Cook Like a Caterer - a resource for the fledgling caterer, the experienced home entertainer and anyone else who loves delicious food + recipes in quantity!

Today's Caterbuzz blog features Chef and Caterer,
Renee Weir-Fontes, a seasoned caterer
in Orange County, California who recently published
a fantastic cookbook offering catering sized recipes.

COOK LIKE A CATERER, Party Sized Recipes for Entertaining

Although Renee's  original intended target audience was
the new chef looking to start a catering business
or the seasoned home cook who loves to entertain
for a crowd, caterers from all over the world
have been intrigued by the concept.

When Renee posted the link on our private
International facebook catering group, Caterbuzz,
the orders for her premiere book started pouring in.

You can order a copy of Cook Like a Caterer here,
offering over 240 large party sized recipes that
Renee Weir-Fontes has developed and used in her
catering/event design business, Fresh Ideas Catering 
over the past 25 years.

The recipes are international in scope but have a
west coast California flare offering California favorites
such as
...Mandarin Chicken Salad
   Renee's version of the ever popular Chinese Chicken Salad,

...Cabo Shrimp Cocktail
   A Cal- Mex cerviche style shrimp cocktail

...Artichoke Chicken with Mushrooms + Parmesan
   According to Renee, Artichoke Chicken is a tradition on party menus

...West Cost Grilled Tri Tip with Housemade BBQ Sauce
   well it wouldn't be a California based cookbook
   without a tri-tip recipe, would it?

Renee's catering recipes cover a variety of food themes
and include useful references such as food yields,
ideas for beverage services and catering notes in
many of the recipes, such as equipment you would
need to serve recipes that might also work well
as stations for your next party or event.
No party is complete without beverages
to compliment the food.
So recipe offerings for making
five gallons of fresh lemonade or
three quarts of spicy bloody mary will come
in handy along with more elegant offerings
such as crimson royal champagne punch,
simply marvelous for your next holiday event!

Rounding off the recipes, are catering notes
Renee includes in many of the recipes
that could  be a great help to the newbie caterer
who is just starting out on this amazing journey
we call professional catering.

Chevre Cheese Tart with Red Onion Jam
Cook Like a Caterer, page 58

Appetizer Sized Thai Pork Patties
with Red Curry Coconut Sauce
Cook Like a Caterer, page 44

Endive with Chevre + Pear,
Cook Like a Caterer, page 26

This catering gem is a cookbook with recipe selections that vary from basics like Chicken Parmigiana (chicken parmesan to us east coasters) serving 100, to a beautiful and sophisticated
yet simple to prepare appetizer of fresh endive leaves with chevre goat's cheese + pear serving 60.
Please enjoy some sample recipes and let us know what you think or better yet,  just order your own copy!

Ginger Sesame Pork Tenderloin Platter
Cook Like A Caterer, page 61


all recipes reprinted with kind permission
of author Renee Weir-Fontes


Here's the first recipe that really caught my attention 
- although there were many others that intrigued me, 
this is one concept I will be using in my own NYC catering business.

Bleu Balls of Fire
with Raspberry Chipotle Sauce
Renee writes:
 Name after the song, "Great Balls of Fire", 
and my two favorite ingredients, blue cheese and heat.
These stuffed meatballs deliver both.
The combined flavors are a great hit at parties
and has been one of my most popular cocktail appetizers.
The raspberry chipotle sauce is also delicious on ribs.

MEATBALL

3½ pounds ground beef (18% to 20 % fat)

1 bunch green onions finely chopped

1¾ cups panko bread crumbs

2 eggs

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

14 ounces blue cheese

1. In a large bowl, mix by hand the ground beef, 

   finely chopped green onions and panko bread crumbs. 

   Whisk eggs with salt and pepper and add to ground beef mixture.

2. Divide mixture into 30 to 35 even sized balls. Flatten each ball 

    with palm of hand and distribute blue cheese among meatballs 

    (saving about a tablespoon for garnish). Roll meat back into balls, 

    careful to keep the blue cheese centered and inside. 

    Chill completely or even freeze before browning.

