re: Looking for a pastalaya recipe for 600

Here's the output fo LSUDad's basic recipe (4.5 lbs meat, 1.5 lbs pasta)

quote:

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INGREDIENTS: (Need to convert these to bulk Qtys.)

100 Tbsp vegetable oil
50 lb. smoked andouille sausage
200 cloves garlic
100 10oz. bag frozen “Trinity seasoning mix”
100 15oz. can diced tomatoes
50 Tbsp Creole seasoning
50 tsp oregano
50 tsp smoked paprika
25 tsp thyme
Freshly cracked pepper
200 cups chicken broth
100 cup water
100 lb. penne pasta
200 Tbsp half and half or cream
50 bunch fresh parsley
50 bunch green onions

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I think adding some chicken would add to the flavor and be a little cheaper.

I wonder if the "Trinity seasoning mix" could be made fresh at a local grocery store at about the same cost? Do you chop up the garlic in a food processor?

The only issue with large pots of pastalaya is the pasta. Penne is easier to dump in and stir vs spaghetti. But when you have that large of a pot, the penne always seems to get pressed down and never hold its shape. After a lot of stirring while cooking and it sitting in a huge pot hot, and then serving, the penne gets torn up.

It wouldn’t stop me from using it, it’s just an unwanted consequence of a large pastalaya.

Rotini may be the best option, although personally, I don’t prefer rotini.

I’ve never used cavatappi for pastalaya. I love it for pastas and Mac n cheese. I wonder how it would do.

When you go on these excursions, are all the people lined up at once or do they trickle in, come and go? I've read about your mission on the Hurricane threads over time. I guess what I'm getting at, is instead of making one batch for 600 people, would you be better off going batch by batch for 100 at a time, for example. As you are serving batch one, you are cooking batch 2. And so forth.

16 cups per gallon. Easier? A guy who does quantity cooking will have the ability to calculate such stuff.

200 cups is 12.5 gallons.

quote:

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When you go on these excursions, are all the people lined up at once or do they trickle in, come and go? I've read about your mission on the Hurricane threads over time. I guess what I'm getting at, is instead of making one batch for 600 people, would you be better off going batch by batch for 100 at a time, for example. As you are serving batch one, you are cooking batch 2. And so forth.

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We serve lunch from noon till it runs out. That usually runs at about an hour and a half. We have warming cabinets that we keep the covered steam pans in and it does a good job of keeping it fresh (and at the right temperature).

With regards to the pastalaya could we cook the pasta seperate (like we do for our spaghetti)? When doing that we shock it with cold water then add some olive oil to keep it from sticking together and put it in pans and into the warming cabinet. If we did that then made the rest of the stuff for the pastalaya and added the pasta in after would it hold better than the correct way of making everything then adding the uncooked pasta to the pot and letting the juices\liquids make the pasta.

I realize I would need to reduce the water content in it if I were to cook pasta separately.

Just a thought...

I'm no expert on pastalaya, but if you cook the pasta separately, it will not get the flavor it gets when cooking in the seasoned liquid. Also, the olive oil may prevent the sauce from adhering to the pasta. You'd pretty much be making pasta tossed in a jambalaya mixture, I suppose. Not optimal, but perhaps it will serve your purposes.