What's it like to cook for a large social event?

When my job would have a big holiday party at the fancy hotel, for 550 people, I was on the committee to plan the party so I got to sit in on the discussion about cooking and planning. They put the food under hot lights to keep it hot. They plan carefully for quantities, for example, five string beans on each plate.

When I was steward of the fraternity, I cooked a steak dinner for 150 people. It was done the same as if for a large banquet.

Big kitchens can handle large groups by planning a menu that can be out to everyone near simultaneously. One requirement is having a wait staff that can deliver the plates quickly. And the plating can’t be too complicated, veggies, starch, meat.

The salads and desserts can all be prepped ahead of time.

Uh. Multiply one recipe by 1000?

For you guys I once broke my amazing baked beans private recipe, which I usually served for 20 plus people, down to one serving 1 or two people. It took maths down to divide by 3

When I was on the sub, we were in port and the duty team was all that was on board…about 30 people. Just as the cook started the evening meal he got a call that his wife had gone into the hospital. I offered to finish cooking the meal. He had done most of it. But what I discovered is that things seemed to take longer to do. We were grilling ham steaks on the griddle. Just the act of turning them all took longer than if I were just cooking for 2–4 people. As a result some of the pieces cook longer and get more done than you expect. Also I believe that trying to get large quantities of food all done at the same time is a lot more difficult.