3. Brown meatballs in a skillet in batches, turning often to color all sides.

4. Place in 350°F oven for about 5 to 7 minutes to finish cooking.

5. Arrange meatballs on a serving platter and 

    pour heated raspberry chipotle sauce over them. 

    Sprinkle with remaining blue cheese crumbles for garnish.

RASPBERRY CHIPOTLE SAUCE

1 tablespoon oil

½ cup white onions chopped

3⅓ cups raspberry jam seedless

4 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon salt

12 ounces chipotle pepper in adobo


(note from Lisa - When I queried Renee
 if this was truly the right amount of 
chipotle in adobe as it seemed a lot to me, 
but Renee assured me that if you rinse the adobe 
off the heat level is perfect.)

In a medium sauce pan, heat oil and cook onions until translucent, add jam.

Wearing gloves, rinse adobo sauce from peppers, de- seed and chop peppers.

Stir in molasses, salt and peppers and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally.

Cook until reduced by half, strain and serve over meatballs.

These Bleu Balls of Fire Meatballs look and sound so delicious

 - I predict them becoming a new fav!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Many first time tasters are surprised that the curry in this recipe 

is not overwhelming and the color is as delicious as the soup. 

Curry butternut squash soup is especially nice for a Fall party 

and is charming served from a mini hallowed pumpkin.

Serves 32

8 tablespoons olive oil

8 cups onions chopped

6 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 quarts butternut squash cubed

3½ quarts chicken broth

3 cups heavy cream

Heat oil in large pot, add onions. 

Cover and cook over medium heat until soft, 

stirring often (about 5 minutes).

Add curry powder, ground ginger and ½ teaspoon of cayenne, 

Stir 30 seconds. Add squash and broth, 

bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. 

Cover and simmer until squash is very tender (about 30 minutes).

Puree soup in batches, in blender, until smooth.

Return to same pot. Stir in cream and add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.

COOKS NOTE

Vent blender when pureeing soup to keep steam from building up.

This delectable looking Italian Stuffed Turkey Breast has already been pinned to my Holiday Pinterest board for next Thankgiving or for the next client who would like to serve an interesting and festive Turkey dish.

all recipes reprinted with kind permission
of author Renee Weir-Fontes  Cook Like A Caterer

Italian Stuffed Turkey Breast

with Shallot Cream Gravy
Try this stuffed turkey breast for
an untraditional holiday main dish.
The filling has richly flavored mushrooms
and pancetta blended with frangant spices

Try this stuffed turkey breast for 

an untraditional holiday main dish. 

The filling has richly flavored mushrooms 

and pancetta blended with fragrant herbs.

Makes 16 to 20 servings

2 cups water

1½ ounces dried Porcini mushrooms

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

12 ounces crimini mushrooms chopped coarse

1 cup finely chopped shallot

12 ounces Pancetta (Italian bacon) chopped

¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

4 cups fresh breadcrumbs made from French bread

6 to 8 pound turkey breast boned but skin left intact

1.Bring 2 cups water to a boil and add dried mushrooms 

and remove from heat. Let stand until soft, about 30 minutes. 

Drain and chop, reserving soaking liquid from mushrooms.

2.Sauté pancetta in heavy large skillet over medium heat 

until crisp, transfer pancetta to paper towel to drain. 

Add 2 tablespoons oil to drippings in skillet. Add 

½ cup shallots and fresh mushrooms sauté until 

mushrooms begin to brown and liquid dries. 

Remove from heat, stir in pancetta, chopped porcini mushrooms, 

parsley and rosemary. Mix in breadcrumbs and 

as much reserved mushroom soaking liquid as needed to moisten. 

Season stuffing to taste with salt and pepper. 

Set aside and cool completely.

3.Double butterfly turkey breast by slicing 

each side of the breast open down the middle 

¾ through and fold out. Cover with plastic wrap. 

Using a meat mallet, pound to ½ inch thick rectangle 

(about 14x10 inches). Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle 

turkey with salt and pepper.

4.Spread stuffing over, leaving a one inch border open. 

Starting at 1 long side, roll up turkey jelly roll style. 

Secure with kitchen twine every 2 inches and once 

lengthwise to secure ends and to hold shape.

