This hub is your entry point for learning to cook for a crowd. It covers the foundations of group cooking, from choosing dishes that scale well to understanding the key roles that timing and portioning play when you’re feeding a lot of people. We aim to distil the knowledge we’ve gained from running a busy kitchen to make it applicable to the home cook. We give you the tools to plan ahead and cook with confidence, with guides and frameworks for making easy meals for large groups.
Cooking meat for a crowd is a great option. It’s hands off while still being packed with flavour, and all the prep can be done days in advance. You’ll learn how to manage larger portions without drying them out, and how to time your cook to finish at the same time as everything else. We’ll cover the best methods for cooking, including roasting, slow cooking, and fire-grilling. A large piece of meat is the showpiece of any table, and is an easy meal for large groups.
Steak doesn’t need to be any more complicated when serving for a group. This hub will explain how to choose sharing cuts that are suited to bulk cooking. Thickness and marbling are vital when serving for groups, as they are more forgiving, allowing wriggle room in case you leave one on the heat for too long. You’ll gain insight into which cuts are best, how to cook them evenly, and serve them hot. This guide acts as a foundation, with links to further Hunter & Barrel blogs that explore steak cooking techniques in more depth.
Middle Eastern cuisine is naturally suited to group dining. This hub introduces dishes and techniques built around this rich cuisine, highlighting the key flavours it is built upon. Middle Eastern cuisine is naturally suited to serving large groups; its roots of ‘mezze’, a spread of small, shared dishes, make it a great option for catering to groups.
Middle Eastern cuisine is naturally suited to group dining. This hub introduces dishes and techniques built around this rich cuisine, highlighting the key flavours it is built upon. Middle Eastern cuisine is naturally suited to serving large groups; its roots of ‘mezze’, a spread of small, shared dishes, make it a great option for catering to groups.
Hunter & Barrel’s group cooking guides are built for real home cooks, inspired by how restaurants handle group meals. They focus on timing, preparation, and control, demonstrating how good planning reduces stress and mistakes. This hub gives you the overview, then directs you to the blogs where each idea is applied to real group meals.
Fire cooking brings something special to group meals. It adds a smoky depth, and allows for a true ‘communal’ cooking and eating experience, encouraging guests to gather around the fire or BBQ, chat, and feast.
These guides cover a range of group dining information, as well as meal ideas for big groups, tips, and tricks to level up your skills in the kitchen. If you want to plan, cook, and host group meals better, check out our blogs.
Middle Eastern cuisine is centred around sharing. It’s generous, deeply flavourful, and perfect for long lunches and celebrations. The strength of serving Middle Eastern dishes lies in how they scale
From haphazard fire pits of ancient history to modern coal grills, the communal feast has always been something more than just a meal. A way to gather after a busy
A shared steak changes the vibe of a table. Instead of everyone ordering separately, one substantial cut arrives as the centrepiece. The group carves it away, the taste is a
Book a table at Hunter & Barrel across the UAE to experience a night of flame-fired food, share-style dining, set in a low lit, lively environment. This is food at its best.