Followup on the BBQ and dinner planning

[vette]

I think it's a good idea to make some notes for next year and keep a folder for the events weekend. Some questions:

What did we have too much of?

What did we need and not have?

Any other feedback?

Thanks!

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[LennG]

 As for the food, I really don't think we had too much of anything. Except for the stuff Retro brought in late, just about everything went.

 I would ask weeze to start catching them trout a bit earlier, and try to bring TWO suitcases full, as when I was ready to have some, there was none left.
 
 You have to remember we were there for about 6 hours. If we should do anything different, is try and spread the food out a bit more, instead of trying to cook everything at one time.

[MightyGiants]

I thought there was plenty of everything Ed.  The only thing I agree with Len, that maybe we should delay cooking some of the food, so everything is more spaced out.

[TuckerF]

If I didn't have to drive back that same night a little more moonshine would have been in order!

[LennG]

 


 

[drakew]

"I m still trying to find out how I got volunteered for the chicken, because I never put "My left foot in, take yer left foot out" So I hadda cook in the hotel room and buy from pricechoppers...worked out OK though, we ran outta charcoal for the trout.

We need some shagbark hickory bark soaked in chardonnay next year TO SMOKE THE CHICKEN."

AND we need more ribs! Ask anybody, Vette was the cook de jour...."

[Webster29]

Terry didn't bring enough MooseHead.  Some guy in a red Giants hat and white Manning jersey kept drinking it all up.

[pagan43]

The idea that we stretch out the dining experience to more completely cover the entire time period between the morning practice session and the afternoon session is great.

I think the amount of time an individual cook needs to dedicate to the effort should be considered. I'm confident that I speak for the group when I express my great appreciation to every BigBlueHuddler who donned the apron and mitt and manned a charcoal grill for us during the picnic. But, I wanted to make sure that at some time we could say "cooking's done - now you cooks grab a beverage and join the party."

Maybe a simple schedule that allows some cooks to start our the party at a grill to provide us all with their speciality, then step back, enjoy a well deserved beverage and our appreciative company while a new cook steps into the pit and whips up a second course.

This might also allow us to defeat another little bug in our use of the park there by Lake Rensileer: the official mandate that we only use park provided grills, that are permanently fixed into the ground and spaced out apart from each other.

For example, everyone loves Vettes ribs (start out with good meat, add a fine dry rub, then proper sauce and a good measure of loving attention), but for him to deliver them he had to get three grills going, and nearly wore a path in the grass between them while keeping everything right and proper. (Big thanks to you Vette).

If we were a little more organized with grill timing, we could keep from spreading out all over the park to have enough cooking surfaces for all our yummy goodies.

Another thing to consider is a few more folding tables. The picnic table that the park provides are chained to the trees, apart from each other (like the grills) and we end up spreading out pretty far and wide just to set up our fare. If we had a few folding tables we might be able to centralize the arrangement and keep the group together more closely.

I don't think the spreading out really hurt us in any big way. The idea of moving things more closely together might just be the kind of tweak that makes the event a little more cozy.

pagan43

[terrymeisner]

Terry didn't bring enough MooseHead.  Some guy in a red Giants hat and white Manning jersey kept drinking it all up.
_____________________________________________

bill .....next year moosehead and brador.....one for each hand eh....go Giants!!!!!

[weeze]

maybe next year ill have some grouper to go with the trout. if you think the trout was tasty waitll you have some grouper.
by the way drake, if i supply the fish you have to cook it. its in the by laws of bbgc!

[vette]

Good feedback from everyone. Dave you brought up some excellent points about the grills and the tables. Thanks!

[giantsguy]

I agree that the only thing we might have done differently is stagger the cooking.  As for burgers/dogs, anyone who wants one can throw one on at any time, they don't take that long.  Maybe we could dedicate one grill and keep that going all day.

[RemembersHuff]

I have no idea why, but I've 'posted' on this thread twice only to find my post never made it to the board. 

One more try!

I think we DID have too much food -- besides what was left over on the main serving table, I know there was quite a bit of meat left uncooked in some of the coolers, and some desserts and other items that never made it out of the bags.  We should probably consider reducing the item quantity requests next year from 'enough for everyone' to 'enough for half the attendees'.  Even with half the food, we'd have had plenty for everyone.

We also DID intend to stagger the cooking, but despite having more charcoal than in previous years, we used it all up AND the fires burned out faster. By the time we were ready to cook the 'second shift', none of the fires was still hot enough.

George's idea is a good one (re: keeping one grill going all day).  Another option would be to only light 2-3 grills at a time instead of 4-5, which would slow down the output AND preserve some charcoal for later.  If we planned well, splitting up grills between slow-cooking and fast-cooking items, that should work out fine.

Drake, re: the chicken -- unfortunately, while we know it's a PITA for the out of town folks to deal with perishable stuff, George and I are the only two locals, so it's imperative that some of the travelers pick up meat, etc.  We put up the info about local stores (including maps) and suggested that rather than trying to travel with perishables (or store stuff in hotel rooms) that everyone just go to one of those stores after the AM practice and bring their stuff to the park.  George and I got there early and had spare coolers and ice ready.  We probably didn't make this plan as clear as we should have, and we'll make an extra effort next year to let the BBH travelers know that there's a hassle-free way to contribute meat or other items needing to be kept cold.

[vette]

I think that pretty much wraps it up. Let's archive this information for next year's planning.

[vstaj(grizz)]

  A Dog Run.