My main cooking hack for a group-no dishes-eliminating steps on the day of cooking

[RockDr896]

So this is my main hack for the winter time. It's hard to cook outside for a bunch of people, when it is cold outside and there are multiple steps to the cook. The attached picture is of a soup (15 Bean w/Hot Italian Sausage), I vacuum sealed it. Since I have 3 burners, I can boil water for the noodles AND boil water to bring the soup back to life. I always separate the noodles from the dish, because the noodles will breakdown. Whether it's beef stroganof, chili, soup, ect .........The water holds the soup until you are ready to serve and it's the perfect temp to eat. I always try to prep in my own kitchen before I head out on a trip. The big win...is that the dishes to be cleaned are eliminated...
This process is really Sous Vide without the cook times. I can do any number of complicated comfort foods for a large group. You can also do this months before a trip. I started this years ago, as I taught my 2 boys how to cook. Anything frozen can be brought back either in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 min, or boiled back up to temp in a bag.

 

[RockDr896]

I am experimenting with pork belly's, before the RV season begins. I am smoking them (1.5 hrs) on my small smoker. Then I am cutting them into slices, season them (This is where I control the amount of salt), then cooking them on the flat top. It turned out GREAT!

Step two is involving one of the pork bellies. After smoking it, I put it in the freezer. I will then thaw it, run it through the slicer, cook on the flat top, and see how it turns out. If it works, then I will go into production mode and put my big smoker to work. I could produce about 9 3lb pork belly's at a considerable savings overall. It would be a great winter bulk cooking project each year.

 

[RockDr896]

Eggs Benedict for a crowd, and how to serve them all at the same time: My camp group challenge to me my first year as camp chef

Last year I tried every method of poaching eggs. I found that muffin tins are the secret weapon. Just spray the tins with PAM. Break the egg into the muffin cups and place 1 Tbs of water on each egg. Then cook at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 mins. Simply pop them out with a rubber spatula.
While I am cooking the eggs in my oven, I make a Hollandaise sauce that comes in a seasoning pack you can buy anywhere. There are many makers. I buy mine from Amazon. It makes the risk of the sauce breaking and requires less attention. For the Muffin I use circular cut outs from sourdough bread. Plastic utensils just can't cut a toasted english muffin.

Amazon.com