A REAL Reality Food Challenge, or a Christmas Dinner Crunch!

It’s enough that we own a café and surround ourselves with food 24/7, but then we go home and cook like maniacs, all while watching cooking shows on telly. Our favourite by far is the Australian version of Masterchef. It differs from the American, English and New Zealand shows in a few ways. First, it is a daily show, one hour, every day, so it’s easy to get addicted to. Next, each week not only features the reward challenge and the elimination challenge, but ‘masterclasses’ that focus on certain cooking techniques or ingredients. We have learned SO much from these, as well as been inspired to try some really fun new stuff. And, finally, and probably most importantly in my book, is the people. This is not a vicious, Survivor-style competition. The chefs have made true friendships and although it is a competition, they support each other and cheer each other on. There are tears every week when one more person has to leave.

So, a few months ago I had a call from ‘Graham’ inquiring about booking a Christmas dinner for the Manchester Unity Society for approximately 40 people. This was great news, as we were just coming out of a very bleak winter season and business was WAY down post-earthquake, so a private function would be good for the coffers. I pencilled in Wednesday November 18 on the calendar and put a quote together for Graham. I suggested a number of main courses and desserts, asking him to choose two of each. He got back to me a few weeks later having decided on glazed ham with applesauce and roast chicken with gravy and cranberry sauce, both to be served with mashed potatoes and fresh veggies. For dessert, he chose Crème Brulee and Fruit Trifle. According to the plan, he was to get back to me a week or so out with final numbers and orders, that is, how many ham and how many chicken.

I hadn’t heard from him by the weekend before, so I started calling and couldn’t reach him. Finally, I tracked him down on Sunday, which was good, because we place our order with our main supplier on Sunday for Monday delivery, which would include the supplies for Wednesday night. We would be able to start prep on Tuesday. Well, it was a good idea, anyway, but he explained that he had had trouble with the printing company, so the newsletter/invite had gone out two weeks late and he wouldn’t be able to give me numbers until Monday night. Uggghh! He did say that he understood the spot that put me in, so just plan on 50/50 for mains and dessert, rather than pre-orders.

Okay, so we decided to order potatoes and baby carrots for about forty. If we had too many, we could use them some other way. The Man normally goes to town on Mondays as well, but it was decided that we would wait until Graham’s Monday evening phone call and I would go to town on Tuesday to personally track down a good buy on ham and chickens, and pick up any other bits and pieces.

So, Monday evening the phone rings and a very disheartened Graham tells me he has had only 20 people RSVP. I told him that would be fine. My mind was thinking that 20 dinners is still better than no dinners. I believe he thought we would back out thinking it wouldn’t be worthwhile. He did off-handedly mention that there might be few people who would turn up extra without RSVP.

I headed to town and did my errands, stopping at ‘Pak ‘n’ Save’ for the meats. They had a good brand name ham on special, so I nabbed one. They also had twin packs of small chickens (just what I was after) at a great price, so I got eight. We were planning to spatch-cock and roast them, and serve them as halves. At this stage I was only planning on roasting 6 birds, or 12 portions, but thought two back-ups couldn’t hurt, plus The Man and I LOVE rotisserie chicken.

Meanwhile, at the Hilltop, Chef Vojta took it upon himself to make the Crème Brulees. Now, not only has he never made them before, he has never eaten one either! Good on him for his efforts, but….

Wednesday morning I went to the Hilltop to help the other chef, Lucky prep. We decided the Crème Brulee’s were a do-over; they were a bit grainy and not fully set. Lucky listened carefully to my instructions and produced 13 very nice desserts (He had never made or tasted them either). Meanwhile, I made 12 fresh fruit trifles using sponge (white cake) soaked in sherry, custard (AKA yesterdays cream brulee!), fresh strawberries, bananas and kiwifruit, and topped with fresh whipped cream. So, we had 25 lovely desserts – more than enough. I cleaned the baby carrots and cut up the broccoli. Lucky seemed to have everything under control so I went home for bit seeing as how it was going to be a late night.

Caramelizing the Top of the Creme Brulee

Browned Creme Brulee

When The Man and I returned to the Hilltop, Lucky had glazed and baked the ham, and had 6 of the birds ready to roast. He reckoned we had about 13 portions of ham and with six chicks, 12 portions there, for a total of 25 dinners. So, if there was a 25% increase in turnout, we’d be covered. In speaking with a friend who used to be in hospitality, he said he used to budget 20% under, because there were always no-shows and he didn’t want to over-buy. But, at least in our situation, we can always use up things like ham, chicken and veggies in quiches and pies.

About 5:00, ‘Keith’, a local that I sort of know, called to say that he’d been baling hay all day and hadn’t planned on coming but had finished early, and could we fit two more in. I said sure. And then I got this feeling… Should we put the last two birds in, just in case?

I talked to The Man, and he said, ‘Well, they only confirmed 20, and you are prepared for 25. It’s not your fault if there isn’t enough.’ I said, ‘I know it’s not my fault, but I’m thinking about the bill!’. So, I had Lucky pop two more birds in.

At 6:30, guests started arriving and by 6:45 we had about 20 people ordering beer and wine in bar. All was good. I was helping Lucky split the chickens, he was straining a beautiful gravy, the carrots and broccoli were ready to be steamed and the potatoes were set for mashing. I went to help The Man in the bar and two more trickled in. And, two more. And, two more… I had a word with Graham, and he basically said, ‘I’ll leave it in your capable hands.’ By 7:15 we had 34 hungry people ready, and expecting, to be fed!

Time to plate up – YIKES! Well, the Society is largely an elderly bunch, so I figured that a few of the more senior ladies probably wouldn’t be able to manage an entire half chicken anyway. So, about four or five of them got a chicken quarter and a small piece of ham. We stretched the ham out pretty well, too. Lucky’s initial idea was that it would be about 13 large portions, but I think we managed to get about 16 smaller servings. There was plenty of potatoes and gravy. Lucky had prepped some additional carrots when I kept reporting on the increasing number of guests coming through. By 7:35, 34 people had a plate of beautiful food in front of them! Unfortunately, I was too busy doing portion control and serving food, that I wasn't able to get any pics of the mains! But, I thought it all looked pretty good!

So, onto tea and coffee set-up, getting the brulee and trifle out of the chill room, and oh, trying to come up with another 7 desserts. Well, we had at least ten pieces of the lovely Czech style apple strudel we serve in the deli, so out they came. Plates cleared, dessert served. One woman slightly grumbled at the The Man when she wasn’t given a choice on her dessert, and he explained that ‘a few more than expected’ had turned up and he was sorry. We did manage to sort out a strudel for her (her first choice), and alas, we had 2 brulee left that someone had to eat!.

By now, we are in full clean-up mode, and the group is doing their speeches. Unbeknownst to us, during one of the talks, the numbers debacle was explained to the guests, who for the most part had been clueless about our dilemma. Well, they had already been quite pleased with the meal, but now they were absolutely gushing! The woman who had grumbled made a special effort to tell us how great everything was.

Hmmm... Two Left! Who will eat them????

I think we are safe from elimination this week!!! In fact, I think we won a reward challenge!!!