Planning the Big Feed
Over the years, I’ve catered a lot of dinners – fancy dinners, family dinners, fund-raising dinners, retreat meals – usually with Scouts or church kids. It’s a daunting task, and not just because of the technical problems of cooking that much food for that many people. People who don’t do a lot of cooking struggle to come up with a good menu for an occasion, one that covers all the bases to the general satisfaction of the diners. So this post is about the concept of a big dinner, and the parts thereof.
THE ENTRÉE
The dinner is built around the entrée, typically a meat course, such as turkey or ham or roast beef. A serving of meat is about a quarter pound, pre-cooked – if you’re preparing the plate to serve tableside. If you’re serving buffet style, figure up to a half pound of meat per person, since you have ceded portion control to the hungriest diners. Sometimes, you get a request for a dinner with two meats. In such cases, you can’t just do 50% ham and 50% turkey (e.g.). Do 75% ham (by the generous portion) and 75% turkey, at least. And adjust your price accordingly.
A composed entrée plate typically consists of a meat and two veg, in which one vegetable will be a starch (potatoes, rice, beans . . .) and one a garden vegetable or combination of the same. Certain entrees, like lasagne, are full of starch themselves (and are very filling besides) and warrant only a single garden veg to balance the plate. If you are serving a big salad, that can sometimes function as a garden veg, but for a fancier dinner, salad is its own course (see below). Certain dinners of the feast variety – like the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which is a celebration of plenty – may have more than two sides; likewise, buffets often offer more than two sides in order to increase the diners’ choices.
Some sort of bread is usually offered as a complement to the entrée. The bread is used to sop up tasty bits and push food onto forks. It can be simple sliced bread, with butter. If you’re going German with your entrée, you might go for rye bread; Irish calls for soda bread. Fancier dinners will often have rolls of some sort or breadsticks. The bread is sometimes served at the beginning of the meal (or already on the table); sometimes it comes with the entrée.
Once you have determined the main course, the other parts of the meal are chosen to play off its strengths or supplement its weaknesses.
DESSERT
Desserts come in all sorts. Heavier desserts include pies and cakes, while crème puffs and parfaits feel lighter. If you have a heavy entrée, consider a lighter dessert. When I have served lasagne, which people tend to eat till they are stuffed, I have usually gone for a light dessert. Certain desserts are considered seasonal, like pumpkin pie. Chocolate is a great favorite among all kinds of desserts, but it is a heavy and bitter flavor and pairs well with less strong entrees. Sometimes, something with fruit gives you a brighter sweetness to end the meal on. Frequently, people ask for two or more desserts to choose between.
Once you have nailed down both entrée and dessert, the theme of the meal is emerging. You will find yourself sizing up preliminary courses based on how well they play with the established courses.
PRELIMINARIES
Most dinners have a soup or salad; formal dinners have both. I’m not much of a soup eater, myself, but a lot of people are, and soup makes the meal more of a tour or conversation as opposed to a quick fill-up. There are clear soups and thick soups, soups with bold flavors and soups with delicate flavors. Consider your choices over against the entrée and dessert to provide balance to the meal. If a particular theme is emerging, your choice of soup may become obvious as a trio with your entrée and dessert.
Salads, too, come in various forms. There are your light, bright salads with iceberg lettuce, acidic tomatoes, and oil-and-vinegar-based dressings. There are spinach-y salads with darker flavors – say, a mustard-based dressing, or with feta cheese. There are jello salads, fruit salads, pasta salads. Some of these are able to play a role as part of the entrée plate, in which case the preliminary salad shrinks to that of an appetizer.
Many church and Scout dinners will begin with a salad ready at the place setting, or served immediately upon sitting down. More formal dinners will have an appetizer course of some sort ready at the place setting, and the salad will follow later. Dinners that involve a gathering time and party conversation before the meal is served may move the appetizer course to a buffet table. There may be a punch bowl (see drinks, below).
The order of service of the preliminaries goes as follows. For a party, one starts with punch and appetizers in an open area away from where dinner will be served. When dinner is called for, the diners sit down to a salad (or appetizer, if no punch bowl) waiting for them at each place setting, or salad is served as soon as grace is said. There may be bread already on the table, or coming with the salad. Soup and drink orders follow while people are tasting their first course(s).
After a while, soup bowls and appetizer/salad plates are cleared, and the entrée plate is served. Bread may be refreshed. Drinks are renewed. Time goes by and eventually, entrée plates are cleared and dessert is served.
DRINKS
A buffet or simple meal will have all its drinks available at once from the beginning. A more involved meal will have different drinks available throughout the experience. One might start with a punch. Water glasses may be filled and waiting, or pitchers of water available as soon as diners are seated. Other drink choices (iced tea, milk for children, coffee) are offered early in the meal and refreshed when the entrée is served. Coffee may be asked for earlier, but is specifically offered when dessert is served, as the bitter beverage pairs well with the sweet ending to the meal.
A fancy-schmancy meal would have various wines, beers, etc. paired with each of the courses. When one is cooking in a Scout or church environment, or doing the usual fund-raiser, one doesn’t bother with these. For other kinds of dinners, the thing to remember is to start with lighter, less potent drinks and work your way down to heavier, stronger ones.
