Ordering a Full Tray of Mac and Cheese for a Brooklyn Party

Walk past any buffet table an hour into an event and count what's left. The greens are still there. There's chicken. The mac and cheese pan is scraped down to the corners, and somebody is working on those corners.

A full pan of Mac and Cheese from FreeTown African & American Cuisine at 1172 Park Place is $90. That's a party tray price, not a plate price. It's also, at almost every gathering, the most under-ordered tray on the table.

Why is mac and cheese the first tray to empty at a Brooklyn party?

Because it isn't really a side dish, and everyone at the table is quietly treating it like an entree.

A side dish gets a spoonful. Mac and cheese gets a corner of the plate, then a second helping later. Kids will eat it and nothing else. Adults who told themselves they were being sensible about the fried chicken will still take mac and cheese. It crosses every line at a family event, which is exactly why one pan disappears while the rest of the spread is still holding.

The planning mistake follows from that. People place it mentally in the same category as the $60 collard greens or the $80 mashed potato, order a single pan, and then find it gone before half the room has come through. If you're ordering one tray of every side, order two of this one and one of something else. That's the single most useful thing anyone can tell you about buying mac and cheese by the pan.

How does a mac and cheese tray behave over a long event?

Better than people expect, and its behaviour changes usefully as it sits.

Straight out of the kitchen it's loose and it pours. A spoon drags rather than cuts, the top is still soft, and it serves fast but messily. That's the moment it looks best and portions worst.

As it cools it sets. The starch tightens, the pan firms up, and after a while you can cut squares out of it that lift clean and hold their shape on the plate. If you've ever run a buffet line, you know that a tray you can cut is easier to serve than a tray you have to scoop. Mac and cheese quietly becomes easier to serve the longer it has been sitting.

The one thing to watch is the top surface. Uncovered under a warmer, the top dries and the edges catch. Keep it covered until the line opens and it stays even the whole way through. The guide to keeping catering trays warm covers the mechanics of that for every pan on the menu, and mac and cheese is the tray it matters most for.

Reheating a leftover half pan works fine. It wants a splash of liquid and a cover, and it wants patience, not heat. Blast it and the edges go before the middle wakes up.

What should you put next to the mac and cheese on the table?

Something acidic and something with a crust. Mac and cheese is rich and soft, and a spread made entirely of rich and soft things gets tiring by the second plate.

Collard greens at $60 a pan are the traditional partner and the reason is structural, not sentimental. Greens carry acidity and a bit of bite, and they cut straight through a mouthful of cheese. Every Southern table pairs them for that reason. If you are building the spread from scratch, ordering a tray of collard greens makes the case for buying that pan first.

Pan Fried Chicken at $100 brings the crust. Texture contrast is doing the work there. A soft pan and a crisp pan next to each other make each other better, and the plate feels finished instead of heavy.

A rice tray underneath everything gives people a way to stretch their plate without another scoop of cheese. White Rice is $40, the cheapest pan on the menu, and there is a case for the $85 Jollof Rice instead if you want the table to read a little differently. White rice or jollof rice for a catering order walks through that choice honestly.

For the full picture of how these trays assemble into a Southern spread, soul food catering in Brooklyn by the pan lists every tray with its price.

How many pans of mac and cheese should you order in Crown Heights?

We're not going to give you a number for how many people one pan covers, and we'd rather explain why than fake it.

Pan yield isn't a fixed quantity. It depends on whether guests build their own plates or someone is portioning behind the table, on how many other trays are competing for space on that plate, and on the crowd. A room of teenagers goes through a mac and cheese pan on a completely different curve from a room of grandparents. Any blog that hands you a confident headcount for a catering tray is quoting a generic number that was never measured against this kitchen.

What we can tell you is the practical rule that comes from watching these tables: mac and cheese runs out ahead of its share. Weight your order that way.

Then call 718-799-7160, say what the event is and roughly how many people are coming, and the kitchen will size the whole order with you. That's a two minute conversation and it's the only accurate way to land it.

What should you ask on the phone before ordering the tray?

There are questions about this specific dish that we won't answer in writing, because we don't have them confirmed and guessing about food people are going to eat isn't acceptable.

• What cheeses go into the pan.
• Exactly how it is made and what else is in it.
• Whether it suits a guest at your table with a food allergy.
• Whether it works for someone who does not eat meat.
• What the kitchen can have ready for your specific date.

Those all have real answers and the people cooking hold them. Call 718-799-7160 and ask. You'll get a direct response, which beats a website inventing something reassuring.

That applies to any tray you are considering, not only this one. It is the reason the phone number sits in every section of this page rather than once at the bottom.

Ordering the tray

A full pan of mac and cheese is $90 from 1172 Park Place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Order more than you think you need, put greens and something fried on either side of it, keep it covered until the line opens, and let it set before you try to portion it neatly.