Mercy Chefs prepare Thanksgiving meal for Middletown, California

Mercy One, Mercy Chefs' first
mobile kitchen, is ready to
serve 500 Thanksgiving dinners
in Middletown.

Mercy Chefs returned to Middletown, California, to serve Thanksgiving dinner Saturday afternoon. A team of chefs from California, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma and Virginia converged on the town to prepare the holiday meal for over 500 townspeople. Middletown was devastated by the 76,000-acre Valley Fire in late September.

Dozens of volunteer chefs stand ready to deploy at a moment's notice to the scene of wildland fires, floods, tornado and hurricanes throughout the United States. They deploy with a mobile kitchen, ready to deliver quality meals to the victims of a natural or man-made disaster. The meals are offered free of charge to anyone who asks.

"In a disaster area to share that meal with somebody is an incredibly powerful tool just to encourage them," said Gary LeBlanc in a 2013 video. Chef LeBlanc is the president and founder of Mercy Chefs

Chef Lisa presented a wonderful
buffet centerpiece.

Mercy Chefs has a tradition of sharing a chef-prepared holiday meal with those who have lost so much in recent disasters. The chefs provide a hot meal, complete with turkey, ham, stuffing and all the fixin's, along with an encouraging word and prayer, to those as they rebuild their lives. This is Mercy Chefs' way of reminding the victims of such devastation that they are not forgotten.

Thanksgiving dinner for Middletown was served from a colorful buffet table under a large white tent. Unlike disaster feeding, where the meal is served out of the mobile kitchen in to-go containers, this meal gave the chefs to present the same meal as they would have done at a catered holiday event. Diners enjoyed linen tablecloths and a pleasant fall day in the mid-70s.

Chef Peter of South Carolina was the lead chef for the meal. He led a team of four chefs over two days of preparation and panning to prepare the Thanksgiving meal, which was served from the buffet over a period of three hours. The team included chef Lisa from Oklahoma, chef Buddy from North Carolina and chef Steven from California.

The menu is presented as it was planned by chef Peter. Some 480 pounds of whole turkeys and over 60 pounds of ham were used for the meal.

MERCY CHEFS' THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION FOR
THE TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN, CALIFORNIA

SALAD

Mixed baby greens with roasted baby tomatoes, mandarin oranges
& slivered almonds tossed in a  citrus vinaigrette

MAIN COURSE

Roast whole turkey with gravy

Ham with an orange honey glaze

Andouille sausage & apple cornbread stuffing

Sweet & spicy cranberry compote

Roasted acorn squash with raisins & brown sugar

Mashed potatoes with pureed cauliflower & skin-on bliss potatoes with Parmesan

Green beans with mushrooms in a soy sauce balsamic reduction

Whole wheat dinner rolls

DESSERTS

Pumpkin tart with caramel

Apple cobbler with pecans

BEVERAGES

Apple juice

Bottled water