Calling all ServSafe and catering experts - re: cooking ground beef in advance

L

lisainla

Well-known member
Our Scout pack's Blue and Gold Dinner is coming up next month, and the leaders are sold on the idea of having a taco bar for the main course.

I am concerned about the plan, but thought I'd check here first to see if I'm off base.

It seems they want to pre-cook the beef at home and transport it to the venue and keep it warm in the oven there to serve. I'm very concerned about this idea, since I have no idea if they will be doing it in advance, cooking it, then transporting and re-heating, or if they are planning on cooking right before and transporting it warm.

They are estimating the 30 lbs of beef will yield 120 2-oz servings, which is also off to me, since the rendered fat will make the yield less than what you start with raw, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 loss?

I don't want to stick my neck out too far, or I'm afraid I will become the new dinner chair person, but this idea just seems really bad to me.

What say you?

 
Advice....

When you have volunteers doin things, you can never be 100% on how they are handling it. Cooking in advance and holding would be safe as long as it's kept in the right temperature ranges at all times. Even cooking a day in advance and cooling and reheating would be okay if done properly. But there is just no way to guarantee that.

Why don't you suggest that you all get together the day before anc ook it at the facility and chill it then pull it out to reheat and hold the day of the event. That way you can have more control.

Another idea is to check the local food service companies - some sell precooked ground beef for tacos (not the canned).

If they insist on doing it their way what you can do to lessen the risk is to make sure that rather than just throw it in to stay warm, you bring it up to temp first on the stovetop thereby helping to reduce the risk and get it to the proper holding temperatures quickly.

As for the fat loss, yes you probably should count on somewhere around a 20% loss - you won' render out all 20% of the fat but it's better to be safe rather than sorry. Ground beef is cheap, I wouldn't skimp too much on that because with kids, a lot of them only want meat and cheese and they'll take more than 2 ounces.

 
Two ounces of cooked meat, (burger) in a taco shell/tortilla is not much. . .

I used to work at a taco stand/fast food place and we would periodically measure our tacos (shell) and then put meat in them and measure again. Two ounces isn't as much as you think, unless you are using small tortilla/shells.

If people will be serving themselves the tortillas/taco shells and filling them with meat themselves and if you need at least 120 servings, I would pre-cook extra and have it waiting, ready and at heat in the oven to bring out. A lot of people will pile on the meat if serving themselves.

As for precooking the meat, yes, pre-cook, drain and then you might want to weigh and see how much you turn up with. Fill some shells/tortilla and see what the weight of the meat is in them. Then you will get a more accurate indication of how much meat you will need for your taco bar.

Also, cool the cooked meat rapidly, in shallow containers and refrigerate ASAP if you are not immediately refrigerating the meat after cooking. Store in the fridge in shallow containers.

Re-heat the meat on the stove to get it quickly up to temp and then you can place it in the serving pans and cover with foil or lids and hold in the oven till serving.

 
If they pre-cook the beef the day of the event, keeping it warm should not be such a challenge

There's a four-hour safety window between cooking the beef and re-heating it to above 140*. It's important that everyone involved knows the timeline. Four hours is the outside limit. One or two hours is preferable.

If they pre-cook it the day before, the same four-hour window applies to cooling it. It has to get below 41* within four hours--that's not going to happen if you stick 30 lb. of warm meat into a home refrigerator!

 
Shallow containers for sure! You could spread the mixture out in several jelly roll pans,

fan them to bring them down to room temperature quickly, then refrigerate with plenty of room around them. You might even freeze it quickly and thaw it the next day.

 
Thank you! Here's another question - etiquette related:

The reason I know about these plans is because my DH is the web master for the pack, so he gets all of the den leader notices and was included in the e-mailed discussions of the plans. In other words - I am not involved in the plans at this point.

My dilemma is this - how to tactfully share this knowledge, without stepping on anyone's toes? Should I just stay out of it? I would feel terrible if someone became ill because of unintentional poor food handling.

Sometimes I overthink this stuff.....

Ugh!

 
Lisa, you could simply tell them the truth, that you bounced the idea off your foodie friends

and here are some suggestions. If there is one person whom you're friends with you could talk to them first. You'll probably have to offer to help in the process, and hope they don't take you up on it.

 
smileys/smile.gif Thanks Joe. I make things more complicated thatn they need to be, and

it is the last part I'm worried about, as well.

 
Joe puts it so politely and that is good as long as they understand, food safety is not negotiable?

 
Just read an article about a scout troup that had a goulash dinner. The plug

on the fridge fell out and the temp fell. The troop mom "thought the beef would be ok" Four kids ended up in the hospital!

 
Yep - that's along the lines of my fears, because it can and does happen, despite

everyone's best intentions, or in this case, not.

 
Thanks everyone! I heard back form the coodinator, and all is well.

I did end up volunteering to help prep.....

smileys/bigsmile.gif

 
Lisa, once they know the safety rules, maybe you can suddenly develope an illness...

Surely they won't want you working around the food right after they've learned how dangerous that can be.

 
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