RECAP
So, the typical order in which one consumes a dinner would be:
THE ENTRÉE
The dinner is built around the entrée, typically a meat course, such as turkey or ham or roast beef. A serving of meat is about a quarter pound, pre-cooked – if you’re preparing the plate to serve tableside. If you’re serving buffet style, figure up to a half pound of meat per person, since you have ceded portion control to the hungriest diners. Sometimes, you get a request for a dinner with two meats. In such cases, you can’t just do 50% ham and 50% turkey (e.g.). Do 75% ham (by the generous portion) and 75% turkey, at least. And adjust your price accordingly.
A composed entrée plate typically consists of a meat and two veg, in which one vegetable will be a starch (potatoes, rice, beans . . .) and one a garden vegetable or combination of the same. Certain entrees, like lasagne, are full of starch themselves (and are very filling besides) and warrant only a single garden veg to balance the plate. If you are serving a big salad, that can sometimes function as a garden veg, but for a fancier dinner, salad is its own course (see below). Certain dinners of the feast variety – like the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which is a celebration of plenty – may have more than two sides; likewise, buffets often offer more than two sides in order to increase the diners’ choices.
Some sort of bread is usually offered as a complement to the entrée. The bread is used to sop up tasty bits and push food onto forks. It can be simple sliced bread, with butter. If you’re going German with your entrée, you might go for rye bread; Irish calls for soda bread. Fancier dinners will often have rolls of some sort or breadsticks. The bread is sometimes served at the beginning of the meal (or already on the table); sometimes it comes with the entrée.
Once you have determined the main course, the other parts of the meal are chosen to play off its strengths or supplement its weaknesses.
DESSERT
Desserts come in all sorts. Heavier desserts include pies and cakes, while crème puffs and parfaits feel lighter. If you have a heavy entrée, consider a lighter dessert. When I have served lasagne, which people tend to eat till they are stuffed, I have usually gone for a light dessert. Certain desserts are considered seasonal, like pumpkin pie. Chocolate is a great favorite among all kinds of desserts, but it is a heavy and bitter flavor and pairs well with less strong entrees. Sometimes, something with fruit gives you a brighter sweetness to end the meal on. Frequently, people ask for two or more desserts to choose between.
Once you have nailed down both entrée and dessert, the theme of the meal is emerging. You will find yourself sizing up preliminary courses based on how well they play with the established courses.
PRELIMINARIES
Most dinners have a soup or salad; formal dinners have both. I’m not much of a soup eater, myself, but a lot of people are, and soup makes the meal more of a tour or conversation as opposed to a quick fill-up. There are clear soups and thick soups, soups with bold flavors and soups with delicate flavors. Consider your choices over against the entrée and dessert to provide balance to the meal. If a particular theme is emerging, your choice of soup may become obvious as a trio with your entrée and dessert.
Salads, too, come in various forms. There are your light, bright salads with iceberg lettuce, acidic tomatoes, and oil-and-vinegar-based dressings. There are spinach-y salads with darker flavors – say, a mustard-based dressing, or with feta cheese. There are jello salads, fruit salads, pasta salads. Some of these are able to play a role as part of the entrée plate, in which case the preliminary salad shrinks to that of an appetizer.
Many church and Scout dinners will begin with a salad ready at the place setting, or served immediately upon sitting down. More formal dinners will have an appetizer course of some sort ready at the place setting, and the salad will follow later. Dinners that involve a gathering time and party conversation before the meal is served may move the appetizer course to a buffet table. There may be a punch bowl (see drinks, below).
The order of service of the preliminaries goes as follows. For a party, one starts with punch and appetizers in an open area away from where dinner will be served. When dinner is called for, the diners sit down to a salad (or appetizer, if no punch bowl) waiting for them at each place setting, or salad is served as soon as grace is said. There may be bread already on the table, or coming with the salad. Soup and drink orders follow while people are tasting their first course(s).
After a while, soup bowls and appetizer/salad plates are cleared, and the entrée plate is served. Bread may be refreshed. Drinks are renewed. Time goes by and eventually, entrée plates are cleared and dessert is served.
DRINKS
A buffet or simple meal will have all its drinks available at once from the beginning. A more involved meal will have different drinks available throughout the experience. One might start with a punch. Water glasses may be filled and waiting, or pitchers of water available as soon as diners are seated. Other drink choices (iced tea, milk for children, coffee) are offered early in the meal and refreshed when the entrée is served. Coffee may be asked for earlier, but is specifically offered when dessert is served, as the bitter beverage pairs well with the sweet ending to the meal.
A fancy-schmancy meal would have various wines, beers, etc. paired with each of the courses. When one is cooking in a Scout or church environment, or doing the usual fund-raiser, one doesn’t bother with these. For other kinds of dinners, the thing to remember is to start with lighter, less potent drinks and work your way down to heavier, stronger ones.
RECAP
So, the typical order in which one consumes a dinner would be:
punch or cocktails (opt.)That said, when one is designing the big feed, one starts in the middle, thus:
Appetizer (opt.)
Salad and initial drinks
Bread in here somewhere
Soup
Entrée
Drinks and Bread refreshed
Dessert and coffee
Entrée and sides
Bread
Dessert
Preliminaries
Drinks