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Kyrie Eleison

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i’m headed to a wedding in Santa Fe around Christmas, and the bride as asked that i help her Canadian groom “barbecue” (i.e. grill) for 40 or so guests. i get the feeling that means “please save us and save me money.”

 

i want to do something fairly regional, reasonably priced and delicious. my thoughts off the top of my head were spatchcock (or halve) some Cornish hens that had been marinated in a chili lime concoction and brushed with some regional adobo sauce while on the grill or the like, but i’m open to suggestions.

 

thoughts?

 

(this is not the reception dinner, btw, just a “thank you for traveling all this way to see us get married” meal)

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Oh, and if you are cooking for a big crew, in Santa Fe, in December, when it's cold.....why in the BLUE HELL would you not just make big pots of posole?  Easy as hell, puro New Mexico, and de-fucking-licious.


because it’s not my wedding, and this is what the groom chose.

i’m there solely to make sure he doesn’t Canada things up.
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One main entree for 40 people sounds a little risky.  I like the idea of some poultry, some pork carnitas.  Does it all have to be grilled?

I did some faux carnitas yesterday by browning a bone-in Boston Butt (holy alliteration Batman!), and then braised it in the oven for about 4 hours with some stock, an onion, a couple of roasted poblanos + a jalapeno, a big old orange and a couple of limes, along with the usual spice rub (oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne, etc.).  It was glorious.  You could probably do 8 lb in a large Dutch oven which would yield close to 5 lb and feed a dozen people.  Double that and you're halfway there.  It's easy to do in advance and reheat, too, which isn't really true of grilled skin-on poultry.

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Soup is great, but there are few cooking tools that can cook soup for 40 and it's not a main course. you need something easy and that you can cook on a grill and serve as a main course. Common folks would do burgers and dogs, we're better than that. If you can marinate 30 game hens go for it. Or skirt steak (fajitas). Some chicken breasts. Table with the fixins for fajitas aka tacos. Beverages. Soup of some kind can be a side. You got all that you can also make quesadillas on a cool spot on the grill. Point is you want some marinade for flavor, that's what sells, it's why the fixins are so important.

Keep in mind it's a group. So a couple vegetarians, one vegan. Chips and salsa. Adult beverages? Did I mention adult beverages? Shit you probably got strippers.

You have a grill going to do some vegetables. Super fucking easy. Throw some balsamic on them, some oil, boom shakalaka. Errbody does one or two veggies. Need some green chiles if available for thematic reasons.

Errbody's gonna bitch and fuck em you served some damn good food.

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On 11/19/2018 at 8:07 AM, Kyrie Eleison said:

 

i’m headed to a wedding in Santa Fe around Christmas, and the bride as asked that i help her Canadian groom “barbecue” (i.e. grill) for 40 or so guests. i get the feeling that means “please save us and save me money.”

 

i want to do something fairly regional, reasonably priced and delicious. my thoughts off the top of my head were spatchcock (or halve) some Cornish hens that had been marinated in a chili lime concoction and brushed with some regional adobo sauce while on the grill or the like, but i’m open to suggestions.

 

thoughts?

 

(this is not the reception dinner, btw, just a “thank you for traveling all this way to see us get married” meal)

 

I could consider grilling some hatch green chilies, maybe even stuffed with some sort of chicke, shrimp or cream cheese?  Like a stuffed poblano pepper but with the local hatch chillies.  

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Missed this the first time around. Spatchcocking 40 cornish hens and cooking them sounds like a huge pain in the ass. How big is your grill/pit?

Posole is delicious but soup for 40? Again, fuck that. 

I know it's not regional, but I think the logical answer is either to smoke a couple two/three pork butts, or do fajitas. You could serve them on blue corn tortillas with a hatch chili salsa to make it "regional".

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