5.Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat remaining 

2 tablespoons oil in heavy roasting pan over 

medium-high heat. Brown turkey roll on all sides, 

pour ½ cup broth into bottom of pan. Cover turkey with foil, 

roast for 30 minutes then remove foil. Brush turkey with 

1 teaspoon butter, roast until turkey is brown and thermometer 

inserted into center registers 165°F (about 3 hours). 

Transfer turkey to platter to rest tented loosely with foil.

6.Remove strings from turkey. Cut roast crosswise into 

½ inch thick slices and serve with shallot cream gravy.

SHALLOT CREAM GRAVY

1 cup sherry

4 cups low salt chicken broth

1 cup finely chopped shallots

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

salt and white pepper to taste

1. Deglaze roasting pan with sherry, scraping up bits from the pan. 
Add shallots and broth, lower heat simmer 
and cook shallots until very soft.

2. In a medium saucepan melt remaining butter and 
whisk in flour to make a roux. 
Strain and add pan liquid to roux whisking vigorously. 
Cook until thickened about 5 minutes remove from heat, 
whisk in cream and season to taste with salt and white pepper.

  
Bon Apetit and get ready to ....

To order Cook Like a Caterer 

please click here 
thank you to Renee for supplying the recipes and photos 
in this caterbuzz blog post
Renee tells us that she is currently
 working on an EBook Version 
with full colored photos of all the recipes.
Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

you may also contact Renee directly 

Fresh Ideas Event Services 

714-514-6128 

email:  freshideasinfo@me.com

blog:  http://chef-renee.blogspot.com/


Besides running Fresh Ideas Catering,
 teaching cooking classses, 
and consulting on special projects
Chef Renee Weirs-Fontes is also the Event Designer 
for the Orange County Fair and Event Center 
in Costa Mesa, California

Hi, I'm Lisa Teiger, co-founder of caterBuzz, owner of CuisinEtc Catering + Special Events,  

a boutique NYC catering concern, a food stylist, culinary fashionista and roving 

caterBuzz catering reporter, coming to you from NYC but always going beyond !!!  

We hope that you will consider caterBuzz as your traveling eye for the inquisitive professional catering guys and gals around the globe.  Sharing and learning from each others as only like minded professional caterers can do, through pictures, stories, questions and answers, available here on www.caterBuzz.blogspot.com and also on our facebook caterBuzz group page, a private forum for the catering community.

If you are an experienced event or catering professional
and wish to join in the Facebook caterbuzz group,
please email me @queenbee@caterbuzz.com
with a brief note indicating your
professional experience + current position,
your catering website and your facebook catering page.

Membership is restricted to experienced professionals
so that the level of conversation provides
peer to peer communication.

If you are a new caterer or someone looking to become a caterer, by all means 
contact us as well, and we can guide you to many resources that will be helpful for  
starting your catering business.


Thanks for stopping by the Caterbuzz Blog, 
please leave us a note or comment below 
and we will be sure to get back to you!


Life is a journey, 
Caterers help you make it a delicious one!!

Some More S'mores or is it Smores - lots of delicious variations

One of the best benefits of belonging to a professional group such as Caterbuzz, the global social media hub for professional caterers is the sharing of catering concepts through discussions and photos.  Almost everyday on the private members only caterbuzz facebook forum catering trends, new photos from our members events, or catering concepts, situations with clients, triumphs + tribulations, marketing ideas and such are posted and discussed by our 525 plus caterbuzz members.

One popular trend and topic of discussion this past few months on the Caterbuzz facebook group has been S'mores Stations
(sometimes spelled Smores ).

Starting at the turn of the last century and since the invention of commercial marshmallows Americans and Canadians have been enjoying this simple dessert treat that offers sweet/crispy/crumbly /gooey and chocolate tastes all rolled into one delicious treat.  The word s'more comes from  the words "some more" abbreviated... presumably because it's hard to have just one!!  The Girl Scout Handbook, published the first recipe for s'mores in 1927, and that marked the official introduction of this delicious campfire treat into popular culture here in North America.

Chef Andrew Alexander-Crossan
proving that s'mores bring out the kid in all of us!!

