You don't need to panic if you find yourself on a situation you need to cook for a crowd. Choosing the appropriate equipment and adapting well the preparation you will find out it's not that huge challenge or mysterious science to cook for a lot of people. All you need is to prepare yourself, organize everything you need and be safe.

Food and Hygiene Safety

Cooking for a crowd involves hazards you absolutely need to be aware of. Make sure you have the appropriate knowledge of the right cooking and storing temperatures. Wrong temperatures are the biggest cause of food contamination since bacteria grows incredibly fast when you don't prepare it right. For more details go to www.cajuns-recipes.com.

You are probably wondering what you can do to have the food properly cooked and don't risk your guests' health. It's not difficult. By monitoring the temperature of your dishes, you can avoid them reaching dangerous temperature zones. When possible, we also recommend dividing the dishes into small portions for storage. It will allow the food to cool easily, avoiding creating a bacteria-friendly environment.

Portions - Rule of Ten

To avoid either hungry guests or waste of food you need to estimate quantities. To figure out how much you will have to enlarge your recipe, the catering industry uses the Rule of Ten. It says that for 10 adults, you will need:

Meat - four pounds
Potatoes for salad - three pounds
Dry pasta for salad - one pound
Peeled pre-cooked prawns - two to three pounds
Shellfish - two pounds
Soup to be served as appetizer - half gallon
Soup to be served as main course - one gallon
Salad - two pounds of leaves
Salad dressing - three cups
Cocktails - 20 per hour
Punch - one gallon