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08-03-2009, 11:20 AM
|  | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
| |  Caribbean for large group
Off site Company Picnic, drop off (no staff) low budget, high guest count.
Significant number of vegetarians.
Got any good ideas?
TIA! |
08-03-2009, 12:58 PM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: Culinary Instructor | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: PALM BEACH FLORIDA
Posts: 2,243
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Rice and Peas
Baked Plantains
Curried Goat
Jerk flavored Roast Veges
Grilled island fish with tropical fruits(KIWI, MANGO , PINEAPPLE)
Black Beans and onion casserole
Marinated Jerk Chicken
Sweet potato or yams
sweet rolls, Johnny cakes
Conch Fritter
Conch Salad
They love and eat a lot of crab in all the islands, So anything with crab, any kind of crab, dip etc. Their cuisine inspired by Indian, Spanish etc. very little beef, mostly fish, chicken, goat. 
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Last edited by ED BUCHANAN; 08-03-2009 at 01:06 PM.
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08-03-2009, 01:38 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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Thanks Ed.
since it's a large generic group, company picnic in the midwest.....I'm going to have a more "watered down" menu. ie...no conch, goat, jerk heat....
Just sent off menu.
mojo chicken
roasted whole pig, pineapple rum sauce
coconut rice
black bean salad
sweet potato salad
large rolls
green salad with mango dressing
banana bars/ginger cookies
Some heat but fairly mild...... |
08-03-2009, 01:59 PM
|  | ChefTalk Supporter Culinary Experience: Owner/Operator | | Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Scotland
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How about a Carribbean soup for the vegetarians. (my carnivores love it too)
Basically its a sweet potato soup, with the addition of coconut milk, turmeric, corn syrup and chilli. Fried onions and lots of black pepper are added just before serving
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08-03-2009, 03:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shroomgirl  Thanks Ed.
since it's a large generic group, company picnic in the midwest.....I'm going to have a more "watered down" menu. ie...no conch, goat, jerk heat....
Just sent off menu.
mojo chicken
roasted whole pig, pineapple rum sauce
coconut rice
black bean salad
sweet potato salad
large rolls
green salad with mango dressing
banana bars/ginger cookies
Some heat but fairly mild...... | NICE ITEMS
Try cornbread with peppers it is cheaper then rolls
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08-03-2009, 04:32 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
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rolls make better sandwiches....I make the yeast rolls. |
08-03-2009, 08:26 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Professional Chef | | Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Volcano, CA soon to be Caribbean
Posts: 343
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Instead of rolls for sandwiches how about roti? |
08-03-2009, 08:36 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
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room temp roti? midwest.....hmmmmm....... |
08-04-2009, 12:00 AM
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scallion and ginger sweet potato salad
cuban black beans and rice - with red pepper & onion coulis = great side dish
I make a sauce with balsamic, quickly seared/blackened red peppers & ditto for onion, pulse together and slather on rice and beans,. of course cook beans with onions, garlic, oregano, bay leaf, and what ever else you want.
what about bbq jerk chicken - marinade in dry jerk seasoning with lemon or lime juice, & ginger beer then bake and slather with bbq sauce - kind of mitigates the jerk but still very tender and tasty. We use McCormicks dry jerk seasoning - the first ingredient is NOT salt. and it's more about spices not spicy.
also perhaps a carribean salsa with roasted pineapple pineapple served with tortilla chips - kind of fusion but might be popular due to the natural sweetness/spicy contrast,
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08-04-2009, 02:03 PM
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When you do off premise catering, the last thing you want to handle is soup. Bowls, spoons . underliners etc pain in neck,
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08-04-2009, 03:40 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
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yep....
Volunteer staff. This is a drop off event.....essentially a company picnic for a non-profit that has a full time catering business.
Mojo....oj, garlic, cilantro, cumin, oregano, olive oil.....works, some herbage but essentially middle of the road on flavor profile
Black Bean Salad means that it does not need a chafer or ovens or alot of tending. Room temp/cold, no special serviceware.
Got pineapple/rum with the pig.
Molasses, ginger, bananas covered in dessert......
Thanks guys. |
08-05-2009, 05:27 AM
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Are you going to send the pig over whole? 
How bout sweet potato biscuits instead of rolls?
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08-05-2009, 06:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marmalady Are you going to send the pig over whole?
How bout sweet potato biscuits instead of rolls? | Why not let the pig walk over, that would really freak them out! 
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08-05-2009, 08:40 AM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
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Funny guys.
Why not sweet potato biscuits instead of rolls?
1) Biscuits crumble, rolls don't 550 guests, that would be a whole lotta biscuits.
2) Rolls can be made a day or two before, biscuits not really.
3) Sweet Potato Salad and Rolls, vs sweet potato biscuits....gives the celiacs one more dish.
4) There's a lot of vegetarians in the group, if I can provide enough variety so that they are statisfied without an expensive meat substitute, then I'm ahead.
5) Well and I didn't think about them, 20+ years of living in the deep south and I forgot about sweet potato biscuits.  |
08-08-2009, 04:03 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Culinary Student | | Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Central New Jersey
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Not sure how labor intensive this would be but Vegetable Patties might be nice. Also, cabbage as a side dish. A lot of the local jamaican spots serve that quite a bit with carrots, onions and mixed vegetables in it.
Macaroni pie is also very popular on certain islands and is considered vegetarian. | | |
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