Introduction, Barefoot Contessa Parties!

I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO GIVE GREAT PARTIES. From the time I was married in 1968, I loved planning parties, cooking, and getting together with my friends. But in the beginning, I did some truly awful parties. As time went on I learned what worked and what didn’t. I learned that small dinner parties were often more satisfying than big cocktail parties, that easy food meant I could spend more time with my friends and we all had more fun, and that the music at a party is sometimes more important than the food. But most of all, I learned to stay focused: Parties are “recess” for grown-ups, and I want everyone to go home saying: “Wasn’t that fun!” So now I plan everything with that goal in mind.

By the mid-1970s Jeffrey and I were living and working in Washington, D.C. He was the deputy director of the policy planning staff for Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and later Cyrus Vance. I was working in the White House Office of Management and Budget, writing the president’s budget for nuclear energy programs. We were in our late twenties and far too serious. I wanted to have more fun, so I spent all my free time making parties for my friends. I would spend every evening after work cooking and baking, and almost every weekend we would have at least one party: often Saturday night, but I also loved to invite friends for Sunday lunch because the food was easier and it was a time when everyone was more relaxed.

Then one day in March 1978, I saw an advertisement in the New York Times for a specialty food store for sale in a town I’d never been to: Westhampton Beach, New York. I thought, if I love cooking in my spare time, why shouldn’t I do it for a living? So my husband and I drove to Westhampton Beach the next day to look at a store called Barefoot Contessa. I fell in love.

I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FOOD BUSINESS, BUT I KNEW THAT THIS WAS WHAT I WANTED TO DO. I made the owner a low offer for the business on the spot and we drove back to Washington. I figured, “We’ll think about this, we’ll negotiate, and then I’ll decide if I really want to do it.” The next day the owner called me at my office and said, “Thank you very much, I accept your offer.” I thought, “Oh my God, what have I done?”

Six weeks after I’d bought Barefoot Contessa and I was still struggling to learn the business, a very good customer came in and said, “I want you to cater a dinner for forty people next Saturday night.” I’d done my own parties for ten people, but professional catering for forty? I had no idea how to do it. But I heard myself saying, “Of course, I’d love to.” I suggested poached salmon for dinner. She said, “Perfect!” and left the store. Poached salmon? I’d never made one in my life. So, I did the only sensible thing: I called my mother. She talked me through poaching a salmon in a roasting pan because I didn’t even own a fish poacher.

The afternoon of the party, I took all the service people, the rentals, and the food to the client’s house in time to cook dinner. Imagine my shock when I found that the oven was smaller than the salmon. So, I cut off the head and the tail, put the pieces in court bouillon, covered it with foil, and popped the pan in the oven. When the salmon was cooked, I reassembled the whole fish. The client fortunately never knew that there had been a problem. (The lesson from catering: Be cool no matter what’s happening in the kitchen.) I was on my way.

I have been catering parties professionally for more than twenty years now and, believe me, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Good parties take a bit of planning, but I think you’ll find that they are not necessarily the ones that are the most complicated to produce. In fact, my experience has been just the opposite: I find that the best parties are often the ones that are the easiest to produce. With that secret weapon, I hope you’ll use this book to discover new ways to have parties that will send all your friends home saying the magic words: “That was the best party I’ve been to in years.” That’s what this book is about: what we can do to ensure that we have parties that are not only fun for our friends but also fun for us.

STAY COOL

The most important thing about giving parties is to stay very, very cool. When I brought that huge salmon to my first catered party, I instinctively knew that the hostess must never, ever know that I had a problem. The same is true at home for your guests. They want to believe that you just whipped this party up in a few minutes before you got dressed, not that you’ve been slaving for a week and you’re too exhausted to speak (which of course is how I used to feel before giving a party). Otherwise, they feel bad that you have worked so hard, and the party is off to a rocky start. How many times have we arrived at a party and the hostess is obsessing that the liquor store delivered the wine only fifteen minutes ago, or that the chickens in the oven are taking forever to cook? Don’t ever let on that you’re stressed. The thing to do is greet people at the door with “I’m so glad to see you!” It is, after all, why we invited them. These are our friends; no kitchen disaster should overshadow that you invited them so you could spend time together.