In today's post we are going to look at a variety
of creative S'mores presentations that Caterbuzz members
have posted and shared with each other.

S'mores are a comfort food dessert that everyone
seems to love and have traveled the world
from it's humble campfire origins to
upscale parties and events around the world.

If you are an experienced event or catering professional
and wish to join in the Facebook caterbuzz group,
please email me @queenbee@caterbuzz.com
with a brief note indicating your
professional experience + current position,
your catering website and your facebook catering page.

Membership is restricted to experienced professionals
so that the level of conversation provides
peer to peer communication.

If you are a new caterer or someone looking to become a caterer, by all means contact me as well, and I can guide you to many resources that will be helpful for  starting your business.

In the meantime enjoy a sampling of Smores or shall we say S'mores Presentations.

When Caterbuzz member Debby Stein 

of Cartewheels Caterers, Kerrville, Texas

shares her lovely displays

most of us buzzies tuck away the idea 

to present to our own clients 

for upcoming events and proposals.

Cartewheels  Caterers S'mores Station offers 

house-made graham crackers 

+ artisan marshmallows

along with a gourmet chocolate selection.

River rocks + moss make are a signature display
for  Cartewheels Caterers S'mores Station

Guests toast their own marshmallows
at the s'mores station by
Cartewheels Caterers

Cartewheels Caterers uses a lovely garden tray 

interspersed  with river rocks, moss and sterno
for  guests to toast their house-made marshmallows.

S'mores are not just for kids parties, bar mitzvahs and sweet sixteens.  S'mores are well received offerings that evoke a sense of nostalgia at a adult birthday celebrations, grand openings or milestone events and have become a  popular wedding or rehearsal dinner dessert station too.

Love it!  A dear friend and diva of catering, Mary Crafts-Homer, also a Caterbuzz member generously shared S'more Station photos from her own recent wedding rehearsal dinner in Utah, where her Culinary Crafts crew custom constructed a lovely wooden s'mores station box filled with gravel and topped with black river rocks.  The sterno jets were sunk into the rocks and heartfelt signs perched across the base spouted sweet sentiments of love related to S'mores.

Absolutely LOVe these sweet signs!

s'mores station signage

rustic + elegant
s'mores station for rehearsal dinner

Ultra long skewers held the house made
Culinary Crafts cloud like sweet vanilla marshmallows

You know s'mores are a hot trend when a top caterer such as Mary Crafts who has won best of Utah Caterers 8 times uses the concept for her own cutting edge wedding celebrations.

On bridal blogs I have seen S'mores Favor boxes for guests to take home,  with a variety of fun packaging.

Having a s'mores station at an event not only evokes nostalgic memories but also

• encourages guests to interact AND have fun, creating lasting memories for your clients and guests
• gives you an opportunity to personalize the station with fun skewers. Ideas could include tying  ribbons on your skewers for example or use a pretzel stick instead of a bamboo skewer.
• create wonderful signage such as Culinary Crafts did.
• offer the tradition or offer different flavors of marshmallows and varieties of chocolates.
• is a wonderful photo opportunity as you can see from the pictures posted here on this Caterbuzz blog.

Caterbuzz member Lynn McKenzie, The Terrace Restaurant, Bar + Catering at the foothills of Yellowstone National Park in beautiful Cody, Wyoming (and a subject of another caterbuzz feature on their annual Artini Festival ) shared her version of the S'mores Station.

Using glass marbles adds glitter and glam
to this rendition of the Smores Station.  

Toasting Marshmallows in Cody, Wyoming
s'mores station
at The Terrace Restaurant + Bar

Doesn't that look delicious!

www.cuisinetc.net  nostalgic s'mores bar with toy stove, tv signage and toy fire engine

the s'mores spoons are so popular they are the facebook profile picture
for Lunch, Naturally Catering's facebook page

Steve McAllister, a Caterbuzz member from Fenton, Michigan's Lunch, Naturally Catering,  offers guests a house-made artisan organic graham cracker spoon as the base for their unique Smores presentation.  

