Editor’s Note: Miles says this counts as news, so we’re running it.

This afternoon marks the soft launch of my next project. The working title is Cooking for the Crowd, and it grew out of something I hadn’t expected.

It actually started with The Rogues’ Galley, the remarkable compact kitchen Bill Reddig designed for Kelvinator back in 1966. The idea was simple: a surprisingly small workspace could accomplish remarkable things if everything had a purpose.

That turns out to be how we cook around here.

The Conference Room fills up after Production. People wander through before meetings, after meetings, between crises, and sometimes just because they smell something simmering.

Nobody arrives on schedule.

Everybody arrives hungry.

So the trick isn’t preparing one magnificent meal.

It’s building components that keep producing meals all day. The broth that starts goes soup or stew before the next big pot begins to simmer. I use the Duxtop Induction Cooktops next to the buffet server unit that gives me space to corral and serve four sides or extra cooktops as needed.
.

Rule Number One:
Always have a big pot of something decent simmering.

For me, that starts with beef bones.

When my friends at Vibrant Farm in Bantam, Connecticut, have marrow bones on sale, I buy a couple of boxes and fill the freezer.

This isn’t an advertisement and there is no fiduciary violation to something you might not have considered for modest bulk purchase. .

It’s logistics.

Good stock becomes broth.
Broth becomes soup.

Soup becomes stew.

Stew becomes tomorrow’s pasta sauce.

The leftovers become lunch.

One afternoon of preparation quietly supports three days of feeding people.

That’s how you keep a rotating platoon of Creative, Production, Finance, and assorted Useful Idiots smiling instead of frowning.

The recipes come later.

The strategy comes first.

And that is what this book is really about.

Cooking for the Crowd

Recipes.

Organization.

Kitchen logistics.

Feeding people without losing your mind.

Copyright © 2026 Vic Socotra

www.vicsocotra.com