Side dish ideas for a large cookout crowd? Cooking

My father-in-law has asked my husband and I to prepare the food for a large end-of-summer cookout for the regional professional group (dentists) for which he is president. We own a large smoker and my husband plans to do pulled pork and ribs and probably some cheeses in the smoker. We haven't yet given much thought to the additional side dishes, drinks, and dessert, so I'd like to gather some ideas to propose to my FIL so I can start planning and shopping.

The last time we discussed it, I believe we were talking about a possibility of 40 people. The gathering would take place at our property: we share a large country property with my in-laws and my FIL would like to rent a tent and tables from an event company. Between the two houses, we would have access to three chest freezers, four refrigerators and four ovens/stoves (both houses have two kitchens), so making things ahead and freezing them would be great and preparation space is probably not a concern.

I'm thinking we probably need some sort of vegetable and some sort of potato/carb/starch dish at the very least. Probably more, if possible. Since this is a group of doctors, I'd prefer if at least some of the offering was reasonably healthy, as they tend to be more conscious of that (or at least my in-laws certainly are). There will also be vegetarians in the crowd (myself included) and I am unsure if we should prepare a separate main course or not. My FIL is planning to write everything off as a business expense, so I'm not horribly concerned with costs, but I'd like to be reasonable and not frivolous with someone else's money.

I've cooked for large dinner parties of up to twenty before, but never with the added element of eating outdoors with the potential for hot weather. If I'm unsure about a dish, I do plan to scale it down and do a trial run beforehand. I'm a planner, and already plan to make a schedule and to-do list, so anything I can add to that would be helpful as well.

Here are a few things we've discussed as options:

1. My husband has smoked whole potatoes before, but only once. They were good, but I worry about a few things. Specifically, he hasn't done it enough times to know the technique with certainty, and that there would be too many "smoky" things on the menu if we're also serving the meat and cheeses this way.

2. I make a mashed potato dish with cream cheese that is easy to make ahead and freeze and can be infinitely scaled to feed a large crowd, but am not sure if mashed potatoes are really a great fit for this meal?

3. Coleslaw: either traditional or an asian style with a soy-based dressing and crunchy sesame seed topping. Both of these I've made many times, and the vegetables and dressing can be ready ahead of time and mixed for serving on an as-needed basis as the evening goes on to prevent sogginess and excess leftovers. I have the added bonus of about ten heads of cabbage in my garden that will probably be ready for picking at about this time if I can keep the groundhog away...

This is as far as we've discussed because we just haven't had the time to sit and talk about it lately. I am still in need of a dessert or two and would like to find the fine line between simple and still fancy enough for a professional dinner (for example, nicer than cookies and brownies, but I'm probably not going to make 5 cheesecakes that day either). I should probably give some thought to beverages, and can get large coffee and drink carafes from our church. I'm open to any and all recipes, preparation suggestions, and tips you may have. I hope I've answered any questions about the possible variables, but if I've left out any important details, please let me know. Thanks!

Submitted August 24, 2017 at 07:34PM by megnolia84 http://ift.tt/2xvPIwF Cooking