# Catering burgers and hot dogs for 70 ppl. Any hints?



## cchean (Jun 7, 2008)

Planning to cater for a group of 70 ppl. Hot Dogs and burgers. Here's what I am planning to do:

01. Blanching sausages ahead of time and grilling them (grill marks actually) as I serve.
02. 4oz. burger patties from 80/20 chuck. 
03. Will need something to keep buns warm. Any suggestions? I have a large grill and was planning on using a griddle for that.
04. Toppings (lettuce, onion, tomatoes, pickles) will be available to guest. 
05. There will be additional sides such as coleslaw and potato salad.

Challenges:

01. Party will be in back yard. Might need some specific containers to keep toppings cold. 
02. Might be overwhelmed if serving all at once. Might need to have some burgers and sausages ready in a hol-holding vessel.

Any suggestions? Thanks for all your input.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

cchean said:


> I have a large grill


What do you consider a large grill to be? Is it a 6 ft long propane or what?


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## cchean (Jun 7, 2008)

cheflayne said:


> What do you consider a large grill to be? Is it a 6 ft long propane or what?


It is a 8-burner grill, the cooking area is 18" x 60". There is one LP tank for each side (4-burners)


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## redbeerd cantu (Aug 7, 2013)

cchean said:


> Planning to cater for a group of 70 ppl. Hot Dogs and burgers. Here's what I am planning to do:
> 
> 01. Blanching sausages ahead of time and grilling them (grill marks actually) as I serve.
> 02. 4oz. burger patties from 80/20 chuck.
> ...


Don't forget about post-cook yield; if your weighing out 4oz of raw, you will lose up to 40% of weight and volume. You'll end up with tiny pieces of meat.

If you have to hold veg cold, use plastic-lidded containers on ice, same for slaw and potato salad.


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## cchean (Jun 7, 2008)

redbeerd cantu said:


> Don't forget about post-cook yield; if your weighing out 4oz of raw, you will lose up to 40% of weight and volume. You'll end up with tiny pieces of meat.
> 
> If you have to hold veg cold, use plastic-lidded containers on ice, same for slaw and potato salad.


Thanks for the feedback. What would be a good portion size? (most 20-yr olds and teenagers). Is it better to use frozen patties?


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

cchean said:


> Might need to have some burgers and sausages ready in a hol-holding vessel.


With an 18x60" grill you should be able to set up a quasi-steam table at one end by using a hotel pan for your water bath with two 1/2 pan inserts or one 2/3 pan and one 1/3 pan for inserts.

You will still be left with enough grill to do 24 burgers at one time.-


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## redbeerd cantu (Aug 7, 2013)

cchean said:


> Thanks for the feedback. What would be a good portion size? (most 20-yr olds and teenagers). Is it better to use frozen patties?


Well, if its 20yr-olds and teenagers, it sounds like an 8oz patty (pre-cooked) would be decent.

The way we calculate post cook yield, for all meats, is to check the USDA's Cooking Yields Table:

https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/data/retn/usda_cookingyields_meatpoultry.pdf
This chart will show you basically every cut of meat in all of the ways that we prepare them, yield minimums, maximums, as well as fat and moisture gain and loss.

High-fat ground beef patties, boiled or grilled have a yield of 63%, meaning that you'll lose around 37% of weight during the cooking process. Let's round it to 40%.

Let's assume you measure all the patties at exactly 8oz. We will multiply 8 x .4 (40%).

8 x .4 = 3.2.

We'll then subtract 3.2 from 8.

The result is 4.8. That means that each patty, post-cook, will weigh roughly 5oz, which is a decent portion, if you consider bun and toppings.

This table has proven invaluable for calculating food costs for menu design and catering calculations


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## cchean (Jun 7, 2008)

redbeerd cantu said:


> Well, if its 20yr-olds and teenagers, it sounds like an 8oz patty (pre-cooked) would be decent.
> 
> The way we calculate post cook yield, for all meats, is to check the USDA's Cooking Yields Table:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback and for the table. With a 5.2oz cooked burger, I believe most guest will have just one. I will be serving hot dogs too. I was planning on prepping 90 patties for 60 people (50% as a backup). Is that too much? If I give them 5oz, maybe will lower that number.


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## redbeerd cantu (Aug 7, 2013)

cchean said:


> Thanks for the feedback and for the table. With a 5.2oz cooked burger, I believe most guest will have just one. I will be serving hot dogs too. I was planning on prepping 90 patties for 60 people (50% as a backup). Is that too much? If I give them 5oz, maybe will lower that number.


I would do a 25% backup, for cost consideration. Beef is not cheap right now,


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## cchean (Jun 7, 2008)

redbeerd cantu said:


> I would do a 25% backup, for cost consideration. Beef is not cheap right now,


Thanks. I noticed that hot dog sausages are sold as 10/1, 8/1, 7/1 and 5/1. Any considerations on that? I am guessing 10/1 are for kids parties. At my local vendor I found 6" hot dog buns which seemed pretty small.


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## cchean (Jun 7, 2008)

Also considering making my own patties vs. frozen. Could buy 80/20 chuck roll for $3.20/# vs. $4.90 a pound for frozen patties.


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