We've got RAIN! Everything outside is soaking wet, so apparently we got a little rain last night. That works for me since my sprinklers aren't working at all.
I was up early and hit the ground running. Here I am in the Elks kitchen standing in front of my all time favorite ovens. The two handles to the left belong to the warmers which will also cook prime rib to perfection. Further left are two more convection ovens that look like this one. I could cook in these all day long!
While the crowd was served FREE gin fizzes (not on my list of yummy things) made with vodka because no one likes gin, I began the what-have-I-got-to-work-with game.
I discovered five pans of sausage, only to see they just threw them on the pans. If you don't line them out, they expand while cooking and fall off the pan. All five pans got a realignment before going in the ovens. These are brown and serve, so easy peasy. Thank you Cooking Gods, I didn't burn a single piece.
Sadly there are no eggs Benedict pictures, I just didn't have time. They were being handled by someone else. There was an entire box of English muffins they cut up and put in the warmer. What? Not toasted? I admit however, the Poacher of the Eggs did a fabulous job. They came out perfect.
Top that with a piece of Canadian bacon (also not heated up) and sauced with hollandaise sauce made from a bag of instant mix, and voila! Eggs Benedict. You would be amazed at what we can do with instant and canned ingredients. Yeah ... as good as they looked when served, I didn't taste one.
Next up ... slice up eight hams baked to perfection. Now THIS was downright yummy!! We had two HUGE pans full. Apparently they expected more people, because this is the LEFTOVERS!
Next on the menu, biscuits. These Krusteaz frozen biscuits are the best!! Yes you do bake them ON the paper trays. Everyone thinks they will catch on fire, but no they do not. On top of these goes sausage gravy, made by the crew the night before. Have you ever tried to heat up a 15 gallon pot of gravy without burning it?
Next up, hash browns ... or should I say hash blacks. Someone decided to cook them on the flattop that they turned up a little too high. I could smell them as they brought fours pans to the warmer. I'm the keeper of the warmers so I know what food went in first, to be sure it goes OUT first. There's nothing worse than eating something that has been in the warmers for two hours getting dried out.
They also cooked scrambled eggs on the same cooktop. THREE egg dishes? They were a little too brown for me, but at least not black. Those too went in the warmers.
This is the piece-de-resistance. This is our famous Denver Omelet casserole. Eggs, ham, red and green bell peppers, onions, and cheese baked to perfection by moi!! They are prone to causing nice oven burns as they require stirring while cooking. That's more biscuits at the top of the picture.
Six pans of casserole went out to the serving table and every single one came back empty. I did have to fight a bit with those who think it should all go in the oven two hours early and cook all at the same time. They only take 30 minutes to cook. Same with the biscuits ... shouldn't you get those in the oven? NOPE ... they take 15 minutes. Two hours in the bread warmer and they will be hard as a rock. They finally walk away in disgust!
All in all it turned out great! Though it seemed they had lots of leftover food, none of it will go to waste. Our Kitchen Chef can do amazing things with leftover ham since we serve lunch every day of the week, and if it won't hold, it goes to the Homeless Shelter that day.
I snuck out the door by 1:00. They had lots of folks to help clean up and I was pretty tired from flinging those hot and heavy pans around. I had one someone try to help, which ended up with egg all over the floor. I'm NOT good at mopping. Therefore, tis better to fling it yourself.
Mr. Cooper was very happy to see me come in the door, but we didn't sit down. I'll show you what we were up to tomorrow!
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