[penguicon-general] My Brazilian Beef notes - Crowdsourcing time!

[chuck child]

*First notes - Mix of before and after Penguicon*

**


O.k., Gents.   Time to start on our way toward brass tacks. . . Or carefully
seared beef, more precisely.

There are a number of things we need to make this process come off clean,
and I will list each one, along with current status:

1: Grill - Reserved, and verified.   1 8-foot by 4 or 5 foot tow-behind
grill, to be delivered before 9 AM on the 19'th, to the 'fire lane' or the
part of the turn-around in front of the hotel closest to the gazebo.   *<Rented
from **http://www.tvsdelidiner.com/Catering.html*<http://www.tvsdelidiner.com/Catering.html>
* >*

2: Charcoal - Contacted GFS, verified that they will have natural chunk
charcoal available, and they requested I call 2 weeks in advance, and verify
the availability of volume. <* They came through fine, though they are
switching brands, not sure about the quality of the new brand>*

3: Heat - At the moment I have absolutely no idea how we are going to get
upwards of a hundred pounds of charcoal lit without lighter fluid, but if
someone has a good idea, please bring it forward. <* Brought 2 charcoal
chimneys, destroyed them both>
*
4: Meat - Verified at Sams club that top sirloin is available in volumes up
to 400 LB, requested a heads-up 2 weeks in advance to insure it is
available, and put aside for us. <*Came through like a champ.   $3.59 a lb
for single 15 lb roasts, $2.59 a lb case-price, each case held between 60
and 90 lb's>*

5: Salt - I have contacted my local Meijer, and they have verified they will
bring in an extra 30 of their 5 LB boxes of salt, so that I can purchase
enough. <* I purchased 8 30lb cases, each case had 6 boxes of salt in it.
We opened 3 cases in the fikrst hour, but that produced enoughsalt to re-use
for the rest of the time, mostly.>*

6: Tables - I have spoken with Jer Lance, and he has requested two tables be
provided outside, for prep and cutting <* Next time we need more than 1 foot
wide tables, and something prepared for serving>*

7: Trash Cans - I have not put any though into this yet, but some should
be.   With 3-400 people getting paper plates, forks, and knives, and 20+
cryovac packages being opened, sliced, and trimmed, there is liable to be a
significant need.* <Hotel provided, and it worked out fine>*

8: Flat and Silverware - I requested of Steve DeHart, in his Con Suite
shopping trip, to pick up 800 high quality plates for steak, and knives and
forks for four hundred.* <Real silverware would have been better, but what
we had worked for almost everyone. . . Sub-optimal, but it worked>*

9: Steak Prep - I have done absolutely nothing regarding cutting boards or
knives.   If anyone here has nice knives, a good chef steel, or large
cutting boards, it would be awesome if they stepped up and brought them.
Eduardo has volunteered to direct, but in my mind it would be best if he
served as executive of this process, and we all served as hands. . So, on to
10 *<We need to run in shifts next year.  2 hour shifts, noon to 6 (3 teams)
with a 'show and tell' session before.  Each team needs: 2-3 people to slice
raw.  2 people to grill.  2 people to slice cooked, 1 person to serve, 1
person to gopher, 1 person to relieve others for breaks.  three ten-person
teams, sounds like a lot. . . But it's POPULAR, and people want to learn to
cook it>*

10:  Volunteers - Some of you, if I recall, volunteered to help cut meat,
tend grill, serve, what have you.   I feel like we need more people.   2
cutting and salting, two grilling, one bringing the grillers salted meat
on-time, one collecting cooked steaks, one cutting up those steaks for
service, one serving steak, and one checking names off the list, and Eduardo
making sure we do everything right.   That's 10 people.   We currently have
5, assuming that everyone on this list can make it, has no schedule snafu's,
Etc.   Plus, I would like to see some ladies in the mix.   If anyone has
friends, spouses, Etc, who would ENJOY being involved (no press ganging
here!)  speak up!

11: Tongs - We need us some Grill tongs! <I* bought three, ron brought 1. .
. And we needed ten.   Two per griller (4 total) one per slicer (2 more) one
for the server, one for the gopher, and some spares.   They are cheap at a
resteraunt supply store, possible even more so in bulk>
 *
12: Organization - We need the list when pre-reg closes.   We need a way of
handling at-con buy in.   We need a way to handle the cap / cutoff.   We
need a way to organize that list so we can find people, out of the 300+, and
cross them off quickly.   We need scheduling. <* We need more of this, and
better communication, signage, etc>*

13: Cleanup - Once the grill is cooled, we need to at least scrape it down
once, and then we need to handle the ashes and salt.   Probably need a metal
bin of some kind to handle the hot ash.   Probably need a flat shovel or
something to scoop it out.   Need to know where to put it once 2we get it
out of the grill. <*We badly nead this problem solved next year.   A
galvanized steel trash can would solve it fine, but we need it, and need it
bad>*



Whew.   So far, that's what I have.   Please, feel free to forward this
email to anyone you think might want in, who might have ideas, who might
have a use for salty ashes, who might be willing to lend tools, advice, or
manpower!

