Two's Company, Three Hundred's Just Another Day at the Shelter

I bet my Woodbury Patch readers wonder what I really do for my day job at Sportsman Channel? Yes, your burning questions are about to be answered. One of my various duties is to oversee our Hunt.Fish.Feed public affairs program where we feed those less fortunate venison and fish donated by local sportsmen and women. Since 2007, we've fed nearly 15,000 meals in 33 cities.

We were in St. Paul at the Dorothy Day shelter in February 2010. We fed both venison and fish donated by the anglers at the Fishapoolza ice fishing tournament in Forest Lake. You can watch a cool video and photos from the event here.

I asked our Executive Chef, Scott Leysath, who helps me at these events to give some tips for cooking for a large crowd. Below is an article from Scott, who is also the host of HuntFishCook on Sportsman Channel and professional wild game chef.

For home cooks who get worked up over preparing a family holiday meal, the thought of cooking a dinner for 300, 400 or even 1,000 people is frightening.  What if we run out of food?  What if the turkey’s not done in time?  How do I keep Uncle Tony from passing out in the potatoes again?

To the churches, shelters and other charitable organizations across the U.S. who have assumed the daunting task of feeding our nation’s homeless and hungry, it’s an everyday deal.  They must provide healthy meals to seemingly endless lines of needy folks on a daily basis.

Sportsman Channel’s Hunt.Fish.Feed program encourages hunters and anglers to connect with local shelters and help stock their freezers with a valuable source of healthy, protein-rich food. 

I’ve spent the past few decades feeding people, including the better part of the past two years as a participant with Hunt.Fish.Feed.  As a chef, restaurateur
and caterer, feeding a crowd is not much different than serving up a Thanksgiving dinner for my friends and family. One of the biggest obstacles to feeding the masses is figuring out how much of each item is sufficient. Seasoned caterers understand that running out of inexpensive starchy items like bread, rice and potatoes is just plain stupid. Keep the bread baskets full and mound up the
garlic mashed potatoes and nobody will go hungry.  Other dishes, like proteins, vegetables and desserts can eat up the food budget and need to be more closely monitored.  

Hosts typically have a fear of running out of food.  The end result is often a large pile of leftovers that will last the rest of the week. There are worse things than having too much food, but eventually you’ll get tired of eating last week’s tuna casserole. 

The easiest way to calculate how much food to prepare for a crowd is to
start with what it takes to feed 10 people and increase quantities accordingly.

• Plan on about four pounds of meat
• Three pounds of potatoes
• Two pounds of salad mix
• Three quarts of salad mix
• One dessert serving
• Boatload of bread. 

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

There are other considerations that will make your next big event a walk in the woods. It’s imperative that you get as much of the preparation work done well in advance. I’m talking a day or two ahead. Peel and chop onions, carrots and celery. Make sauces and dressings. You can even prepare casseroles like scalloped potatoes or rice dishes a day before the big event.

When the guests arrive, the work should be just about done, with most of the pots and pans cleaned and put away and the aroma of roasting meat wafting throughout the house.

Finish the mac and cheese, give the salad a toss, pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy the party.