What's good catering food to make that's hard to mess up?
I went to a tasting at my wedding venue recently and 90% of the food they had was just not cooked properly. A lot of things were dry, some things were under seasoned, some things were over seasoned. It was a mess. I can't use an outside caterer, but they're open to making whatever I request.
A meat carving station seems like something that would be hard to mess up but still taste good. Maybe slow-cooked chicken stuffed in baked peppers? I'm stumped.
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I agree with others who suggested have a firm conversation with the venue about the food quality. If you're already paying thousands of dollar for the place/service/food, there should be a level of standard given the event (hello, wedding!) It also worth asking them what dishes they do excel that you'd be willing to serve to your guests on your big day.
IF you're still unsatisfied and have exhausted all options, then it might be worth while to look at other venues that would allow outside caterers.
Good luck and keep us posted how it all turns out!
And geez, I don't know. The food they sample SHOULD be the food they excel at, right? Like a sampling is them saying, "here's what we can make." Right?
But yeah, I already talked with their in-house coordinator and she was pretty much just telling me how the food is good there and the ingredients they use are super fresh, and even a person from France was saying that the chef made good food (as if the French automatically have better pallets than the rest of us). But I should be able to meet with the chef in a couple of weeks. There's a lot of things he's catering right now I guess.
Wonder if our suggesting menu ideas to Kyle won't be much use if the caterer can't (or won't) execute them.
Maybe others with more knowledge of caterers' practice can suggest carrots & sticks to help get a menu the couple, families, guests will actually want to eat.
- food stations that made food to order will provide great food that are not overcooked.
PS: I also have been to great weddings where they serve prime rib roast (surprisingly not cold) that are not overcooked. Seems like to me the key is that they cook it to barely medium rare/rare on the middle, then serve rare-ish, med-rare, medium, and medium well meat to guests who requested specific doneness. They also put the uncut roast under IR light when it is in the serving stations, to make it warm enough but not cook the meat further. There is another server that brings new roast from the kitchen everytime the roast on the station is about to finish. This is probably depends on the caterer's experience level.
The venue, other than the food, has been fantastic. It's a really nice location, looking out over a deserty mountain. I have a nice drink menu planned out that I'm developing with my bartender friend that has fruity margaritas (with fruits native to trinidad) and some other fusion things. The cake I'm getting I based off of a "gateau marjolaine" - layered hazlenut cake and chocolate cake with a rum/praline buttercream. Everything that isn't related to their catered food is so far perfect.
Trini food I think I'd like to stay away from - it's a lot of Indianish curry like things with very specific ingredients and since there'd be people from Trinidad there they'd just be comparing it to the food from their homeland (which is fantastic food. I went to my fiance's sister's wedding and the food. Oh my god the food. I wouldn't even want to compete). Also, I've probably already said as much, but I really really don't trust the caterer.
Our original menu was going to be a mushroom risotto (we both really like mushrooms and risottos. I currently have a mushroom risotto in my fridge, come to think of it. I put pumpkin and clove and sage in it. Really interesting [in a good way]! Sorry - I'm tangenting I'm just really excited about how it turned out.) and a baked chicken with apricot glaze, or maybe a chicken fricassee, and a side of roasted vegetables (maybe brussel sprouts. I love those little guys.) I don't know how easy things like that would be to make though?
Also this guy http://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/stuffed-chili-peppers/chipotle-chicken-stuffed-peppers
Congrats btw! :-)
We're kind of doing a mix of Southwestern and Caribbean (I'm from Arizona, and she's from Trinidad and Tobago) for most of it. I don't trust most people enough to make Trini food (unless they themselves are Trini) and they had some Mexican food that was just sad how poorly executed it was.
I know these don't sound like your normal, formal wedding mains. On the other hand, many of us would prefer them to the rubber chicken-fake French fare we oftern get at these celebrations.
P.S. if you want to accommodate those who don't eat meat, include a fish chowder and a vegetable casserole (root vegetables in winter, ratatouille in summer).