100 hot dogs

[nowa]

Say you're having a party in your backyard. All you have is a standard size Weber grill. You're expecting up to 50 people, mix of preschoolers & adults, but could be much much fewer. Depends on RSVPs, but I'm planning for the max at this point. How would you cook and keep warm and serve hot dogs?

1) Cook them inside (boil? pan?) and then keep them warm somehow (how?)
2) Grill them right before the party and keep them warm somehow (how?)
3) Grill them during the party
4) Something else

[tacokick]

You can keep them warm in a slow cooker.

[auroraloo]

we made about that many hot dogs for DS's first birthday. We didn't grill them, we just stood them up in a crock pot and left them on low all day. They were great. We put about a quarter inch of water on the bottom.

[thecheshirekat]

Mar 8, 2016 21:34:22 GMT -5 tacokick said:

You can keep them warm in a slow cooker.

This.  We had hot dogs as the primary food for our circus-themed birthday party a couple years back and I actually used my mom's big plug-in roaster thing to cook the dogs - it had a rack inside it that I covered with foil, and I just dumped the dogs on top of that, poured a little water in the bottom (not enough to touch the dogs) and let them heat up.  I don't remember how long, though.  

[lala]

I'd keep them warm in the crock pot. I love the grill or broil marks so I'd prefer to cook them that way & then keep warm...but with that make you might do better to just use auroraloo 's method. Grilling them day of during the event will be a disaster w/ a small grill.

[jag01]

auroraloo, I've never heard of standing them up before? How did you get them all to stand up? What's the reason standing vs laying them down?

[momin2013]

What I would do is put as many dogs as will fit on the bbq, then when those are ready, put them all in a tin pan covered with foil and put another batch on the grill. When those are cooked and you're putting them in the foil pan along with the others, call dinnertime, put out the foil pan and put another batch on the grill. By the time people have gone through the food line, the third batch will be done, and you can keep making more as need be.

I honestly wouldn't bother with a slow cooker, unless you expect people to be eating over a very long extended time or something. IME, when you call people for dinner, they descend upon the food tables and everyone pretty much eats at the same time, so I would expect the hot dogs to get eaten up fairly quickly.

[lala]

I just think cooking 100 hot dogs on a small charcoal grill is no small task. I've been to parties where this happens, you're always waiting for food.

[lattelady5]

I do hotdogs in the oven sometimes. I just put them straight on the rack and then an old pan below to catch the drips.

I don't care for boiled ones and I would not plan to cook 100 on a small grill. That just sounds like way too much work.

[lexus]

Mar 9, 2016 11:16:14 GMT -5 lattelady5 said:

I do hotdogs in the oven sometimes. I just put them straight on the rack and then an old pan below to catch the drips.

I don't care for boiled ones and I would not plan to cook 100 on a small grill. That just sounds like way too much work.

In high school I would cook them for kids I babysat in a toaster oven. We covered the little tray in foil and turned them half way through. It would totally work in the oven on cookie sheets or like latte suggested.

[auroraloo]

Mar 8, 2016 23:42:03 GMT -5 jag01 said:

auroraloo , I've never heard of standing them up before? How did you get them all to stand up? What's the reason standing vs laying them down?

More fit!