Catering for a BBQ

I have experienced all sorts of catering…and all sorts of eating.
So I am not narrow minded.

I am sure the Original Poster will find a Traiteur locally through this link…

https://www.annuaire-des-traiteurs.fr/

and of course, Traiteurs will be found in the Yellow Pages… (as not all pay to go on the web…)
https://www.pagesjaunes.fr/annuaire/departement/dordogne-24/traiteurs

All sorted !

@Joan_Cane

So… are you sorted ???

Hi Barbara…

Glad all sorted… did not realize you were looking… :wink:

No I mean that you have given all the lead answers…I am sure that the bride to be will sort it all out.

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For 70 people why not have a hog roast? There are plenty of firms round here that do hog roasts, dunno about in DDshire, and IMHO it makes the occasion a bit special.

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Joan you don’t say why it is more difficult than you expected

I’m not sure why you think it is so difficult for an individual or a caterer to cook a bbq meal at home in the garden and as a chef I’m quite sure you’d not want to cook a sausage for a wedding?
I’ve been to very large weddings (250 covers) where a bbq was the main meal, in France, Bora Bora and Cyprus and not a single spot of fat had managed to stain the lovely white bridal gown, though other stains were evident the following morning :wink: :roll_eyes:

This summer I held a party for 55 French guests in my garden, The comité des fêtes provided the chairs, tables, cutlery, glassware and erected a marquee. I used two Weber bbqs, one friend did the bbq cooking two other friends did the service i did all the mis en place organised drinks and directed the proceedings. The apero was local Cremant de Bourgogne, Ricard and rose wine. The first course dishes were cold, I made my own red pepper with feta and paprika dip, houmous, guacamole, salmon rillettes, and three rabbit and prune terrines, along with plenty of slices of my home cured ham. Next course was Monkfish foiled with herbs cooked on the bbq used a large table to portion up onto platters then served at the tables with good quantities of beurre blanc sauce. Bit of a break with live music then the next course was boned and butterflied legs of Morvan lamb that I had marinated the previous day in natural yoghurt and a little bit of harrissa, roasted perfectly rare on the bbqs sliced and served at the table. I had made large dishes of my version of Dauphinoise spuds, layered the sliced pots with lots of garlic and drizzled with lots of cream topped with grated Comté cheese and knobs of butter. Large bowls of salad from the garden and I made my own mint sauce for those that wanted to experiment!
Another break then cheese then it was homemade tiramisu (I want to be buried alive in a vat of it please) fresh fruits and a couple of vacherins my neighbour made for me. Started at 1pm and finished the meal at around six or seven. Live music followed then some people left and around ten pm it was still very warm we fired up the bbq again cooked more lamb finished the salads, terrines and dips had more cheese and fruit and finished eating around midnight, the musicians played till 2am then everybody left. 60 litres of red white and rose burgundy were consumed plus thirty bottles of cremant and two litres of Ricard. Four of us spent less than an hour washing plates cutlery and glassware and all in bed for 3 (not all together).
If a caterer was doing that then they could have charged a decent price per head at a very healthy food gp and made a marge on the drinks. Unfortunately Joan hasn’t commented any further on her opening point it would be interesting to know what the planned spend per head is?

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Ok I agree with you…you can buy at Metro for instance a couple of catering size barbecues.
I know that you can prepare trays of gratin dauphioise, salads…anything you like…and sausages would not be something I would prefer to cook for a wedding,…but I saw them as part of a menu for a catering co in Dord which does offer a barbecue.
If you are a chef you will know that price is often a key factor.
And a decent barbecue will include salads and all sorts of other goodies, desserts and good displays of fruit and cheeses. Yes lots of cremant de Bordeaux and other wines…

But what do you pay for this?
The barbecue is more simple than the 4 course plated meal …but there is still work …
and as I said before people do not work for nothing.

ps …I have catered for weddings.

ps…you could offer to cater for the lady …

As I said unfortunately the OP didn’t state the spend per head. I’m not a chef but spent ten years in the late 80’s and 90’s running and investing in restaurants. You seemed to be implying that it was difficult to provide a very professional bbq/wedding meal and service for a large number of people when in fact it really isn’t. Catering size bbqs aren’t needed for 70 people, one of these would do.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/outdoor-living/detailpages/weber/B00004RALW-main_t.jpg

A decent caterer would be more than capable of delivering a full wedding experience

You wrote" as a chef"…are you a chef or not…just confused as you said you were and then you were not.
Ok but I know that at a wedding people expect to be served more or less at the same time.
For 70 people you need a good amount of meat/fish…and it second portions.
Not about being a good chef.
My wedding menu would be a presentation of tapas style dishes…to include…beignet
of squid with chilli and garlic mayo…ibireica ham on fresh tomato salsa prepared with red onions and white balsamic, prawns on skewers thai style and chicken fillets with lemon grass and ginger crust.Bowls of home baked green tomatoes with thyme and garlic …a selection of breads.

For main slow roasted belly of pork with duxelle and lots of vegies…an apple sauce.
and Breast of duck, pak choy and noodles.So 2 mains…

A dessert table with a mountain of fresh fruits, pavlova of passion fruit and a large sliceable chocolate tarts served with mascarpone or clotted cream.

Cheese Brebis, rochbauran, coutnaces, and a few other.

the wine would be chosen to match the food.

I didn’t say I was a chef, I wrote “and as a chef I’m quite sure you’d not want to cook a sausage for a wedding?” I was referring to your comment about cooking sausages, i.e. you as a chef.

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oh sorry I half read what you wrote.Well lets hope that the wedding goes really well.

Just found it again this morning. Boucherie Chevallier at Pessac sur Dordogne. He does hog roasts and mechoui and the like. Unfortunately it will probably be out of range because although it’s on the Dordogne River but in Gironde and some way from Dordogneshire proper. There are loads of traiteurs who I’m sure will oblige.

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I’m back from what I feared would be a grim funeral, which actually turned into a celebration of life :innocent: and now I’m getting hungry reading all these lovely food ideas…:grin:

How come no-one has mentioned snails…The Traiteur we used for the St Valentine meal gave each diner a selection of starters. Folk were trying to identify what was in each. Well, the vol au vent… turned out to be stuffed with a snail mousse… the whole thing was “fait maison” and it was fabulous. … as was the whole meal.

He was catering for 120 of us, with 8 courses…yummy.

I don’t think the client necessarily cares about the nitty gritty of how it is done Barbara, they are just interested in the result and what it will cost them, somebody else dealing with the logistics is after all what they are paying for.

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Not every one can find what they want,
Some times it is not available.
Some times we need to think about the nitty gritty…you know about that
Vero.
The conversation developed…perhaps it will now draw to a close.

If I were a caterer or a cook I’d be thinking about the nitty gritty - as a customer that’s not my problem.

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