# Baked Potato Bar



## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

Just ressurected this idea from my cafeteria days for an event I did yesterday. OMG, it was the easiest thing ever,  and I ran around 15% FC!

It wasn't gourmet or anything, I'll be honest about that. The choice of toppings were:

chili (from a can, alas)

nacho cheese (also from a can. I think they like this better then bechamel based cheese sauces because it's cheesier)

broccoli florets, blanched

butter

sour cream

scallions

bacon bits

jalepeno rings

salsa

salt and pepper

There was also Caesar salad and a very nice punch (and the requisite coffee) to go with it.

Staff was one kitchen crew (me), and three servers (they wanted the buffet line manned). Very very easy to execute. We added a bit of luxe to the service by splitting the potato for the customer to order (we also let them pick their own since we made sure there were a variety of sizes for a variety of appetites).

Pretty much the only thing you can do to mess it up is by wrapping the potatoes in foil. Everyone was raving about the crisp skin.

The only thing I'm missing is more topping ideas.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

I use to do those for the students in the college I worked for. You are right....it is easy and FC is pretty good on something like this:

Other toppings:

Beef Stew

Cottage Cheese

Shredded Cheese

Mushroom Gravy or thick soup

Italian Sausage removed from the skin and cooked then crumbled

Chicken a la King

Ground Beef or Turkey in a simple gravy

Fresh Chopped Herbs

Sauteed Vegetable Medley

Creamed Corn  (my students went bonkers for this)

Chorizo Sausage

Pesto Cream sauce


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

OT here...

My fave potato topping is (in this order, lol) S&P, sour cream and a good jarred salsa (my guilty pleasure salsa of choice is the Tostitos brand ).

OBTW..tincook, everyone in Texas calls that canned cheese (glorious shade of yellow/orange isn't it) Astrodome Cheese.

IDK, the first place I ever had it was at a baseball game (Astros with Nolan Ryan pitching).

Now the Astrodome is Reliant Center and the Astros have their very own home (Minute Maid aka the juice box, lol)

All we need now is a decent roster.

mimi


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

so timely I had a conversation today about potato bars.....they fit so many needs.....vegetarian, Glutin Free, etc....easy, cheap, dang they so make sense.


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

> nacho cheese (also from a can. I think they like this better then bechamel based cheese sauces because it's cheesier)


Try this one for yourself at home - it does scale very easily to commercial levels though.

8oz (weight) Sharp Cheddar or Cheddar / Pepper Jack blend - grated (don't use pre-grated... it has anti-caking agents which screw things up)

1 tbs cornstarch

1 cup evaporated milk

Toss the grated cheese with the cornstarch... add the evaporated milk and slowly melt while stirring often.

Add a touch of hot sauce (or more) or thin out the sauce with a tbs of more evaporated mill at a time.

It's just like the stuff you pump out of the 7/11 or theater dispensers! (but way better for you)

Goes great on potatoes, fries, nachos, brocolli / cauliflower etc. etc.

Keeps best in a small crock-pot or chaffer... it will skin-over though so contact cover if you have to hold before service.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

I did a mashed potato in a Martini glass  topped with lobster,crab or shrimp on a wedding buffet. done to order  It went over well. I charged 17.50 per person extra pp


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## sirbeefsteak (Feb 12, 2013)

ed buchan that sounds great.

Only thing i would add to a potato bar is sweet potatoes or yam with a choice of toppings  such as:

maple syrup 

a cinnomon sugar butter piped with a star tip into little dollops for easy pick up and application 

(this one may be odd) but a white cheddar with peach salsa on a sweet potato 

I would also consider as kind of a play on this idea duchess potatoes flavored with loaded baked potato stuffs (bacon chives ect) its single serving easy good looking and kind of classic. Nothing looks quite as good as some nice crisped potato piped with a star tip ladle a little butter over it and let the fluted parts get nice and crisp with a little browning.


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## berndy (Sep 18, 2010)

And do not foget to have GUACAMOLE on hand/img/vbsmilies/smilies/peace.gif


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Love the sweet potato idea!


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Sweet potato kabobs   sweet potato, pineapple chunk  cherry grape  on a skewer grilled and basted with maple,allspice and brown sugar syrup  then drizzled with melted marshmallow  all set on a platter  garnished with spun sugar around it


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

wow Ed, that's quite a production....


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## sirbeefsteak (Feb 12, 2013)

Um how do you melt a marshmellow exactly?

A bit off topic but i encourage all to play around with peach salsa this spring there are ones in stores but there more like salsa with peach added to it a local producer made some for a while it was mainly peach a little pineapple and a small amount of the traditional ingrediant it was sweet smokey it had the perfect balence so it was still savory but had all the best of peach and peach wasnt hindered by the other ingrediants. We made 2 quiche pies for a small informal party mayby 30 people put one on the buffet line and auctioned one off for charity and the peach salsa quiche went for 30 dollars.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Sir...

Melting marshMALLO... probably the easiest and least messy (less messy rocks it for me) is to use short micro oven bursts and stir like mad with a shortening coated silicone spatula until melted (the marshmallows, not the spatula lol).

I usually add a few Tblspoons of booze (or just flavored oils or extracts) at the end for flavor as well as to keep it a bit runny.

mimi


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## jake t bud (Feb 25, 2013)

What does 15% FC mean?


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## berndy (Sep 18, 2010)

15%FC means 15 % Food Cost /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


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## jake t bud (Feb 25, 2013)

Does that mean 15% of the total retail price is dedicated to the ingredients? So it's 85% left for labor, overhead and profit?

Thanks!


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## kostendorf (Mar 15, 2012)

i make a smoked salmon tar tar and a quark herb topping.  i learnt this one in austria and people love it here.


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