Catering Truck Prep

Over the weekend I worked in a small catering truck for the first time. It seemed large at first for a food truck, but throw in five chefs trying to get prep work done and it's no longer big. It was equipped with a small walk-in refrigerator, two low-boy refrigerators, four burners, a grill, three ovens, and a large hotbox, along with a three compartment dish sink, a handwashing sink, a prep table, and some shelving units. 

No matter how much of the prep work you do in advance, it is still difficult to serve a four course meal, hors d'ouvres, and evening buffet to 200 people out of a small truck. But with proper planning and space consideration it is possible. 

Some challenges of off-site catering, especially when you are outdoors and without a proper kitchen facility, include having to pack and transport all your own equipment and ingredients, having less to work with (space, gas, ranges, etc.), having to plate outside (wind, rain, etc.), not being able to get back-up if anything is forgotten, keeping food at proper temperatures, transporting plates, having proper time for set-up and take-down, packing up in the dark (with most evening events).

Many of these challenges aren't huge deals, and I actually found it quite fun to work in a catering truck for the first time!

Rustic Farm Wedding

Yesterday I was part of a catering team hired to prepare hors d'oeuvres, a four course plated meal, and evening buffet for 200 wedding guests. The wedding took place on a small farm property in the middle of nowhere, about an hour outside of the city. The team of five chefs did most of the prep work the days before at our kitchen, as we only had a small mobile kitchen to work with on site (more on this tomorrow).

The menu was as follows:

Hors D'ouvres Reception:

• Pork Belly and hot mustard crustini
• Beef briset and horseradish crustini
• Bruschetta crustini
• Guacamole crustini
• Oysters rockefeller
• Mussels in curry sauce
• Mussels in marinera sauce

Seated Dinner:

• Soup: Seafood Chowder, fresh biscuit
• Salad: Mesclun greens, beets, radish, sunflower brittle, maple balsamic vinaigrette
• Main: roasted vegetable medley, boiled baby potatoes, choice of; beef with jus, chicken supreme stuffed with bacon and brie served with maple sauce, grilled salmon with fruit salsa, vegetarian wellington.
• Dessert: Wedding cake

Evening Buffet:

• crustinis
• potato chips
• dip
• mussels

the wedding cake, laced with fresh berries

It is doing events like these that make me realize how much I love catering events and how much I love weddings!!!