A website to Plan the Perfect Dinner Party
Dinner parties are supposed to be very enjoyable, but they may also be a source of stress and disappointment for the cook. The way to get round this is thru considered planning.
obviously you will give careful thought to your guests, their likes, dislikes and even any allergies they might have. But it’s’s just as important to consider your own wants what you want to cook and what you are good at.
It’s better by far to form dishes you are acquainted with than to attempt something new because you hope to impress. The key’s to make everything look straightforward, and the way to do that’s to use variations on recipes you already know backwards.
On the other hand, if that suggests no improvement on spaghetti Bolognaise, another approach may be called for and a touch more planning may be required. Choose your recipes with care.
Decide very early on how many courses you plan to serve. It is in no way vital to serve three courses and cheese just because that has a tendency to be normal. But if you do decide to follow that convention there are just a few things it would be helpful to consider.
Avoid, for example, utilizing the same main component in more than one dish. I.e. Don’t serve a quiche followed by something else in pastry, or add a powerful flavor like chili to above one dish.
Plan, also, how you intend to cope with both preparing and serving the food. If your menu means that you will need to spend a little more time in the kitchen than you do with your guests, you need to re-think
Design your courses so that as much as humanly possible can be prepared in advance. A straightforward way to do that is to serve only 1 hot dish, perhaps the main course, one course at 70 degrees and one straight from the fridge. The cheese can look after itself.
speaking of which, here is something you might like to consider. In Australia and the United Kingdom, cheese is served at the end of the meal. In France it is served before the pudding. I recommend the latter course.
the reason behind that is because it puts the timing firmly in your hands as to when the meal is over and it’s time for the guests to go back home.
Let them linger over the cheese till you are ready to bring the evening to a close. Then serve the pudding with only 1 bottle of good pudding wine, having cleared all the other dishes, including the cheese board.
You do this by bringing 2 dishes to the table, and taking a couple of dishes away as if to create space for more. With a little bit of practice you’ll become awfully adroit at this and the table will clear as if by sorcery.
Once the pudding is finished, choose your time to supply coffee and a last nightcap of port or brandy, if that’s what you would normally do. Most guests will understand the coffee signifies the end of the evening and won’t even remember that you have manipulated the timing in this way. And even if they are , they will potentially admire you for it and adopt the same system themselves.
Above all, remember that everything you serve has turned out just as it was supposed to. Never ever come up with excuses or say sorry for your food.
Create it with conviction, serve it with panache.You can read more about dinner party planning here: http://www.partyplanninghelp-mark.com/dinner-party-planning/
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