Chicken and corn for how many??

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Dutch

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Jul 7, 2005
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Midvale, UT
Last Fall, when I worked for the City I was asked to cook for the annual Fall get-together. I was tasked with grilling the chicken and preparing corn for 200 people. The event was held in the City park and I had two 8 ft X 16 in. charcoal grills. I had my two assistants start cooking 4 hours before the event started. One grill was used for the chicken breasts and the other grill was used for the legs, thighs and wings. As soon as the chicken was done, it was placed into one of two foil line coolers-keeping the breast and dark meat separate.

In every office you always have one fussybutt/worry wort. This ol' gal (bless her heart) was worried how little ol' me was going to do corn for 200 people-funny how she WASN"T worried about the chicken. For weeks she pestered me on "how ya going to do it? When are you going to have to get started?". I tell ya, I didn't do any worrying-she did enough for the both off us. :P she finally backed off when the boss threatened her with the oppertunity to do it all herself :evil:.

Between checking and turning the chicken on the grill, my assistants and I shucked 100 ears of corn and broke them in half- since the powers above me (the Mayor) thought half an ear of corn was plenty since one of the area Food stores was providing the salad and dinner rolls and one of the Resturants was donating the baked beans. Each city department was providing a dessert dish for 20. After the corn was shucked and broken in half it was placed into my 100 quart cooler along with 1 pound of butter and two cups of sugar. Two hours before serving time I then fired up both of my propane stoves and boiled up 10 gallons of water. While the water was boiling the cooler with the corn in it was placed on the serving line and when the water reached the boiling stage, it was dumped onto the corn (you want to make sure that the drain hole is plugged on the cooler BEFORE the boiling hot water is added :roll: ) and the lid was closed. The corn sat undistrub til serving time.

In the end I got rave reviews on the chicken and corn, complaints about the baked beans-not enough bacon in them (not my area, I know) and invited to cook for a dozen family reunions.
 
I haven't heard of warming the corn on the cob like that before. 8) I don't like over-cooked corn and that sounds like it will do the job without over doing it. AND so simple too! :D
 
Bob, When I have the family over and corn is on the menu, this is the way I fix it. I'll just use my small cooler that holds 24 cans- it's great for a dozen ears or so.
 
The time I cooked corn on the cob for that many, I put water in a metal water trough and built a fire under it. When the water started to boil, in went the corn.
 
What a great idea Dutch!! Makes me impatient for July so that I can try out your cooler trick :D . Do you have certain coolers just for food and others for beverages? I guess you don't have to worry about cross-contamination with the corn though :oops: . Enjoy your smoke! Daun
 
Randy, One of the first things I do on a feed like this one is to get my water boiling. I use a camp chef two burner propane unit for this. While the water is boiling, I'll have my helpers shuck the corn and break them in half and toss them in to cooler that I have added a pound of butter too. One the water has reached the boiling point I pour it over the corn and close the lid. I let the corn soak for at least an hour.
 
My husband and I run a golf outing as a fund raiser for our VFW, instead of having everything catered, we order inch cut ribeyes from our local butcher. We get like 144 ears of corn and the my brother-in-law (a caterer) supplied us with baked taters, salad, and rolls. We do the corn in a couple of batches in a big turkey fryer. The gas heats the water up quickly and the pot is big enough to get quite a bit of corn in at a time. We then put the done corn in a full pan and pour butter over it and keep it in a hot box until serving time. They stay hot in there. Works out pretty good, but I have to tell you I'm liking the cooler idea Dutch. Gonna have to try that. I've never heard of putting sugar in the corn though...Was it yellow or white corn?

BTW, when the golfers get back they grill their own steak. We're the only ones in the area that do this. They love it, we have two huge grills and we fire em' up and let them go to town...can't blame anyone for over/under cooked steak...
 
Shell-it was the yellow and white corn.

Sorry guys, this great event took place in Sept. of 2005-long before I had a digital camera.
 
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