The graham cracker spoons are then set out and assembled on a metal tray at the S'mores Station.   As the guests line up,  some chocolate chips are placed on the edible spoon, then the attendant torches the chocolate, adds  a few marshmallows and the torch is applied again, resulting in the perfect S'more for one.   

Steve mentioned that the pantry at their catering kitchen only has organic flour, sugar, chocolate, spices, etc. stocked, so that "naturally", when their kitchen make products and catering offerings from scratch as they mostly do, the end product  is already organic without having to think about it.

Serving the s'mores on an edible spoon speaks to Lunch, Naturally Catering's mission statement of "Reduce, Reuse and Recyle", as well as their quest to serve "the highest percentage of organic food available, prepared and served with the greatest of care and creativity, while maintaining the lowest possible environmental impact."

Lunch, Naturally Catering also offered gluten free versions
of their signature S'mores Spoon.

Enjoy this recipe for Lunch, Naturally Catering's edible graham cracker spoons that Steve so generously shared.  Obviously these could be made a round or square graham cracker cookies as well.

• Graham Crackers Spoons
  submitted by Lunch, Naturally Catering

  
  

  Yield: 85  servings  of spoons

  Preparation time: 30

  Total time: 55

  
  

  8 1/2oz graham flour

  2 oz all-purpose flour

  3 oz dark brown sugar

  3/4 tsp baking powder

  1/2 tsp baking soda

  1/2 tsp kosher salt

  1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

  3 oz unsalted butter - cut into 1/4-inch-cubes and chilled

  2 1/4 oz molasses

  1 1/2 oz whole milk

  1/2 tsp vanilla extract

  
  

  Place both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the molasses, milk and vanilla and process until the dough forms a ball, approximately 1 minute. Press the ball into a 1/2-inch thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

  
  

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

  
  

  Unwrap the chilled dough and place it onto a large piece of parchment paper and top with a second sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough out until it is 1/16 to 1/8-inch thick. Cut out with spoon shaped cookie cutter and arrange into spoon molds. Press to fit. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes or until the edges just start to darken. It is very important to watch them closely, as the thinner the dough the faster they will burn. They will go from perfect to wasted very quickly.  Remove from the oven, and remove from the mold onto a cooling rack immediately, as they will continue to cook. Place in ziplock and freeze if not using immediately. They will keep well at room temp for about 2 weeks if sealed well in an airtight container.

Festivities Catering, Norwalk, Ct.

In the next few examples,
caterers came up with
very simple yet elegant + effective presentations when the event
doesn't have the space or budget
to have an attendant torching the
marshmallows in front of guests.

Simply dip the marshmallows in melted chocolate and then into graham cracker crumbs and voila - S'more Bytes.

Thanks to Caterbuzz member, Bill Kaliff co owner of Festivities, the Art of Celebrating who created this beautiful dessert display that included S'more Bytes.

dessert buffet with S'more Bytes,
Festivities The Art of Celebrating

how clever is this ?
Adding a colored straw
to up the presentation!

Here's a great recipe that caterbuzz member Joan Taylor, of Diva Catering and Cakes shared with caterbuzz members when we were discussing house made marshmallows verses the store bought "jet puff"  version.

Marshmallows  submitted by Joan Taylor

• 2 Tablespoons Gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water             
• Combine water and gelatin in stand mixer bowl, let firm up
• 
  
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 3/4 cup corn syrup
• 2 cup granulated sugar     

Combine water, corn syrup and sugar in saucepan + heat  until 245 degrees f/ 118 degree c.  

Stream hot syrup into gelatin mixture on med-high speed in stand mixer until thick ribbon

.... add flavor of choice and pour into well greased 8x8 square pan

....mix equal parts corn starch and powdered sugar and sift over marshmallow, allow to set overnight then cut into squares or strips, put into bag filled with cornstarch mixture and shake to coat well.

This product can also be poured into individual molds (I like to make peeps), 

or into round pvc pipe that has been well greased, there are many possibilities really.

Some flavor combinations that Diva Catering used in the shop: Hazelnut syrup (used for espresso) 

1 TB Espresso Powder (Starbucks Viva) 

1 TB, Butter Rum syrup 

1 TB Cocoa 

1 TB Dark Dutch Cocoa

& 1 tsp Vanilla

Alcohol of different flavors work very well...here at Diva Catering, 

we've  made a Pina Colada, Ameretto & Margarita that were top sellers.

