Dinner parties. It’s the season for beautiful, elegant dinner parties, as well as fun, boozy family
When you agree to host a dinner party, you have a menu to consider. You don’t just throw in some ramen and hot dogs and hope everyone enjoys themselves, not at a dinner party. A dinner party holds a little more elegance and class. Coming up with the menu for a dinner party isn’t always simple, though. You would normally cook a meal based on your tastes and what you enjoy, but when you have a dinner party to host, it’s other people that you need to consider. Their tastes, their aversions, their beliefs surrounding food. You also want your menu to have an excellent result, leaving people talking about it for weeks afterward. There are so many things that you should consider about your menu, including;
- Number of guests
- Number of courses to serve
- Dietary restrictions of your guests
- Availability of ingredients
- Preparation time
It’s like piecing together a puzzle and getting that puzzle right is vital to the success of your dinner party. Normally, you’d have a starting point for your menu. Some people think about the main course first and build the rest of their menu around it. Perhaps you want to buy a beautiful piece of salmon from Citarella, or you have a leg of lamb ready and prepared in the refrigerator but it’s too big just for you. Once you know what your main dish will be, you can start to think about how you want to dress it, what you want to start and end with and whether you want sorbet between courses. There’s also the chance that one of your guests is going to be honored as part of your dinner party, and if so, you may want to cook their favourite thing!
So, let’s go through the list of things that you should think about before your dinner party evening arrives:
1. Style
Do you have a cuisine in mind for your dinner party? You don’t necessarily need a theme, but it can be a fun way to build your menu. You also want to consider whether your dinner party is going to be a posh, sit-down affair or you want to indulge in some finger foods. This is directly going to affect your menu, so think carefully before you decide.
2. Timing
There’s nothing worse than a host who runs to and from the kitchen and spends too much time away from the table. Timing your meal to perfection is important, and it’s where a good joint of meat or fish comes in handy – it can be timed correctly. Lasagna or pasta is another great main, as you can prepare it in advance before you sit down, so all you need to consider is serving guests. If there are steps or dishes that you can prepare a day or two ahead of time, do so to save yourself some time on the day of the big event.
3. Repetition of Ingredients
Have you ever been to a dinner party where two out of three courses have the same ingredients? If you serve fish for a starter, avoid a seafood main. If you serve a lemon sauce with your main, avoid a citrus dessert. However, when done correctly, the flip side of this is purposely creating a menu that centers around one particular ingredient, such as cheese. You can feature cheese in each course without the food looking or tasting the same. It’s not hard to do, but it is definitely fun! Or perhaps there is a particular spice that ties all of the dishes together, just make sure that it is subtle and not overwhelming.
4. Color
Think about what you want your meal to look like. You could even choose to practice the whole thing before the big night so that you can decide whether you have enough color in your menu. If you put chicken, mashed potato and cauliflower on a plate, you will have hit all the food groups but it would look like a very pasty white plate! It’s worth practicing so that you can ensure you have life on the plate as well as great flavors.
5. Temperature
Consider the time of year for your dinner party – no one is going to enjoy a heavy and warm meal like a stew in the summer months; it’s just too hot. You could also lay ahead a salad course before a cool temperature course, as this is a great introduction. Additionally, you want to make sure that your dishes are all prepared in a timely fashion so nothing that is supposed to be warm gets too cold. If the oven is not in use, it can be set on low and used a warming drawer of sorts to keep foods warm.
6. Balance of Flavours
As much as possible, don’t try to show off with your palette. You can have a lot of flavor without overloading the plate. Fatty cuts of meat require acidic tastes to complement them. Spicy foods require a cool element, such as sour cream with chili. Balancing the flavors across each course is going to be great for your guests and it will impress them with your knowledge of pairing complementary foods.
7. Familiarity
While trying new dishes is a good idea, it’s probably not the best thing to do at your first ever dinner party. If you’re unfamiliar with a dish, it could be disastrous at your table. Choose foods that you are familiar with, but if you want to be a rockstar host, practice a dish you don’t yet know before the party. Rely on the tried and true foods you already know, and you can add elements here and there to add a bit of flair.
8. Cost
Lastly, you should consider what you’re spending on your dinner party. Don’t forget to factor drinks – both alcoholic and
Your dinner party could be a fantastic time for all with some careful planning ahead. Do it right and you will be the talk of the town.
This is a contributor post, which has been reviewed and edited personally by me before being published. Links to external reviews are meant to provide additional ideas to readers and do not reflect my personal opinion or review of products.