A site to Plan the Perfect Dinner Party

Dinner parties are meant to be very enjoyable, but they can also be a source of stress and disgruntlement for the cook. The way to get round this is through well thought out planning.

obviously you may give careful thought to your guests, their likes, dislikes and even any allergies they could have. But it’s’s equally as critical to consider your own wishes what you want to cook and what you are good at.

It’s better by far to create dishes you are familiar with than to attempt something new because you are hoping to impress. The secret’s to make everything look easy, and the way to do that is to use differentiations on recipes you already know backwards.

On the other hand, if that means no improvement on spaghetti Bolognaise, another approach could be called for and a touch more planning might be needed. Choose your recipes with care.

Decide really early on how many courses you intend to serve. It is in no way vital to serve 3 courses and cheese just because that is normal. But if you do decide to follow that convention there are few things it might be helpful to consider.

Avoid, for example, employing 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 robust flavor like chili to over one dish.

Plan, also, how you intend to cope with both preparing and serving the food. If your menu means that you’re going to need to spend longer in the kitchen than you do with your visitors, you need to reconsider

Design your courses so that as much as is possible can be prepared ahead. An easy way to do that’s to serve just one hot dish, maybe the main course, one course at 70 degrees and one straight from the fridge. The cheese can look after itself.

talking 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 dessert. I would recommend the latter course.

the cause of that’s because it puts the timing firmly in your hands as to when the meal is over and it’s time for the guests to return home.

Let them linger over the cheese until you are prepared to bring the evening to a close. Then serve the dessert with just one 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 several dishes away as if to make way for more. With a little practice you will become very adroit at this and the table will clear as if by wizardry.

Once the pudding is finished, choose your time to offer coffee and a final nightcap of port or brandy, if that’s what you would normally do. Most guests will understand that 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 may 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 supposed to. Never ever create excuses or apologize 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/