We have also dipped the marshmallow in chocolate

 or added toasted coconut (right after pouring), 

made marshmallow pops and specific shapes for custom orders. 

culinary crafts housemade marshmallows

S'mores push up cake pop

Caterbuzz member Diane McNulty,
has made a business out of push pops,
and with her S'more Pushup Pop has managed to delightfully combined childhood favorites.

So of course the S'mores Pushup Cake Pop was a natural offering.

Theses are made with three layers of graham cake combined with two of chocolate ganache and house-made
marshmallow cream topped
with mini marshmallows
and a drizzling of ganache.
Find them for purchase at www.pushupcakepops.com




Michelle Clausen and her husband Mark, run two businesses,  a catering business and a local deli in Scarborough Maine but this is not your mom + pop oldschool deli.

Michelle often shares the innovative creations that come out of their catering business.  An active Caterbuzz member, Michelle saw Kim Lauria's version posted on the Facebook Caterbuzz forum earlier in the year and created their own take on mini S'mores parfaits in 4 oz. glass jars, much to the delight of their catering clients.

These S'mores Parfait Jars are made onsite
with crushed graham crackers in the bottom
topped with warm house-made marshmallow fluff,
 then a layer of warm chocolate ganache
topped with hand made bruleed marshmallows
with graham crackers for dipping. It was a HUGE hit!

Another favorite poster on Caterbuzz's facebook group is Kim Lauria
the very talented chef/owner and food artist from  Elegant Touch Catering in the Albany area of New York State.

Kim Lauria of Elegant Touch Catering

shared this s'mores parfait presentation

 with the Caterbuzz group.

At a grand opening for Hannaford Supermarket in upstate New York, featured last year in a Caterbuzz blog post Kim and her partner Debbie put together an awesome S'mores Station featuring a river of chocolates, jars of sprinkles and toasted coconut that the "attendant torched" marshmallows could be dipped in.  The station created quite a buzz at the grand opening, delighting kids of all ages from 2- 90 !

Caterbuzz  blogger and culinary fashionista  Lisa Teiger gets lite up!
at Elegant Touch's fabulous s'mores station

BBQ Caterer, Randy Twyford, of Twyford BBQ + Catering, in Jacksonville, Illinois knows a thing or two about fire.  We were all tickled when Randy posted his version of the Smores station, with little fire pits that came with skewers that he purchased at a local Sam's Club store.

Twyford BBQ and Catering
Fire Pit S'mores Station

Canadian, Cherylle Winacott of Country Style BBQ/Great Event Creations sure lives up to her catering company's name with this great s'mores idea and centerpiece.  

Placing a sterno into a hollowed out pineapple as a centerpiece for guest tables not only delighted Cherylle's clients at the Children's Wish Foundation benefit,  but won their catering company an award from The Sterno® Caterplus™ Innovator of the month contest. 

Notice how Country Style BBQ pre-torched one marshmallow
so the guests would get the idea of what to do.
The presentation could be as simple as a brown paper bag
or gussied up with mini marshmallow decor,
pink tulle fabric (careful to keep it away from the flames)
and glass brick risers.

GIANT PINK + WHITE MARSHMALLOWS
are skewered into the pineapple centerpiece
for guests to toast at whim during
a Country Style BBQ fundraising event in Canada.

Anyone who knows John Homrighausen,
the friendly Texan caterer fondly known as Cowboy John,
knows that his companies, Ranch Bakery,
J-BAR-H and Americana Catering
always do things the Texas way,
BIGGER THAN BIG.

At a recent holiday event for hundreds of guests
John and his team built this amazing S'mores Station Tower
and not content to serve just the traditional
plain marshmallows, hershey's chocolate
and graham cracker J-BAR-H Catering
offered 5 varieties of marshmallows,
10 kinds of chocolate and 4 different graham crackers
selections perched onto their signature vertical buffet display.

just a few of the 10 flavors
J-BAR-H catering guests could choose for
their own s'mores creation

fabulous display on this unique s'mores station

To get the creative juices flowing - there were "recipe"
suggestions posted around the s'mores station.
Clever ideas like "the Grasshopper" using Andes Mints
or "Almond Joy" with toasted coconut marshmallows
and dark chocolate invited guests to go beyond
the typical Hersheys Chocolate, plain marshmellow
and graham cracker combo.

