How to Make 15 Dishes for 25 People
Or: How to Prepare for the Unexpected and Succeed with a Crazy Idea
You can take on any crazy project, as long as you plan for shit to happen.
To celebrate the 25 years my spouse and I have been together, we organized a party. And because I like a personal challenge, I decided to prepare and cook the entire buffet myself. It was a crazy idea. Sure, I had some experience. I once cooked seven dishes for twelve people. But twice the number of recipes for twice the number of people was four times my previous personal record.
Well, why not?
(I admit, this post is a bit off-topic. But bear with me. There’s a genuinely useful message here.)
Here’s what I did to make it work.
I optimized for a long preparation window. I picked koreshes (Persian stews) and other mains that I could prepare many days before the event. Most of those dishes actually improve after sitting in a fridge or freezer for a few days, because the flavors get time to meld. So I could spread the cooking over ten days. No hurry, no stress.
I planned for optionality. I had several choices for each type of dish: two salads, four mezze, three rice dishes, and six stews. This wasn’t only to give our guests something to choose from. It was also my hedge against cooking failures. If one or two dishes came out wrong, I could quietly throw them away and nobody would ever need to know.
I used AI to help me with the schedule. For each recipe, the AI explained what parts I could prepare and put in the freezer, which half-finished preparations belonged in the fridge instead, and which final steps I should reserve for party day. Over ten days, our kitchen accumulated dozens of bags and containers. I was 90% done with cooking before party day even started.
I planned for redundancy. My original plan started with eighteen dishes. I knew I probably wasn’t going to make them all, and that it would depend on how much food I was piling up. Halfway through, when the kilograms in the freezer were building up faster than I expected, I removed several optional dishes from the backlog.
I used AI as my advisor. “I have too many dishes with turmeric in them. In which recipe can I swap it for another spice?” “I don’t have dried limes. Are fresh limes okay in this dish?” “How do I prevent crying when I chop a kilogram of onions?” Every time I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, I asked the AI. I didn’t follow all of its advice, but I did learn a lot of new things.
I called for help. Twenty-five kilograms of food is not something I can easily store in our own kitchen. So I arranged with several neighbors that my solidly frozen stews could thaw in their fridges for a few days. One of them even had a portable party-fridge in his cellar that I could borrow. Super handy.
I delegated everything else. The implicit deal with my spouse: I focused on the buffet, and he did everything else. Plates, cutlery, glasses, chairs, flowers, drinks, serving dishes, chafing dishes. None of it was my problem. I had plenty to do as it was.
I prepared for the surplus. I knew I was going to end up with too much food. In fact, I counted on it. In many cultures, it’s not unusual for guests to leave a party with personal favorites tucked into their bags, freshly scooped off the buffet. So I ordered a hundred aluminum trays and made sure that everyone could take home whatever they liked most.
I reserved time for the unexpected. On party day, I did the finishing touches: preparing the rice, making the salads, heating the stews, baking the tahdigs, and finalizing the mezze. I had an hour-by-hour schedule telling me exactly what to do when, so I could easily be ready on time. My schedule had plenty of slack.
And boy, did I need it.
One thing is certain with every crazy thing you do for the first time: Something unexpected will happen! In my case, the AI had told me that a tray of food weighing 2-3 kilograms needs around 36 hours to thaw in a standard fridge. But when I retrieved the five main dishes from the neighbors, they were still solid as igloo walls. In the 48 hours I had given them, the food had barely thawed! 😱
Which meant I got handed the extra job of thawing fifteen kilograms of stew three hours before dinner.
I didn’t panic. Why not? Because I had enough slack in my schedule. I had already delegated everything else. I had an AI as an advisor for every step, no matter what happened. I had friends and family checking the ovens and scooping the dishes. And I had optionality: even if I only had time to reheat three of the five mains, it would still be enough to feed everyone.
In the end, everything turned out well. Dinner started on time. Not a single dish had failed. And I immortalized myself as the family’s chef.
My main takeaway: you can take on any crazy project, as long as you plan for shit to happen. Expect the unexpected.
Jurgen, Solo Ch(i)ef.
P.S. I’m taking a break from writing for a summer vacation. I’ll be back in August.
P.P.S. The fifteen dishes:
Spinach and Plum Koresh - Chicken, spinach, plums, lime, grape syrup, turmeric, chili pepper
Grape Koresh with Herbs and Meatballs 🌶️ - Beef, curry, red pepper, celery, mint, parsley, fenugreek, green chilies, grapes, honey, lime
Okra Koresh with Lamb 🌶️ - Lamb, okra, bell pepper, chili pepper, tomato sauce, baharat (Levantine spices), garlic
Peach and Bean Koresh - White beans, Beluga lentils, peaches, advieh (Persian spices), lime, brown sugar, saffron, rosewater
Moroccan Harira - Celery, carrot, chickpeas, lentils, tomatoes, vermicelli, ras el hanout (Moroccan spices), garlic, lemon, cilantro
Fish Roles in Tomato Sauce - Codfish, parsley, cumin, coriander, mint, onion, garlic, chili pepper, tomato sauce
Rice with Green Beans 🌶️ - Basmati rice, green beans, tomato sauce, lime, saffron, onion, garlic, cayenne, advieh (Persian spices)
Rice with Dates - Basmati rice, dates, onion, lime, saffron, kabsa (Arabian spices), rose petals, pistachios
Rice with Apricots - Basmati rice, apricots, raisins, onion, lime, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili pepper
Roasted Eggplant with Walnuts - Roasted eggplant, bell pepper, walnuts, onion, grape syrup, turmeric, dried mint, pomegranate seeds
Roasted Red Pepper with Plums - Roasted bell peppers, dried plums, pomegranate syrup, red pepper paste, chili powder, garlic, toasted almonds
Hummus with Seven Spices - Chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, seven spices, sesame seeds, toasted pine nuts
Labneh - Strained yogurt, olive oil, pistachio honey, olives, za’atar, sumac, mint, chili flakes
Fennel Fruit Salad - Fennel, apple, mango, grapefruit, cranberries, olive oil, vinegar, orange juice, oregano, basil, pumpkin seeds
Cucumber Salad - Cucumbers, almonds, pomegranate seeds, mint, red onion, lemon juice, olive oil, pomegranate syrup, pomegranate seeds, sheep cheese