rude for guests to add their own condiments?

moonmaiden90

For dinner, we're serving one meat and one vegetarian option, plus salad, rolls, and sides. We wanted chicken marsala for the meat dish, but the final price is above our budget. I don't want to serve boring, dry, baked chicken, but that's what's in our budget. Would it be rude to set out bottles of bbq and honey mustard sauce for the guests to dress the chicken themselves if they so desire? Is that something you can even do once the chicken is already cooked? (My fiance and I have been vegetarians since we were kids and have no idea if this is even something that *can* be done, much less *should*).
Or should I just serve the ham, which is the same price as baked chicken and already has it's own flavor, but might not be as universally enjoyed as chicken?

Please educate me on meat-eating. I really don't want to make a fool of myself or serve awful food!
For some background, it's buffet-style, and we're having an informal barn reception with outdoor activities and lots of family togetherness time, but we did try to class it up a bit by renting china. 
Thanks, everyone!

mysticl

There is no reason to assume that the baked chicken is dry or boring unless you have had a friend try it for you and they told you that.  The venue would probably have an issue with you putting mustard and bbq sauce on the table and some people may find it odd.  

If you are only serving one meat option I would go with chicken instead of ham.  Like you said it is more universally enjoyed.  

Fairyjen1

    Do you HAVE to have meat? If I were going to a wedding where the bride and groom were both vegetarians I wouldn't expect meat. Not eating meat for one meal won't kill most people (note I said most, I realize there are people out there who can't digest vegetables). I get they may grumble a bit, but you can host a perfectly delicious vegetarian meal that even carnivores will find tasty. I'm not criticizing you or anything. I was just wondering why you didn't consider a veterinarian wedding. 

   Then again, I eat mostly vegetarian (although I would'nt claim to be one) and live in CA where it's easy to get delicious vegetarian food so maybe I'm biased. 

emmyg65

Are you asking if you can bring in your own sauces, not have sauces as part of your catering package? Because yeah, that's a little odd. But it's not weird to work with your caterer to provide a sauce that will sit on the buffet right near the meat it's intended for. That's how our buffet was set up because we had a pig roast with two types of barbecue sauce.

Maggie0829

I'm sorry but roasted chicken is really juicy and tasty if done right.  So don't automatically think that it will be dry and boring.  I'm sorry but two vegetarians should really not be the one's to make a decision about the meat option.  If you don't eat it then you really can't judge it.  So if you want a meat option then I suggest you ask a meat eating friend or family member to taste the options and give you their opinion.  The chicken would be more of a universal pick over the ham though.

But if the chicken is cooked correctly then a au jus sauce is really all that will be needed.

casey8784

What Maggie said. Also, (if a PP already said this and I missed it, sorry!) not as many people eat ham a they do chicken so that might be a bit tricky one to do if that's the only meat offered. Honestly, like another PP said, if I went to a wedding where the bride and groom are vegetarians, I wouldn't go expecting to eat meat, though it would be a pleasant surprise, I'd be just as happy with yummy non-meat entrees.

daria24

1. Definitely do chicken instead of ham.

2. Are you doing baked chicken breasts? Grilled chicken? Roasted whole chicken? Is there an option to get rotisserie half chickens? I am not a huge chicken eater, but I like rotisserie best. Even without sauce, it has a lot of flavor.

3. It's fine to put out condiments so people can add their own, as long as your caterer is OK with it. I personally would need to throw some BBQ sauce on plain baked chicken to eat it. I'd probably actually skip the chicken and eat the veggie option anyway.

LarraO2530

I agree with PP, ask friends or family who do eat meat to taste it for you. I would imagine that the baked chicken would have some sort of seasoning, especially if it's a caterer who is providing the food. Personally, I'm not a chef, nor do I cater, but I do love to cook and have some creative ways of flavoring up my baked chicken, whether I'm serving breasts or a whole roasted chicken, it's always a winner.

theartistformerlyknownas

Definitely have someone taste it. Definitely go chicken rather than ham, as a lot of people don't eat pork but do eat chicken.

It's not rude to have guests dress their own chicken (no different than putting your own ketchup on a burger) but it's weird. Especially the honey mustard - that's normally to dip, not to pour over like a sauce. I personally hate cold BBQ sauce... I'll only eat it if it's been baked onto the chicken.

What's going with your chicken - pasta or potatoes? And is the chicken breaded? Could you maybe have one warm dish of either marinara (breaded with pasta, like chicken parm) or gravy (with potatoes) that people could ladle on if they wanted? Those would be far less weird than random bottles of BBQ sauce.

If you do set out sauces, please put it in nice bowls with spoons rather than bottles.

[Deleted User]

Ham is a great option too, and something different from the traditional go to meat of chicken but still something that would please the majority.

Maggie0829

Erikan73 said:

Ham is a great option too, and something different from the traditional go to meat of chicken but still something that would please the majority.

I disagree with this.  A lot of people do not eat pork, whether because they don't like it or it is against their religion.  That is why pork isn't a widely used option for events.

mysticl

Maggie0829 said:

Erikan73 said:

Ham is a great option too, and something different from the traditional go to meat of chicken but still something that would please the majority.

I disagree with this.  A lot of people do not eat pork, whether because they don't like it or it is against their religion.  That is why pork isn't a widely used option for events.

Also, ham can be salty so people will avoid it for health reasons.