Not that there is anything wrong with the traditional "recipe".

Caterers, especially Caterbuzz members,
are always looking to bump up their clients experience
and leave guests with a taste for more!

Talk about a great marketing idea!

J-BAR-H Catering's innovative s'more station recipe suggestions

John said he got his river rock presentation inspiration for the s'mores station

from Debby Stein's Cartewheels Catering

Of course John, as most of us do,  added some signature touches

such as the custom made chafer stands seen here

and lastly this year at the International Caterers Association CaterArts 2011 Symposium, as well as the Catersource 2011 Convention in Las Vegas, my own catering company,
CuisinEtc Catering and Special Events NYC was honored to presented a waffle sandwich concept - one of the offerings demoed by Chef Andrew Alexander-Crossan was a nutella/marshmallow fluff "waffle".

Chef Andrew took two pieces of thick Texas toast, spreading nutella on one side and marshmallow fluff on the other and buttering the outside of the bread, he placed the ultra thick sandwich in a waffle maker and toasted it to gooey perfection.

Viola - a s'more waffle sandwich - cut into 4 quarters and serve as a passed dessert hors d'oeuvre with an ice cold milk shot for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

cuisinetc catering + special events
s'mores waffle station

Similar to the nutella and fluff waffle concept - CuisinEtc has also been offering s'more poptarts on lollipop sticks.

Through mutual connections and caterbuzz, CuisinEtc was hired by Holiday Inn earlier in the year to reproduce Holiday Inn's newest food being previewed by the press for the Holiday Inn's Social Hubs.  The menu is very comfort food oriented and here's a shot of the dessert offering we produced from their specs:    S'more Waffle Sundae.

Since then the S'more Waffle Sundae has become quite a popular offering on CuisinEtc's bar and bat mitzvah menus, with chefs torching the marshmallows for the bar mitzvah guests.

Holiday Inn Social Hub Sundae

Attitude on Food
frozen s'mores shooter

Melissa Tibbens, from Attitude on Food, an extremely innovative Omaha Nebraska caterer sent me this fun s'mores rendition
a frozen s'mores ice cream shooter

Vanilla ice cream layered with graham crackers and dark chocolate ganache, finished with house made marshmallow cream, dramatically torched in front of guests at the station and topped with a finger of graham cracker.

A CaterBuzz member, Karyl Kent,  did a savory twist on the s'more.
creating Pork Belly S'mores for a benefit they catered in Vermont. 

Wonton "cracker", Chocolate Mole, crisp braised pork belly, topped with smoky chipotle marshmallow, nicely toasted. They were the talk and the hit of the party!

AND just in case you were wondering whether it is safe

to use the sterno for toasting marshmallows 

or any other food product,

our caterbuzz members were discussing this very issue and 

wondering the same thing.

One member went as far as to emailed Sterno to find out.

Within 5 minutes Sterno's customer service had responded.

Dear Glenn,

It is fine to roast over the Sterno flame. 

You want to take the normal precaution though that you would with any flame.

 Just make sure not to get any gel on the food you are roasting. 

Sterno actually has a S'mores and More kit. 

You can find that product on Amazon.com. 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. 

Best regards,

Roselyn Mazzone

Customer Service Representative

The Sterno Group, LLC

999 E. Touhy Ave. Ste. 450

Des Plaines, IL 60018

847-795-1223

Customer Service: 

Linda Daugherity ldaugherity@sterno.com  

(19943)

Could you imagine that a concept as simple as s'mores could be twisted up and served in so many different yet equally creative formats. As you can see being a member of Caterbuzz has many benefits.   Being exposed to the minds of many creative souls whose passion and love for all things catering is ever present.  If you are a seasoned caterer or event professional, with a similar passion for growing your catering business, please join us in 2012 and beyond for a great creative experience and professional support group.