There are many people who avoid certain foods not because of taste but for religious or health reasons. If your guest warns you they’re allergic to nuts that’s pretty easy to grasp. But what if they tell you that they’re vegan or coeliac, or you know they’re Muslim or pregnant? This doesn’t actually tell you exactly what they can and can’t eat. So here’s a guide to help you. If your guest has very strict religious beliefs best ask them too, as there are a few stipulations observed by the most orthodox followers that I haven’t listed.
Don’t serve them… |
Notes |
|
Candida (yeast intolerance) sufferers |
Bread, mushrooms, fermented drinks |
|
Coeliacs |
Anything made from wheat or rye |
Buy gluten-free products. Remember to avoid pasta and beer |
Diabetics |
Excess salt or sugar |
|
Hindus |
Meat (especially beef) and fish, eggs |
|
Hypertension sufferers |
Salt |
|
Lactose intolerant people |
Dairy products |
Ask if goats’ milk is OK. Read ingredients – loads of things contain milk powder or whey, including some margarines |
Muslims |
Alcohol, pork (including bacon, lard etc), non-halal meat, fish without fins or scales (eg shellfish), carnivorous animals |
Avoid gelatine – use a vegetarian substitute |
Orthodox Jews |
Non-kosher meat and meat derivatives, pork, fish without fins or scales, cochineal. Don’t serve meat and milk at the same meal, or meat and fish. |
Avoid gelatine – use a vegetarian substitute |
Pregnant women |
Raw or partially cooked eggs, meat or poultry, liver, paté, soft cheese, blue cheese. Use chillis, garlic and rosemary only in moderation. |
Wash fruit and salad vegetables thoroughly |
Sikhs |
Halal and kosher meat, alcohol |
|
Vegans |
Meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, honey |
Avoid gelatine – use a vegetarian substitute. You can buy vegan substitues for most dairy products |
Vegetarians |
Meat or fish |
Avoid gelatine – use a vegetarian substitute. You can buy vegan substitues for most dairy products |
So you’ve got people coming to dinner and you want to give them wine. Good for you. But it can be worrying if you don’t know much about it and they’re keen drinkers. You don’t want to get it wrong. So here are a couple of simple guidelines to keep you safe.
• Don’t buy the very cheapest. The reason is obvious: duty is based on volume, unlike VAT which is based on price. So on a cheap bottle there’s not much value in the wine; as the price rises, so does the quality. You can get a drinkable bottle for £2.95, but if you go up to £5.95 the chancellor doesn’t get any more money but you get a much better drink.
• Buy from a big wine chain or a supermarket. Never before in history has there been such a range of good wines available at such low prices. Companies like Tesco and Oddbins can scour the world, buy in huge quantities, and are fiercely competitive. You may get an uninteresting wine but you won’t get a bad one. And you can get something pretty good without going into double figures.
Rule of thumb
You’re safe with the traditional ‘red with meat, white with fish’ rule. However if you can stretch to a bottle of each, the guests can choose for themselves. Treat rosé as white.
• Broadly speaking you should serve red wine at room temperature and white chilled. Bring red out of a chilly larder about 6 hours before drinking.
• Nearly all wines benefit from being opened about 12 hours before drinking.
• Small bits of cork can be removed from the glass with a teaspoon, more severe crumbling may need a fine strainer or even the full muslin cloth/funnel/decanter treatment.
• Don’t play popguns with champagne corks. Remove the cork slowly with an unscrewing action, holding it down. Tilt the glass as you serve to minimise froth.
• If you recork an opened bottle fairly tightly it may keep for three or four days, or even longer. This isn’t recommended for fine wines, though even these can be better the next day.
Rule of thumb
The classic rule is never to let your guest’s glass be less than 1/2 full or more than 1/2 full, but I’ve never met any host who has ever achieved this.
Chef’s tip
You can freeze leftover wine to use later in cooking.
Your guest has just asked for a G&T, or a whisky sour. You never drink it yourself so you’ve no idea what goes into it, or in what proportions. Here are recipes for the most common cocktails that you’ve a chance of having the ingredients for in the house. There’s not a cocktail recipe in the world that someone won’t argue with, but these are as good as you’ll get.
• Gin and tonic (G&T) One shot of gin to two of tonic water, plus a slice of lemon (or lime) and ice.
• Martini cocktail One shot of gin over ice, and a dash of French vermouth. You can add a green olive on a stick.
• Tom Collins One shot of gin, ice, juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of sugar. Shake (if you have a shaker), pour into the glass and top up with soda water.
• Whisky highball 2 measures of whisky over ice, and top up with soda water or ginger ale.
• Whisky sour Two measures of whisky, ice, juice of half a lemon and 11/2 teaspoons of sugar. Shake (if you can), pour into the glass and top up with soda water. Serve with a slice of orange and/or a cocktail cherry.
• Black velvet Equal quantities of champagne and stout. Pour them into a bowl and then ladle into champagne flutes.
• Buck’s fizz Put ice in the glass and quarter fill with fresh squeezed orange juice. Top up with champagne (but don’t waste good champagne on it). Serve with a slice of orange.
• Bloody Mary Ice and one shot of vodka to two of tomato juice and 1/2 shot of lemon juice. Add tabasco, Worcester sauce, salt and pepper. Technically you should stir it with a stick of celery, should you have one.
• Vodkatini As for a Martini cocktail (above) but replace the gin with vodka.
• Daiquiri 2 shots of white rum, juice of 1/2 a lime and 1 teaspoon sugar syrup (or caster sugar). Shake together with ice.
• Grenada Three shots dark rum to one shot Martini rosso (sweet), and juice of 1/2 an orange. Pour over ice and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.