Some friends and I are doing this in a few weeks. One team will be cooking in my friend's kitchen, one team in mine. Anyone have any thoughts on how to organize? The main issue is figuring out a good base set of ingredients that both teams can have, so we have lots of options but don't go overboard on spending. Also, there will be a few vegetarians attending.
2007-03-26 13:56:28 · 9 answers · asked by Blenderhead 5 in Food & Drink ➔ Entertaining
I heard an interview with a chef that had been on the TV show. He said that he was presented with 3 different ingredients that could be the secret ingredient. That way, they could have a game plan ahead of time. Give your teams 3 possible secret ingredients, and have them give you a list of ingredients they will be using. Be sure to choose ingredients that are inexpensive but have great versatility. If you chose something like chicken, be sure to have all the parts of the chicken available for the teams. Have the basics or staples on hands, like flour, pasta, garlic, eggs, milk, spices. Anything exotic, they should brings themselves, like meat, poultry. Let the teams know what you will provide, so they will know what they have to bring. Put a spending limit on what the teams can spend. You don't want one team going for broke while the other team uses a budget. Also remember that the bulk of the food should be going to the judges, and since they will have 8-10 dishes to sample the portions should be small. Be prepared to only have a couple of bites of each dish. Sounds like it should be a fun party!
2007-03-26 14:39:43 · answer #1 · answered by Jamie B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm throw/been to similar parties. One way of simplifying is to have everyone made the food at home (using the secret ingredient that you reveal in the invitation) and then bring the dish (sort of a pot luck, but with a common ingredient). Everyone tries everyone else's dish (except where there's an allergy or vegetarian issue) and you vote on the best dish (other than your own).
If you want to come closer to the show, you can do as you suggest: put a few people in each kitchen. This works best when you have no more than 3 people in a kitchen, however.
Part of the fun is that each kitchen must decide, before they get the secret ingredient, what to stock. That way, an individual kitchen can make up their mind on how much to spend. Those that overspend may have more (or better) ingredients. Or, you can set a spending limit (say $50). Either way, you're basically making someone from each team go shopping.
Vegetarians (or those with allergies or strong dislikes) can be an issue. You can either dictate that all dishes must remain vegetarian or get the vegetarians to agree that they won't put up a fuss. Making an all-vegetarian rule seems reasonable to me and can even lower the food bill.
Have fun.
2007-03-26 14:10:35 · answer #2 · answered by Jay 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Choose an uncommon secret ingredient and give the participants 3 days to plan the menu.
2007-03-26 14:06:08 · answer #3 · answered by deniseholton 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This an awesome. Since vegetarians are involved you should use vegetables. Spinach? Avocado? Tofu even.
2007-03-26 18:37:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should make the secret ingredient rice.
2007-03-26 14:21:08 · answer #5 · answered by Tom ツ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
iron chef turnip battle? naw
iron chef bacon battle? naw
iron chef pasta battle? naw
iron chef turkey wing battle? naw
iron chef ramen noodle battle? HELL YEAH!!!!
brang the beer and the ramen noodle! and lets party!!!
the basic rules will be:
brang beer
cook any recipe.
it just has to have at least
one pack of ramen noodles in it.
2007-03-26 14:05:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Use Flour. Its so fun to through at people. And you can make Cake from scrap!!!
2007-03-26 14:04:25 · answer #7 · answered by Sprinkles 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
INSANE who is cleaning?
Use eggs
2007-03-26 14:00:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
have pasta available...it's pretty cheap.
2007-03-26 14:04:43 · answer #9 · answered by MaryE 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