Well about one year ago I decided that one of the impacts I can have on the local homeless population was to volunteer down at the Catholic Outreach Soup Kitchen . They were getting a lot of stuff that regular volunteers were either afraid to use or did not know what dish to create with the items.

After talking with the project manager, whom we had known for years from donating our left over foods, I was fitted into the third Saturday of every month. Which incidentally meant Big Dog Chef was also fitted in for the third Saturday for the months I could not make it! Which he has graciously done on several occasions that he has blogged about . So far it has been a lot of fun. The challenges are many, the rewards are personal, and the ability to once per month face a MYSTERY box contest to feed 150 to 250 people is a blast. With the added dimension of having no trained staff and never knowing how many or what type of volunteers are going to show up makes the whole thing a real fun time to manage.

So I arrive about 7 AM normally since I may have anywhere from 2 to 10 voluntters I like to have most of the mise en place done long before the others show up. The kitchen manager Steve is always in a 5 AM and has the place sterile for my start. He is a great guy and one of the reason I come in so early is we can blast the Jazz loud until the younger crowd arrives. When they continue to stare lifelessly until we put on some more “normal” music.

So I find the kitchen looking like this at 7 AM:

To give you a run down, there is a small 3 X 3 flat top with a six eye and to conventional ovens under. Then the best piece of equipment I have ever used, a fully automatic tilting Tilt Skillet. This is on my Christmas wish list for the catering company. Then a single stack gas convection. Which no one liked until I got there to really start putting it through it paces. Now most of the other volunteers use it and hotel pans more then the six eye that they were addicted to less then a year ago.

And the Mystery ingredient is:

Roasted and fried CHICKEN! The kitchen is supported by a lot of local restaurants. They save many items that were kept at proper temps but no longer could be pushed out front to a client. We get it and either freeze it til we have enough to do something with, or use it immediately depending on quantities donated.

Going through my brain is the idea that it is cold and that a heavy stick to the ribs meal will be in order. Chicken and Dumplings will fit the bill nicely. I tear apart about five of the various cooked and spiced birds, make a quick base pan up and taste it. Just a little salt, pepper and sage will be all that is required to balance the various styles of spicing to something I think everyone will like to eat today.

Volunteer regulars show up. These two attend Fruita Monument High School and come in almost everytime I cook. They are always willing to do whatever I ask in prep.

While I am sure they don’t like tearing down chickens, they are there to really help feed these people so they dig in and tear them down. In short time a few more of my volunteer crew starts to arrive and everyone is tearing down chicken and tossing the bones to my 45 gallon stock pot and the meat into the Tilt Skillet!

So we continue on, problem, no biscuit mix, answer we always have flour, so searching the brain I seem to remember about 4 tsp baking powder to one pound of flour, half tsp salt to same and some type of milk. Plus the parsley. Problem, no milk. Ok to the donations store room, a one gallon can of dried butter milk, well that should make it taste good. But an adjustment will be required to the formula. So drop to 3 tsp baking powder and add one tsp baking soda to handle the powdered buttermilk that will go acidic when rewetted. Do up 9 pounds and we are ready to rock and roll.

A short while after the volunteers arrive we are making the entree and getting things lined out. No vegetables, save for salad makings, were donated today. I find five gallon cans of diced dried carrots in the storeroom. We got tons of this stuff after the Y2K thing fizzled out to a non event. Hey I think I can make them taste good and I decide to make them all so I can use the extra to create a Chicken carrot soup for Monday’s feed crew. Lots of water and boiling, into the pot goes the five cans, stir and kill the heat. Add in 3 pounds of brown sugar and half a can of dried buttermilk, salt, pepper, stir and then pan into five 2 inch hotels, place in the oven covered. Meanwhile I guide a new volunteer through how to place the dumplings onto the chicken.

After I show her with pan one she is on her own while I get the spinach steaming and panned. We also get tons of canned spinach, most won’t use it when they cook, I use it every time as it is very good nutrition for these people who don’t eat regularly. And the way I make it we go through two six inch hotel pans everytime. Ham bones, onions, garlic, salt and pepper with a hint of red pepper all combine to people coming back for more spinach.

Finally the chicken is dumplinged and the stuff is ready for the ovens.

We ended up at 170 people plus crew. Tore through six four inch hotel pans of the stuff, and two spinach six inch pans as well as four diced carrot pans. I do appoligize I did not take pics at the end as I was rushing to get my stock done, the bones picked and the soup finished and cooled for Monday. So I kind of forgot about the camera. Plus we had Louis Amstrong playing loud teaching the kids to like jazz! We cleaned up and were all out of there at 2 PM.

I love doing this, it is so rewarding personally to step in, assemble a volunteer crew, decide on what to do with “the secret ingredient” and feed all these poeple a balanced meal. Really if you are professionally trained, or professionally mentored consider volunteering at a soup kitchen, your knowledge will be of great benefit to the organization. It is amazing to the kitchen manager the amount of old dried stuff in tin cans that I use and they come back for seconds. Consider it, and you students, you should be down there practicing and using your knowledge to aid these organizations!

Til we talk again, pick up something extra and drop it by the local soup kitchen, I can assure you the people needing this service appreciate it even it they can not say so themselves!

Warm regards to you all
Chef Bob Ballantyne
The Cowboy and The Rose Catering
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA