Stress-free dinner parties

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Posted at 11:17AM, 16 May 2008 by Graham Holliday - Blogger

It's stressful, it shouldn't be, but it is. I love putting on dinner parties, but I find the blood pressure often rises in parallel with the temperature in the kitchen. Some people make it look so easy, even if they're putting their 'do' on on the London tube. For us regular Joes, it's invariably a bit of a 'mare.

It's the closest most of us get to understanding how it feels to run a restaurant for a night which is possibly why 'dinner clubs', 'pudding clubs' and exclusive 'food and wine events' are increasingly popular. They're like a dinner party, with a wee bit of uncertainty, a smidgen of anarchy, a whole lot of respect for food and wine, but you outsource the stress. All good reasons why I was glad to drop along to the Frontline Club's monthly Food and Wine event in London last month.

I work for the Frontline Club, and so you can take this all with a sack of salt if you want, but if it's stress free dining you want - this is your ticket. Malcolm Gluck selected the wines, talked about them and was very adept at drinking them while our table full of eager foodies valiantly attempted to stretch a range of adjectives beyond their limit in our wine tasting notes.

The outsourced stress was handled by chef John Taylor who rattled off four courses from Evesham Asparagus with poached egg through steamed organic salmon to rhubarb crumble and onto the cheese with a different wine to accompany each course - which on this evening at least - were all French, bar one Kiwi.

At any homespun dinner party, there's invariably one person who spends the entire evening trying desperately to enjoy themselves, often failing...

The food and wine were impeccable, but it was the stress-free environment that sealed the whole deal for me. At any homespun dinner party, there's invariably one person who spends the entire evening trying desperately to enjoy themselves, often failing, sometimes taking it out on the crockery or a medium sized vegetable and that person is of course, the cook.

Unless we're talking a cold meat, salad, blancmange and slab of cheddar cheese affair, there will always be one stressed individual sat at the table nervously nibbling the olives wondering whether the potatoes are boiling over and the chicken is burning. Can it be any other way?

Comments

James

16 May 2008, 12:39PM
James

I'm the guy in the kitchen making sure those potatoes are cooked perfectly and the meat is left resting but then served hot, leaving the hosts time to enjoy with the friends they'd invited. Leaving it to somone else is the way forward. But then I would say that...... Failing that a course in each house is always fun.

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AliceWalker

3 June 2008, 10:06AM
AliceWalker

I totally agree that dinner parties can end up being more trouble than they are worth! However, I have recently taken to doing literally everything in advance. That way, you do not have to become a crazed person darting in and out of the kitchen. Starter will often be olives, cold meats and smoked salmon - these can all be popped on a chopping board and served with bread and salad. Main Course - I like to make a lasagne the night before and then pop in the oven on the day. It always tastes better the next day anyway! Pudding - whatever the desert, you can generally make it the day before and refridgerate. Job done.

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