Your Equipment?
When it comes to grilling for a crowd, you'd better be sure your equipment is in order. If yours is not up to snuff, you may want to splurge and buy something new or borrow extra grills from your neighbors. A week before your event, make sure all grills are properly cleaned and that you have plenty of extra gas tanks or charcoal on hand. Put together a utensil caddy so that you'll have everything you need in one place once the grilling gets going.
There's nothing more all-American than a great cook-out: if you prepare ahead of time, your event will be a huge success that will be talked about for a long time.
