Monday, November 21, 2011

Stormy's Thanksgiving: Holiday tips from Reading Terminal Market's Chef




Today’s guest cook, Stormy Lundy, is by day Director of Special Events of Reading Terminal Market’s Catering Company.

And Stormy is a gal who knows how to throw a stunning party – she regularly orchestrates out-of-hours events at the Market for anywhere up to 2,500 guests.


The Market is a super-cool venue after hours...











Stormy argues that the same principles apply to creating a great party whether that be for 25 or for upwards of 2,500 partygoers…


...some things never change.


One of her key tips is to do with food consumption.

If like us, you tend to over-cater (for fear of being caught short and running out of food), best to heed Stormy’s advice if you want to get the quantities right! 

Two important questions to consider:

What’s the ratio of Men to Women at your event? Guess what? No surprises; Men eat more than Women -especially in a buffet situation. Stormy suggests allowing 1.5 servings per head for a male guest to every 1 serving for your female guests.

Is there a game on TV? If there’s a game on, then expect people to eat even more.

As Men cluster around the TV to watch their fave team over the Thanksgiving weekend, so they tend to pile their plates up with food.

“It’s the psychology of food,” explains Stormy. “There’s a funny thing going on. Men tend to look across and check out what other guys have on their plate. If one person says “these ribs are delicious”, then you tend to get a run on the ribs suddenly.

"In our family – I had 5 brothers & Dad - there was always a fight over the turkey legs; it was a big deal who got the legs!”

Stormy is herself an adventurous cook who loves to push the envelope at Thanksgiving.

Her typical menu features a turkey with oyster stuffing, sweet potatoes bolstered with a dash of Drambuie and turkey gravy enlivened by a cup of Old City Coffee from the Market.

Look for Stormy's much coveted recipe for oyster stuffing in our next post......

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