We are having ~20 people over tomorrow for my son's 2nd birthday. Menu is fajitas, homemade guac, etc. It is going to be 101 degrees tomorrow and I would ideally prefer to cook the meat right before people arrive and then throw the meat in the oven to keep warm so I can get in the shower and we can eat about 45 minutes later. I know it would be far better to eat the meat right off the grill, but any recommendations on keeping beef and chicken fajitas warm and moist for 45 minutes? Hopefully, what I am suggesting is not heresy, just don't want to be sweating bullets while others are trying to eat.
Since you are not reheating the meat before serving then you just need to maintain a minimum serving temperature of 140 for the 45 minute holding period. Keeping the meat unsliced will help maintain the moisture content but then you have to pull it and slice it before serving. The chicken, especially the breast is the main worry. What I have done in similar situations is to go ahead and slice the meat and mix in a butter based sauce with the meat juices, and then cover the pan in foil and hold it at serving temp. The butter sauce will enhance the flavor of the meat and help prevent it from drying out. I typically make up a tequila-lime butter sauce with some unsalted butter, tequila, lime juice, minced garlic, chopped cilantro and salt to taste. A splash of soy sauce with a reduction or elimination of salt is very good although non-traditional, but then so is the whole notion of a fajita equipped chicken. You may prefer to skip the tequila for the sake of the 2 year old crowd or do something entirely different. Good luck to you.
Wrap up the meat in tin foil as soon as it's off the grill. Then put it in a 200ish oven, with a pan of water below it. The oven/foil will keep the meat warm, and the water pan will keep the air inside the over moist enough to keep the meat from drying out.
I know the party has already taken place, but in these situations I simply undercook the meat. I sear the **** out of the beef, but pull it before it's done. Then I either finish in the oven, or more often just come back and give it all a quick reheat on the grill itself. However I usually just sear the stuff and move it to indirect lower heat which would give you the 6 minutes required for a man to shower, shave and change prior to the arrival of guests.
........for future reference, you can put it in an aluminum pan, wrap it, and put the whole thing in an igloo cooler where it will stay at almost the same temperature as when you took it off the grill for at least a couple of hours.
