Dinner parties! They can be so much fun and bring so much joy to friends and family that are meeting and enjoying time together, eating, drinking and talking. But, in many cases it can be a stressful time for the hosts, especially if doing all of the cooking. My wife and I host a lot of dinner parties and I feel lucky to be a chef and able to take care of the cooking. I have never personally been stressed about hosting a lot of people. That comes in part because of my chef training, but it also has to do with logic. I’ve never thought of hosting 20 people as much different than hosting 4 people. It’s just greater volume.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when the guest list increases:
- Cook what you know with ingredients you are comfortable with: This is not the time to experiment with recipes you are unfamiliar with, or with ingredients you haven’t used before. Cook something you are confident in making.
- Understand the cookware: Think of it in relationship to the volume of food you are making. If you are hosting 4 people and are sautéing vegetables in a pan, think of how you would manage cooking the same vegetables if the number of guests were 20. You might need to switch to cooking in the oven, or think of another dish that might be simpler to serve to more people. When cooking for many, don’t get stuck on the dish, rather decide on what you will be able to cook simply at higher quantity, and decide what to make accordingly.
- Focus on the balance of the meal: Use light with heavy, sweet with sour, soft with crunchy. Mix it up. Is the appetizer heavy, creamy and soft, make the main course light, flavorful with some crunch. Check out my Duck Confit Crostini recipe!
- Prepare: Slice, dice, precook, and do as much prep work as possible. Can you do the dessert ahead of time? Great. Make sure you have all ingredients ready before you start cooking, don’t be slicing and dicing once you have started cooking. The only thing you should be concentrating on once you start cooking, is cooking!
- Set the dinner table ahead of time: Plates, silverware, napkins, candles, music playlist. This can be done the night before.
- Anticipate how long this will take you: Go through each dish in your mind, figure out how long this will take you and then add 30 - 45 minutes. Something might go wrong – anticipate and build in some extra time.
- Relax, breathe and enjoy: This is supposed to be a fun night, don’t let stress take over. Open a good bottle of wine, put on some music and enjoy cooking!
Every dinner party I have hosted is different. Different company, food, atmosphere, but they all have the same thing in common—the gratitude we receive from guests for being willing to host and cook at home.
So, polish your favorite silverware and break out the fine china, invite some people over for a dinner party, and let me know if my tips helped you in your preparation.
Have fun and enjoy.
Björn
