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[duckumu]

Hey all,

I'm planning a cookout/barbecue type thing and I'm trying to put the menu together. I'm worried that it's not a coherent culinary statement at all and I'm trying to eliminate some of the ideas I have, so I would love your opinions!

The sole protein I'm serving is hamburgers. For my hamburger mix, I add finely chopped or grated red onion,

Comments

[brienze]

I would keep two non-starchy sides and one starch, because you've already got hamburger bun there. Ratatouille and tomato salad seem somewhat redundant since there should be tomato in the ratatouille. I'd probably keep that (I loved the movie so it's kind of a fad food with me right now), the German potato salad to please any barbecue traditionalists, and take the cucumbers from your Thai salad (sounds good on its own, but noodles are a bit much) and turn it into a cucumber/yogurt Greek/Mediterranean type thing instead. That gives you non-creamy veggies, creamy veggies, and non-mayo starch.

Hmm, though I wonder about yogurt's food safety... you could do Thai cucumbers instead (sugar, vinegar, red bird chile chopped very finely, thin red onion slices, cilantro if not serving folks allergic to it).

Maybe it's reverse snobbery, but I gave up on cohesive food statements awhile ago. Instead I just make sure I have food that the people I'm serving are going to like. (For instance, if you've got kids coming, add that tropical fruit salad back in.)

Sounds like it'll be yummy no matter what you pick!

[duckumu]

That's exactly what I was thinking -- one starch, two veg or one starch, two veg, and a fruit side.

I was also thinking of doing a Thai cucumber salad, where the cucumbers are in long, thin strips, like noodles. Maybe I will leave out the soba completely.

There are definitely no kids coming and there are also no picky eaters. We'll all be age 21/22 (recent college grads).

Thanks for the advice :)