How can i Plan the Perfect Dinner Party
March 9th, 2010 | by oneway |Dinner parties are designed to be very enjoyable, but they may also be a source of stress and disgruntlement for the cook. The way to prevent this is thru considered planning.
obviously you will give careful thought to your visitors, their likes, dislikes and even any allergies they could have. But it is’s of similar importance to think about your own wishes what you want to cook and what you are good at.
It’s better by far to make dishes you are familiar with than to try something new as you are hoping to impress. The secret’s to make everything look simple, and the way to do that’s to use variations on recipes you already know backwards.
On the other hand, if that implies no improvement on spaghetti Bolognaise, another approach may be requested and a touch more planning might be needed. Select your recipes with care.
Decide really early on how many courses you intend to serve. It is in no fashion essential to serve three courses plus cheese simply because that tends to be the standard. But if you do decide to follow that convention there are few things it’d be useful to consider.
Avoid, for instance, employing the same most important ingredient 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 deal with both preparing and serving the food. If your menu means that you’re going to need to spend a little more time in the kitchen than you do with your visitors, you need to re-think
Design your courses so that as much as humanly possible can be prepared ahead. A straightforward way to do that’s to serve only 1 hot dish, maybe the main course, one course at a comfortable temperature and one straight from the fridge. The cheese can look after itself.
talking of which, here is something you might like to think about. In Australia and the United Kingdom, cheese is served at the end of the meal. In France it is served prior to the dessert. I suggest the second course.
The reason for that is as it puts the timing strongly 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 until you are prepared to bring the evening to a close. Then serve the dessert with only one bottle of good pudding wine, having cleared all the other dishes, including the cheese board.
You do this by bringing two dishes to the table, and taking several dishes away as if to make room for more. With a little bit of practice you will become awfully adroit at this and the table will clear as if by sorcery.
Once the pudding is finished, select your time to supply coffee and a last nightcap of port or brandy, if that is what you would typically do. Most guests will understand the coffee implies the end of the evening and won’t even remember that you have manipulated the timing in this manner. And even if they are they will probably admire you for it and adopt the same system themselves.
Above all, remember that everything you serve has turned out just as it was meant to. Never ever create 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/