Community Dinner Suggestions

jmayer · Post by **jmayer** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:07 am

Greetings dear burners,

I'm cooking dinner on Friday for a group of 16 burners, and I'm not satisfied with the ideas I've had so far for meals to cook.

What's the best communal dinner you've ever cooked on the playa? I want to solicit your suggestions!

Requirements are:
- must have vegetarian options available
- ingredients must survive 7 days on the playa in the cooler (fresh ice each day).

Thanks in advance for your thoughtful recommendations,
- Cheeseburger (who is now a veggie cheeseburger)

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:14 am

Pasta?

junglesmacks · Post by **junglesmacks** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:22 am

TomServo wrote:Pasta?

plus

dry storage, only need boiling water.

Token · Post by **Token** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:33 am

Mac & Cheese.

junglesmacks · Post by **junglesmacks** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:36 am

Token wrote:Mac & Cheese.

with bacon crumbles.

mudpuppy000 · Post by **mudpuppy000** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:36 am

Burritos are always nice for people with food requirements, they just put in whatever they want.

C.f.M. · Post by **C.f.M.** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:39 am

Potato/chickpea curry + rice

I did pasta with fresh vegetables and sauce (frozen beforehand) for our dinner.

Somebody else did ramen surprise. Ramen, tunafish, mayo and Doritos.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:41 am

Go with burritos of the options so far. Pasta needs water, and you'll have to cart that water off the playa with you as there is not enough time for an evap pond to work.

LostinReno · Post by **LostinReno** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:54 am

theCryptofishist wrote:Go with burritos of the options so far. Pasta needs water, and you'll have to cart that water off the playa with you as there is not enough time for an evap pond to work.

One of our campmates made a bunch of spaghetti with sauce beforehand, put it in ziplock bags and froze. We heated it up in a pot and it actually turned out a whole lot better than we'd expected. It wasn't a great lump of pasta like we'd feared. LOL! My guess is cook the noodles al-dente and it will keep the sickage to a minimum.
We did a taco bar a couple of nights too, that was a big hit!

CFM...strangely the ramen surprise sounds kind of good.

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:00 am

mudpuppy000 wrote:Burritos are always nice for people with food requirements, they just put in whatever they want.

I agree as I can't have tomatoes or potatoes. Rice is a great staple, pre-cooked. Almost everyone can have rice (no butter!).

Mojojita · Post by **Mojojita** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 11:40 am

Here's another vote for burritos. We do a "build your own" burrito dinner with carnitas, beef, and chicken with guacamole, refries, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, salsa, etc... Always a hit.

illy dilly · Post by **illy dilly** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:09 pm

When camping I always make beanies and weenies at least once.
You could make the veggie sort with baked beans that don't have bacon in them (Madness if you ask me) and veggie dogs. Since veggie dogs, turkey dogs, and cheap hot dogs pretty much all taste the same anyway.
It goes well with tortillas.

You might end up being called camp Methane by the end of the night.

Dr. Pyro · Post by **Dr. Pyro** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 1:53 pm

I had better look over that map again and see where I placed you guys.

Oldguy · Post by **Oldguy** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:58 pm

I vote for potluck. Everyone brings a prepared dish,ex.: spanish rice, salsa, refried beans, green salad, tortillas or frybread on non-carne table: taco meats on a seperate "Kosher" meat table. Everyone starts with shells or bread, evryone builds their own...no waste.

illy dilly · Post by **illy dilly** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:24 pm

Dr. Pyro wrote:I had better look over that map again and see where I placed you guys.

That's why were way out in BFE (butt fucking Eden) on the other side of the Tower. It makes since now.

Token · Post by **Token** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:26 pm

illy dilly wrote:
You might end up being called camp Methane by the end of the night.

There is a Playa Wind Horror Stories thread somewhere on this board ...

Playa Foot · Post by **Playa Foot** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:58 pm

Just take all your campmates down to First Camp for LarryBurgers.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:04 pm

And maybe some shrimp cocktail. Excellent idea. Just dress up nicely. They don't want riffraff in there.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:08 pm

Turns out those LarryBurgers come from excess BLM land horses and not Larrys. What a rip-off.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:41 pm

Out-N-About burgers:

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/201 ... style.html

NOTE: never had them on the playa but they LOOK delicious.

ZenoBoy · Post by **ZenoBoy** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:45 pm

Can you get your hands on a vacuum sealer? That will change your life, like seeing Jesus on toast!

