The encyclopaedia of gravy
A Guinness World Record roast dinner for 1,632 people was held in Peterborough on 22 February 2009, using 264 litres of gravy alongside roast beef, potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.
The largest simultaneous roast dinner was served to 1,632 people in Peterborough on 22 February 2009. The meal comprised roast beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, vegetables and 264 litres of gravy.
The gravy arithmetic¶
264 litres across 1,632 diners works out at roughly 162 ml a head — which, pleasingly, is almost exactly the quantity this site recommends. The standing advice throughout Gravypedia is a minimum of 150 ml per person, rising for a plate with Yorkshire puddings on it.
Whoever costed this event knew what they were doing.
What 264 litres actually involves¶
Scaling from the ratios in large-batch gravy — 60 g of fat and 60 g of flour per litre — a batch this size needs in the region of 16 kg of flour and 16 kg of fat, and something over 260 litres of stock.
More to the point, it needs to be hot at the moment 1,632 plates go out. Holding gravy at temperature is the hard part of any large service, and the reason this site recommends vacuum flasks and bains-marie over reheating — see keeping gravy warm.
At that scale the other lesson from large-batch gravy applies too: seasoning does not scale linearly. Salt compounds badly in a big batch, and a gravy seasoned by multiplying a domestic recipe by 1,632 would be inedible.
Source¶
- Largest simultaneous roast dinner — Guinness World Records