Buffet help bread and ham

nightsky224

With some help from the guys on this forum we have decided to cater for our daughters christening by doing a ploughmans. 60-80 people. We are doing meat, cheese, quiches, falafels a couple of salads. most things are coming from Costco but we are stuck on 2 things
1. Ham - this will be our main meat, I was thinking of buying a joint already cooked as it will be too big to do at home. Anyone know if that's possible?

2. Bread - we won't be able to buy it on the day, should we just buy the day before, do you think it will be fresh enough?

sooty&sweep

Hi
If you are going to buy the ham cooked. I'd consider buying it pre sliced to save you having to faff slicing the joint.
You can also get a selection of continental meats & dress up with olives & other anti pasti you can buy easily in jars.
Melons are also a good price at the moment. Buy them a few days ahead so they have chance to ripen & chop into chunks.
In terms of bread it depends what type you're planning to get. I think the bigger loaves would be OK but personally I don't think French stick is great the day after.
Personally I would try to get the bread on the day.
Cheers
Jen

Dustyblinds

Where are you having the buffet? Could you maybe get a load of part baked baguettes and cook them at the venue on the day ? Maybe have someone that isn't attending the service prepare them for you. Otherwise I'm afraid I agree with sooty, you will have to get French stick on the morning, they are definitely better on the day of baking.
As for the meats, do Costco do a whole ham already sliced? I've never been before but if they do would you have to pre-order?
Good luck, hope you have a lovely day!

candlelight_2013

Costco certainly do large packs of sliced ham, and it is very good. You would need several packs but there will be no wastage, whereas if you managed to find a large piece that was already cooked, unless you have a slicer, there would be some loss.

You really need everything to be as easy as possible on such an occasion.

If you can't buy french sticks on the day I would go with the suggestion of part baked ones. The olives is a good suggestion as well because people can pick at those.

I hope everything goes well for you all

Candlelightx

nightsky224

sooty&sweep wrote: »

Hi
If you are going to buy the ham cooked. I'd consider buying it pre sliced to save you having to faff slicing the joint.
You can also get a selection of continental meats & dress up with olives & other anti pasti you can buy easily in jars.
Melons are also a good price at the moment. Buy them a few days ahead so they have chance to ripen & chop into chunks.
In terms of bread it depends what type you're planning to get. I think the bigger loaves would be OK but personally I don't think French stick is great the day after.
Personally I would try to get the bread on the day.
Cheers
Jen

We were thinking about getting a couple of meats but thought as we have pleanty of other foods that we would simplify it by just having ham. I agree thinking about it presliced would be the best way.
We have no time to buy anything on the day as its on a Sunday and the service is at 11.30

Dustyblinds wrote: »

No access to the kitchen at the church hall (well we do but for ovens we have to pay extra. Time is so tight that I don't think we would have time to par bake sadly.

candlelight_2013 wrote: »

Costco certainly do large packs of sliced ham, and it is very good. You would need several packs but there will be no wastage, whereas if you managed to find a large piece that was already cooked, unless you have a slicer, there would be some loss.

Candlelightx

Good to know re Costco ham, we were looking when we were thinking of having several meats

monnagran

Perhaps you could share part baked rolls or baguettes out between friends and family and get them to bake them at home on the Sunday morning. They can then drop them off in the church hall before the service.

Have a lovely day.

x

melanzana

Sounds lovely.

For the bread part I would go with a variety of soft rolls. Can be bought in Aldi/Lidl/etc. a day or two before. They last very well!

suki1964

Go have a chat to your local lidl manager

Their bread is fantastic. If you could go in and chat and say I need X amount of these by 11 am is that possible, you may well get catered for

However, if you can't , then crusty breads won't last. However subs do. If I couldn't get crusty on the day I'd go for the subs or ( my fav ) the packs of mini rolls out of M&S

Nicki

If the bread seems stale it will spoil the whole meal. As bread freezes very well however, you could buy it in advance from a baker and stick it in the freezer immediately until the morning of the christening and let it defrost during the service. If you'd planned to pre-butter your bread you could do that before you freeze it, otherwise leave butter on the tables and let people butter their own when constructing their ploughmans.

A large cooked ham as a centrepiece would perhaps look nicer than plates of plastic presliced ham. Do you have a butcher which you could order one from? You might be able to order it cooked? At this time of year most of the supermarkets do joints which serve 8-10 max so wouldn't be big enough.

nightsky224

suki1964 wrote: »

Go have a chat to your local lidl manager

Their bread is fantastic. If you could go in and chat and say I need X amount of these by 11 am is that possible, you may well get catered for

However, if you can't , then crusty breads won't last. However subs do. If I couldn't get crusty on the day I'd go for the subs or ( my fav ) the packs of mini rolls out of M&S

I agree, I love lidl bread but we only have an also near by and they don't have a bakery. What do you mean by subs?

nightsky224

Nicki wrote: »

A large cooked ham as a centrepiece would perhaps look nicer than plates of plastic presliced ham. Do you have a butcher which you could order one from? You might be able to order it cooked? At this time of year most of the supermarkets do joints which serve 8-10 max so wouldn't be big enough.

We were thinking the ham would look nice. No idea if our butcher would cook it though. I'll pop down and ask this week