Many of us are okay with a small BBQ at home or while camping but for bigger events where a Barbecue is wanted is a little more challenging. Catering for numbers a little larger than the average family gathering requires a little more expertise than the average garden barbecue master has. That is why outside catering companies exist.
Outside catering with a BBQ requires careful planning, the right equipment and great food. Sure, you can be boring and stick with burgers or hot dogs, but with outside catering, people expect a little bit more than what they can cook at home. Knowing who you are cooking for decides what you cook; if you are cooking hot dogs and burgers to sell at a car boot sale or school fete then hotdogs and burgers work, but don’t go cheap.
This is the thing, cheap burgers and cheap sausages taste cheap. No matter how many onions and sauces you throw at the thing the meat part will taste cheap. Find a butcher and have some burgers or sausage made for you and get them made a little bigger than normal if you are cooking for a fete or cooking to sell. People will pay more and buy more if the food is quality and filling and when you do not go crazy on price.
But if you are catering for a wedding or other more formal function, you may well want to up your game. Sure, bangers and burgers can be done, but you may want to get clever. Make the burgers from lamb or even game and choose a sausage that is different, not too bland or not too spicy. However, you may want to go beyond the “traditional” BBQ food and create a menu with a difference. Some small minute steaks in a marinade or some pork and pineapple kebabs. Grilled sweetcorn or giant field mushrooms topped with cheese and herbs can all be cooked on the grill.
Planning the meal, knowing how long it takes to cook each item of food is essential. In some cases, you may need to pre-cook the food on the grill and return it later for a final warm through or browning. Clever thinking can make a large BBQ meal something everyone will love and make it look a lot easier than it is.
Having the right equipment for outside catering is vital. Good food is cooked using the best tools, and while you could head down to your local DIY centre to buy a value for money grill, outside catering requires something more up to the task. Crown Verity are the leaders in outside catering equipment, and a Crown Verity BBQ will become your best friend in the outside catering business. High-quality materials are used to make these reliable, robust and efficient gas barbecues, and the investment pays off. With high-quality grills that have the capacity to cook volumes of delicious food and pinpoint control over the temperature, a crown verity grill is the bee's knees when it comes to outside catering.
In summary, for outside catering it is all about planning, using good quality food products, knowing who you are cooking for and using the very best grill (ideally a Crown Verity BBQ available exclusively in the UK from catering equipment specialists RH Hall) to cook your food. Outside catering is a breeze!
Ben Bartlett FBII, MIH, MCGC, AMRSPH, MCGB
Brand Ambassador
Follow BBQ Ben on twitter @BBQBen1
Follow us on twitter @rhhallcatering
RHHall, Hallco House, Beacon Court, Pitstone Green Business Park, Pitstone LU7 9FE