And, If we end up with 10 people. . .We probably need 8 more chairs, because
I only have 2.

 -----------------------------------------------------

*Second set of notes, closer to penguicon than the non-bold parts of part 1*

Hello again gents!

I just got a very good set of questions from Chick Tower, at GLLUG, and I
wanted to set the answers out for all.

Schedule:

This weekend I will pick up salt (160 Lb.'s purchased), and Charcoal (aiming
at 200 Lb.)  <Salt was an overshoot because we reused.  Charcoal was just
about perfect, with one 20 lb bag and a little leftover when we were done.>
Thursday I will collect #400 of top sirloin from Sam's club, and stash it in
the fridges at the hotel. <ended up being 430, 375 sold, 15 went to GLLUG
for thanks, the rest got used at the warp/kick>
Saturday, at or by 8 AM, the grill will be delivered <was right on time>
by 10 AM I will be out near the grills, arranging the things I have
collected - a container and scoop for the salt, the three bins I purchased
to place beef and salt in, making sure I have paper for my two chimneys,
etc.
This will be the time to send people for supplies or tools, should we be
missing something important.

By noon, I would like to have meat on the grill.
By 2 I need to disappear for an hour, for a panel about 'meet the Penguicon
Board'
By 5 I would like to be into cleanup.
by 7 the grill should be emptied of ashes, and ready for the oner to pick
up, and drive back down the interstate.

This year I am not planning on doing 'shifts' .  First come, first served.
Form a line. . . And Gophers for GOH's and nailed-down concom are allowed to
line-jump . . . If they have to.   We currently have 200-210 pre-registered
beef diners, and will likely sell out of the 400 pretty easily.   This year
we have switched to a 'ticket' system, wherein everyone who purchased beef
receives a ticket, and will drop it in our hands when they come to pick it
up.   If someone shows with 4 tickets, they get 4 servings of meat.  If
someone looses their ticket, so sad for them.   Keeps us from fiddling with
lists of names, and clip boards, and pens - pencils, and similar insanity.
It also ensures that, should there still be tickets left to sell, that Ops
handles the money, and not us. . . Because we will send people to Ops to buy
a ticket.

Unfortunately, that means we will need to judge our 'line', and try to speed
up or slowdown to match the demand. . . But I think it's a better situation
than last year.

I have picked up three acceptable plastic cutting boards for our purposes,
but hope anyone helping with butchery will bring their own knives.   We need
at least one Chef's steel.   I have a 'serving platter', and a scale for
rough-weighing our portions, in an attempt to reach our 3/4 LB (12 Oz)
target, in hopes of giving everyone aproximately similar servings.   I also
explicitly asked for utensils capable of handling our beef, so we can avoid
pre-cutting everyones portion, like we did last year.   I have heard
discussions about possibly conning the hotel into providing, but I have no
idea where that went (Jer?), but regardless, we are being purchased
high-quality plastic, so complaints should be minimal.

That's what I have so far.   Anyone with replies, questions, comments,
Whatever, please reply-all, and feel free to add other interested parties to
the email chain, because at thispoint, keeping everyone in the loop about
everything is probably a best policy.

-----------------
 *These are what I wrote last. . .About a month after Penguicon*

Final notes:
**Needs**
We need someone better organized and prepared than I to lead. . .Because it
worked, but . . . .
We need larger cutting boards, and more of them.
We need larger tables.
We need drinks for the grill team, chilled.
We need cleaning solution, and a rinse bucket, for washing hands and
utensils.
We need a team knife sharpener, who likes to do it, and sharpens them really
sharp.
We need more knives, so people can trade off, and find a favorite.
We need to consider Eduardo's suggestion of serving this as a hoagie bun
loaded with meat. . .At least that's what I remember of his suggestion
We need a better method than tickets. . .Or just better tickets, printed for
our purpose, with information included on the ticket
We need somewhere for the customers to sit and eat.

**Wishes**
I wish we had at least a couple coolers full of beverage, for the customers.
I wish we had a starch of some kind for the customers, be it rice, bread,
pita, potato, something.
I wish we had a better method of cutting up the cooked meat, because it's
time consuming, though it's a nice job to have
I wishe we had a grill better suited to our work, though it's a minor gripe.
I wish we were running this in the evening, leading toward night, making it
a luau type party, or something. . . Bringing the party to the grillers,
rather than just a line.
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