We new Saturday was going to be a big day for us in Preston. The party organisers had requested we go the whole hog and that wasn’t just limited to a full pig being cooked. They said ‘we want the lot’. What he meant was they wanted nearly every meat under the sun (or under the dark clouds as it were). S with two hog roast machines we cooked about 10 small chickens, a few joints of succulent lamb, some beutifully prepared steak burgers all dressed in aioli and sweet tomato chutney and not forgetting a 35 kg pig. This was a feast of monstrous portions. This was was probably the biggest lunch the urban hog roast team have done in some time. With over 200 guests it was a great party. Music playing, children screaming with excitement and our team working hard behind the scenes.

If there is ever one tip for pleasing your guests its this: give them extra crackling. Hot bubbly crispy crackling can put a smile on almost anyones face. I was once told by an experienced hog roaster that if you ever run behind time for serving up, prepare some crackling and hand it to anyone who is feeling slightly impatient. Its like a ‘dummy to a crying baby’ he said. Well, I don’t like the idea of my customers crying but I can see this is a good contingency plan if what ever reasons we do get behind.

All in all, Saturday presented some culinary and logistical problems. However, all had a solution and the guests loved it. Personally I love challenges and go through these more challenging events as caterers only makes us better ever time.

Next we are off to Oldham. Will the sun be shining on our Gazebo? Probably not!