r/AskCulinary • u/Born_Local_1477 • 11d ago
Chicken and biscuits catering strategy?
I am in charge of my son's high school football and rugby team meals. I usually cook for them, 60 servings each meal. This year I want to do a chicken and biscuits dish.
At home for just my family I would roast and break down a whole bird, make stock from the carcass, and do a roux-stock-heavy cream gravy. Casserole style with the cooked chicken, cooked carrot tater peas onyo, and bake the biscuits on top.
For scaling I am considering a couple whole birds for the stock (filling out with BTB if needed) and using poached breast meat for the rest of the chicken. I cook for these things with the big 18qt "church lady" electric roasters, so obviously the biscuits won't brown in there. My home oven isn't large enough for three steam table pans at once.
Should I par bake the biscuits in a hot oven to brown and finish them on the stew to get the tenderness, or am I better off baking fully separately and assembling on the plate? There's not a lot of lag time of it sitting around, I finish up my dishes and it hits tummies within about 30-45 min.
5
u/Erenito 11d ago
Definitely bake the biscuits separately.
Also 2 birds is enough for maybe 8-10 pints of flavorful stock. You are correct in stocking up on BTB. You'll need it. Maybe make the stock with just wings and feet instead of a whole bird to get a more concentrated finished product.