Premake your food, vacuum seal it, then freeze those mofos. Depending on what you make and if you need extra prep, garnish, etc. most of your time will only be spent boiling those bags in hot water. No mess, use the same water for multiple meals and have great food.

In years past I've made:
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chili
Avocado Cucumber soup
Hummus
Guac
Mixed Veggies
Mac n Cheese with Bacon
Watermelon Soup
Chicken Cacciatore
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Don't vacuum your buns)
Chinese Mushroom, Asparagus, Broccoli in soy sauce
Bruschetta w/ Tomatos, Basil & Fresh Mozz

Fresh fruit & veggies are going to be tough to keep if you arrive early in the week for a dinner on Friday.

It's kind of limitless but you have to keep it all frozen until you're ready. I typically cook up a bunch of rice and freeze them in small packets. Sometimes it's just easy to heat up rice, pour some soy sauce on it and eat it with bacon.

ohhhhhhh bacon.

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:47 pm

walk around and smell your way into someones camp and tell them that "The Hat" is cleaning a portapotty and then when the rush off to see Larry, steal the dinner.....

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:51 pm

TIP: NEVER put cilantro in anything. Serve it on the side. 10% of the population has a genetic variation that causes cilantro to be positively repulsive.

some seeing eye · Post by **some seeing eye** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:12 pm

I cooked my shift for a 120 person camp, vegan.

Rice noodles boil quickly and a Thai curry with canned coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce (there is vegie fish sauce), brown sugar and more spice supplements, silken tofu - sealed aseptic packed, no refrigeration, various veggies and fruit rocked.

Black bean garlic sauce in a jar is another spicy salty element for Chinese theme meals. You can also do the couscous Moroccan tagine theme, adding dried fruit and olives to fast cooking grain units and whatever proteins you desire. Japanese-style nabe soup can be a mix of everything and driven by salty miso, fresh or dry. I love Westbrae white miso, a 13oz container (refrigerated) would cover a meal that size with leftovers. Supplement with Japanese snacks, like nori maki (sealed and playa proof until opened) and sake or plum wine.

The Italian theme others suggest is perfect too with canned tomato things as the base.

If you have a dry ice cooler, your late in the week options expand.

Magpie · Post by **Magpie** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:09 am

about pasta: pasta can be cooked al dente at home and sealed into ziplok bags or seal-a-meal. Then do the boil in bag trick on playa. It works really well!

LostinReno · Post by **LostinReno** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:09 pm

geekster wrote:TIP: NEVER put cilantro in anything. Serve it on the side. 10% of the population has a genetic variation that causes cilantro to be positively repulsive.

Ewwww, count me in that 10%! People who love it (seemingly, the other 90%), seem to pile it on! It really pisses me off when people ruin guacamole with that nastiness. Blech!

Back to the topic, I made a huge batch of Tabouli (minus cilantro

), it lasted all week in the fridge and everybody seemed to like it.

Boijoy · Post by **Boijoy** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:24 pm

[quote="LostinReno"][quote="geekster"]TIP: NEVER put cilantro in anything. Serve it on the side. 10% of the population has a genetic variation that causes cilantro to be positively repulsive.[/quote]
Ewwww, count me in that 10%! People who love it (seemingly, the other 90%), seem to pile it on! It really pisses me off when people ruin guacamole with that nastiness. Blech!

Back to the topic, I made a huge batch of Tabouli (minus cilantro

), it lasted all week in the fridge and everybody seemed to like it.[/quote]

how the hell do you live in Reno & not like cilantro?? It's on everything here!! and onions.

Boijoy · Post by **Boijoy** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:24 pm

ok. whats with the quotes today?

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:27 pm

Cilantro tastes like soap.

Prospero's Ghost · Post by **Prospero's Ghost** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:20 pm

My favorite quote about this:

"If you don't like cilantro...you are wrong...try it again..."

I use it as lettuce on my sandwiches.
I make a thai pesto from it with garlic cloves, black peppercorns and...cilantro...
Cilantro coulis under seared scallops and fresh corn and roasted pumpkin seed...

Ok... wipe the drool from my chin...

Back to OP - I like this topic. A mate and I need to cook dinner for a group one night. We are flying in from NYC so cooking beforehand isn't really an option. I like the burrito option. Will have to think about how we can manage this while cooking or heating everything up on site.