On November 21st, our Culinary students made a massive Thanksgiving meal to serve to all staff members at Tech. Culinary seniors came up with the menu and sophomores and juniors helped make each recipe. Overall, they served around 90 staff members and 30 outside guests. They were also able to cater lunch for 30 people and 20 dozen cookies a separate catering order.
Culinary had to make a LOT of food for this event. According to Chef Davis, they went through 50 pounds of sweet potatoes, 50 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, 20 pounds of brussels sprouts, 10 pounds of green beans, and 5 pounds of mushrooms, just for the sides! Some of the sides they made were mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffed mushroom caps, homemade cornbread and dinner rolls, stuffing, and roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and onions.
Culinary did not leave out dessert. They have three delicious desserts on their menu as well as four different drink options. The desserts were pumpkin pie dip, cherry danishes, and cinnamon poundcake. And to wash all this food down, they had herb lemonade, mulled apple cider, iced tea, or coffee for drink choices.
Of course, the most important part of any Thanksgiving meal is the turkey, and Culinary did not disappoint. They made eight 18-pound turkeys for this event. They took around 28 hours to make, since they were brined for 24 hours and then cooked on the smoker for 4 hours, giving a delicious flavor to the birds!
Culinary worked very hard to put all this food on the table, from planning and prepping to baking and serving, every aspect was organized and completed by students in the program. Our staff says the food was delicious! They even set the mood with a Thanksgiving playlist in the dining room. We are ever so grateful for our culinary program, its students, and our chefs that were able to make this happen!
