St. Vincent de Paul Society is preparing to feed about 800 people Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart auditorium at 887 Patricia Blvd.
"For this particular dinner we are extremely blessed," said Bernie Goold, chair of the society's board and the dinner's coordinator. "And I cannot say enough about Chef Ron Christian at the College of New Caledonia culinary arts department who takes all our food - our turkeys, our hams, our potatoes, vegetables and bread for stuffing and they also make lots of gravy and the students at the college prepare all the food and bring it on Sunday morning and a lot of them are volunteering their time to do this. It is a tremendous help to us and the people love it that the chef comes and talks to them during the meal."
There's 130 litres of gravy, 250 pounds of mashed potatoes and 15 27-pound turkeys prepared for the Thanksgiving dinner service, along with ham, vegetables, bread, cranberry sauce and desserts including pumpkin pie that will be prepared in the culinary arts department of the college.
"It's not just about feeding people, it's about building community to let everyone know that they are not on their own at holiday time," said Goold. "We're so privileged to do it thanks to the generosity of all who contribute in so many ways - money for the food and to those who come out to volunteer and stay to clean up."
The event is run at a fast pace. The auditorium can seat about 240 people at a time and when 10 people are done, another 10 people are seated.
"It's really good experience for our kids and I take six or seven students down there with me to help serve it on Sunday," said Christian, an instructor in the college's culinary arts department, about the first-year students who started the program in August. "We've been doing this now for seven, eight, nine years now."
Christian thinks this is invaluable to the students learning process.
"Do you know what this is? It's reality," said Christian. "If they go work at a large hotel in Vancouver they'll see this type of thing quite frequently. For this event we'll prepare it here, transport it and serve it there."
It takes some extra coordination to time it right and there are some items that can be prepared in advance.
"We've got stuffing coming out the stuffing," said Christian. "What we do is process it all, cut it all and we can it all and then retherm (reheat) it Sunday morning and it's just like a fresh-roasted turkey. So it's been cut and portioned so you know what coverage you have."
Christian and his team of students de-bone the thigh and legs and take all the sinews out and then slice it up.
"If I try to take the leg and thigh while it's still attached to the bird and try to pull it apart I don't know what I'm getting," said Christian.
"Same for the breast. We cook them, take them off the bone, slice them, add a little bit of chicken stock and retherm them real slow at 225 degrees for about two to two and a half hours and it comes out just like a fresh-cooked turkey."
Everything gets put in pans and warmers and shipped out to the dinner at Sacred Heart Sunday morning.
"We have four stations set up and the guests come in and sit down and the volunteer waiters and waitresses come to serve it up," said Christian. "What would you like? We have turkey, ham, gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetables and more and then it's brought to them and they eat their fill and if they clean their plate up we'll give them a second plate."
Then there is a variety of desserts to follow.
"So it's a very good thing for guests because they are being pampered," said Christian. "And the volunteers that are serving enjoy it - it's a really big thing."
