Final Event Presentation Thanksgiving

1. Final Event Presentation Thanksgiving By: Leslie Looney 11/24/2011 at 12:30pm Planned for 100 guests 55 guests came due to a virus going through the building

2. Background Information • Customers were above 55 years old and their family members • This Event was held at an Independent Retirement home. • For my event I decided to do Thanksgiving dinner, this was a sit down dinner. • The portion sizes were small because we are feeding the elderly. They can order a small meal, medium meal or a large meal.

3. The Menu • Fresh baked bread • First Choice: • Oven Roasted Turkey baked until the skin is evenly golden brown. The skin is lightly crispy and the meat is tender and juicy • Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Creamy and fluffy potatoes that are buttered to perfection. The Gravy is rich and glossy. • We made • Candied Sweet Potatoes are bright and fresh sweet potatoes that are sweetened and creamy. They are finished with a golden brown marshmallow top. • Bread Stuffing is baked to a golden brown color. It is rich in flavor and fluffy in texture. A great addition to this meal. • Glazed Baby Carrots are steamed to a crisp perfection. They are glazed with sweet syrup that compliments them perfectly. • Second Choice: • Baked Glazed Ham is slow cooked in the oven. It is glazed with a sweet homemade glaze. The meat is juicy and tender. • Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Creamy and fluffy potatoes that are buttered to perfection. The Gravy is rich and glossy. • Southern Green Beans, Crisp fresh green beans that are perfectly steamed. Smoked bacon and caramelized onions are added to finish this side dish. • Bread Stuffing is baked to a golden brown color. It is rich in flavor and fluffy in texture. This is a great addition to this meal. • Candied Sweet Potatoes are bright and fresh sweet potatoes that are sweetened and creamy. They are finished with a golden brown marshmallow top. • Dessert: • Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream, this pie is creamy and smooth with a golden brown crust. Whipped cream is homemade and creamy and fluffy. We forecasted that we would have around 100 guests. This is based on the last 5 years. We ended up only having 55 guests because the building had the Norovirus the precious week, and people were still sick or recovering. Turkey- 80lbs Ham- 20lbs Carrots- 25lbs Sweet Potatoes- 18lbs Bread- 7loaves Potatoes- 30lbs Dressing- 18lbs Gravy- 5 quarts Pies- 15 whole Green beans- 25lbs All of these amounts are based off of the recipes I used from this facility. They were all based on 100 servings.

4. Service • We did a plated service and had servers deliver the meals to the table. • We had all of the food held in the steam table and three people building the plates. • We had 4 servers for the dining room. • Service equipment used • Steam table • Hotel pans, whole and half pans • Slotted spoons, ice cream scoops, tongs and ladles • We used white plates to serve the meal on • We plated the dessert on white dessert plates

5. Production

7. Production continued Staff on Duty • Chef • 2 Prep cooks • Sous chef • 2 dishwashers • 4 servers Dinner was served at 12:30pm, and service ended at 1:30pm Equipment Used • Convection oven • Conventional oven • Steamer • Steam table, plate warmer • Large mixer, small mixer • Spider burners • Knives • Robo coup

8. Production • Food that I was involved with included: • Cook and sliced Turkey • Making bread • Slicing and cooking carrots • Thickening gravy • Portioning cranberry sauce • Plating during service • Plating pumpkin pie

12. Finish Product

13. Evaluation • Service went great, we were keeping up with the servers and the plates were going out at a great pace. • We did cook to much food for the crowd that we had, but that had to do with a virus that was going through the building. • The production of the food was great, everything went smooth and all of the food was done on time and was really tasty. • The turkey was cooked to an internal temperature of 170 degrees F, we made sure we cooked the pies the day before so they had time to set up. This was nice because it made the pie easier to cut and have the right consistency. We decided to place the cranberry on the portion cups so it would not bleed on the other foods. We whipped the pies right before they went out and we used fresh whipped cream. • I think that it is good to have a plan but to be able to deal with what comes at you on the day of the event. Not everything goes as planned and it is important to be able to work with what you have.

14. Event Summary • I learned that even when you plan everything out, you are going to have to change some things. Not everything goes as planned, for example our expected numbers were low because of an illness. • I learned that if you have a great team you can get a large amount of work done with little stress. The team at the kitchen worked great together and almost could communicate with out talking to each other. • Timing of the food was really important. I think that this was the hardest part of the project. I had help from the chef, but it is still difficult to figure the timing out.