Ok how weird is this?

[shroomgirl]

I've got a wedding for 200 offsite at a really cool museum, the "only problem" is that the staging room is that....a room with tables and a few outlets.

The menu is a bear! 2 hours to haul in and set up.

Grilled cheese station (can you say 40 kids?) cojack, then a couple more adult verisons....but the gig is that it's kid friendly and they'll have food automatically at 6:30....the dinner buffet is at 7:30.

Passed hodos....4...

Then, even after two tastings the couple decided on HOT salmon instead of cold, carved leg of lamb instead of stew (even though they preferred the stew), chicken fingers ....gonna have to have a server on that.

mashed potatoes, rice, veg, salad.....Arrrgh.

So, I've got it now where staff sets up goes back to the kitchen and cooks off the salmon and lamb bringing it back in cambros.....
Okey dokey...so now on to the chicken fingers....why oh why did I agree to them? Must have been the 40 kid thing and the choice of Salmon or Lamb...So instead of having 2-3 table top friers going I'm thinking of having a
place in the area fry a mess of them and my staff picks um up right before service. thoughts? Less stress/hassle for my crew....

[ginamiriam]

We have done chicken fingers a number of ways. If you are bringing fryers into a building, they can't run on propane which eliminates the rental stuff. In any case, if you fry on site you are going to have a big mess to clean up schlepping the hot oil out of the building.

We cook the chicken fingers back at our kitchen and crisp them up on site in ovens. When ovens are not available and space does not permit us to bring in our own, we tell the client who MUST have chicken fingers that we will be happy to do them for her but they will not be crispy. Most clients don't care since it's for the kids and for the most part, to kids, a chicken finger is a chicken finger is a chicken finger, crispy or not. To reduce soggines somewhat, store in aluminum pans with holes poked in the top for air circulation. Doesn't totally eliminate the sog but it does help some. Gina

[shroomgirl]

Thanks Gina....I was contemplating using cornflakes or something with more crunch in the breading.

As of this moment though I'ma thinkn' of looking for a fried chicken place down near the site. OR a slow restaurant with big hunkin' friers.

Reminds me of the stupid fried turkeys I cooked at a Christmas Eve party....swore never more.

[cheflusch]

I'm a chef at disney, so yes I've run into a child or 2. Depending on how hot good the ovens are...We used to put full hotel pans on the bottom rack of the oven (or directly on the bottom of the oven) crank the oven all the way, and put a light coating of canola(veg) oil in the pans. Basically you end up with a very shallow, oven length fryer. Just make sure the oils hot enough...some ovens we used, if the rack wasn't right on the bottom, the oil wasn't hot enough and the chicken didn't fry....

[kuan]

Originally Posted by cheflusch

I'm a chef at disney, so yes I've run into a child or 2. Depending on how hot good the ovens are...We used to put full hotel pans on the bottom rack of the oven (or directly on the bottom of the oven) crank the oven all the way, and put a light coating of canola(veg) oil in the pans. Basically you end up with a very shallow, oven length fryer. Just make sure the oils hot enough...some ovens we used, if the rack wasn't right on the bottom, the oil wasn't hot enough and the chicken didn't fry....

Dang that's a rockin' good trick!

Shroom, I'd try before I'd buy though, not that I don't believe cheflusch.

I'd go with fryers in the back and running it out.

[cheflusch]

chef's are very untrustworthy....

no, but seriously...electric coil ovens were the best. We put the large metal cooling racks right on top so there was no more than an inch between pan and coils. sometimes we had to leave the oven door open a bit to avoid burning the tops..but it was always the easist way when you had way too much for 2 or 3 fryers to handle...

[kuan]

So you have to flip them I guess?

[nowIamone]

We've done this for private parties with alot of children and made it an activity for the kids by setting it up as an area where they can cater to their own plate. Nothing to fancy for the chix, kids like it simple and familiar. We simply warmed & crisped the chix (along with fries) and set them in a chafer to keep them warm on a LOW table, so they reach and help themselves, 6" lower is enough, bowls of ranch, ketchup, mustard, bar-b-q sauce. Long carrot & celery sticks up right in cups. They help themselves, and are little ladies and gentlemen about it. We've even added hot dogs and buns; chips, a bowl of oreos; ice cream cups staged in a bowl of ice. This has become a frequent request at our events.

[shroomgirl]

REMEMBER GUYS.....no kitchen.....just a room with tables and electrical outlets.

[Peachcreek]

Shroom- I do my chicken fingers out of chicken tenders. They take a lot less preparation than cutting breasts. I bread them in seasoned flour, then egg wash, then panko. You have to press the panko into the tender with your palm to get the crumbs to adhere well. It also makes them thinner and they fry quicker. You can do them ahead of time and freeze them in the raw state, then fry from frozen just like premades. Duck tenders are good too. I would think you could fry them, drain well and stack in layer between paper towels and keep warm in a cambro then transfer to a chafer. You could also bring an electric griddle and give them a quick turn on the griddle with a touch of steam to get them quickly up to temp for the chafer if they cooled down too much. Good luck.

[CrazyTATT]

WOW, don't envy the situation.
As far as fried foods go with off prem, any time Ive done fried chicken, Ive always gone with the name "chilled pic nic chic" and done the cool tenders/fried8way on a big spread with the whole pic nic theme...never once had a complaint, and ppl LOved the idea. Sometimes fried chic is better the day after, and that was my whole idea. NAD it eliminates the need to schleep grease or cook on site, especially if it is just for the rug rats.
Sorry i cant offer any more input.

[Jolly Roger]

Shroomgirl...Let's go back to basics...the fried chicken things are for KIDS, right? Fry them before you go and keep'em hot in hot boxes you can rent if you don't allready have them. Maybe layer them with parchmentment paper so they don't get too soggy, but you know...if they're fried, hot and seasoned well, the little rugrats will gobble them down! Focus more energy on your carved lamb station and make the adult remember you! Goodspeed!

[shroomgirl]

Thanks all!

Chicken fingers may have been put on the buffet for the knee nippers but bet there are an awful lot of young 20ish guests that would go for them over/combined with salmon or lamb.

[lentil]

I almost don't dare to answer as you all are so much more experienced than I, but here goes anyway... Not only to I make tenders for customers, but I make them for my kids who don't hesitate to tell me when they don't like something.

I do something similar to what Peach does; I use an egg wash (or have even used a light coating of mayo) and then press panko onto the tenders. I then spray them with a little oil and bake them in a pretty hot oven. It works well, and they reheat well also.

[shroomgirl]

A friend of mine is exec chef over a massive Marriott downtown and will fry the delivered chicken....it's 8 blks from the party....I've got electric griddles for grilled cheese will put them to use if I need to....just cut down buffet time to 1 hour!!!! the bride wanted to start 1/2 hour later. Works for me, the small children will be STARVING by 7pm though.