Several years ago, my “cool” was really tested. One summer Sunday, I invited eight friends for lunch. A few days before, four people who were coming together called and said they had an emergency and couldn’t come. No problem: I cut back my shopping list and decided to serve lunch in the kitchen.

An hour before the party, two of the people who had canceled earlier called and said they could come after all, was it all right? “Sure,” I said, and sent my husband to Barefoot Contessa for some more rolls and lobster salad. Two other guests arrived—with three houseguests! Then another guest arrived at the door and said, “I have a friend in the car, can she come, too?” Now we were up to ten people.

I took a deep breath and made a silent plan. As soon as everyone was settling in with drinks, I slipped away to the kitchen, leaving the guests in the good company of my husband, Jeffrey. I moved the table settings from the kitchen to the larger dining room table, then I ransacked the refrigerator to find more things to serve. There wasn’t enough lobster salad for the sandwiches, but I had chicken salad (fine for Jeffrey and me—who would know?). I divided the shortcakes in half and piled them high with extra fruit and whipped cream. Fifteen minutes later, we were all sitting in the dining room having a wonderful time, and no one ever knew what had happened—not even Jeffrey!

INVITING THE GUESTS

I have very few rules for myself, but one of them is not to accept an invitation from someone unless I really want to invite him or her back. It simplifies things so much. I don’t meet the person in the street and feel guilty. We don’t say, “Let’s get together” and then not pick a date. Choose your guests wisely and you’ll probably never have a boring party again.

When I’m inviting the guests, I think about a few things that will make a party fun. First, as I’ve said, I invite people I really want to see. Second, I like to mix interesting people from different worlds who might not see one another all the time. And third, I like surprises, what my friend Stephen Drucker calls the “flirt factor.” It’s fun to go to a party where there’s someone exciting, someone who would be fun to flirt with. Years ago, I read a story about a friend of Paul Newman’s who was having a really boring party; he just couldn’t get things going. As the story goes, he called his friend Paul and asked if he could just stop by for a minute. The doorbell rang and there was Paul Newman in a yellow racing suit. He walked over to a woman on the sofa, kissed her passionately, then walked out the door. Everyone went crazy and the party turned out to be a great success! Sure, we don’t all know Paul Newman, but I do try to invite a surprise guest whom everyone wants to meet. It creates a “buzz” and gets the energy of the party going.

HOW YOU INVITE PEOPLE SETS THE TONE OF THE PARTY LONG BEFORE YOUR GUESTS ARRIVE, SO BE SPECIFIC. “Come for cocktails from 5 to 7.” “Join us for dinner at 7:30 to celebrate Phoebe’s new book.” “Skating and dinner at Wolman Rink from 6 to 9.” A cocktail party usually has a defined span (5 to 7) and dinner is often open-ended (Come at 7:30). People want to plan their evenings, and the invitation tells the story. I also let people know how to dress by telling them where the party will be held: A beach party is very casual, a summer garden party encourages the women to wear summer hats and sandals; during the holidays you might suggest “festive dress,” which is “dressy” but not formal. I think it’s important to let my friends know what to wear so they can feel comfortable when they come to my house.

PLANNING THE PARTY

I try to plan a menu with food that’s fun to eat and in a place that’s fun to be. Is veal with morels fun? I’m not sure, but grilled shrimp on skewers is! No one is particularly excited about eating a baked potato, but making potato pancakes together is a blast. I could never argue that it’s especially fun to eat in the dining room, but a clambake at the beach with a big, roaring fire is always terrific. The same goes for Saturday night, when we all feel that we must get serious and do drinks and nibbles, appetizers, and a dinner with lots of courses. Help! I like to invite friends at other, easier times, such as breakfast on Sunday—which can be as simple as big pitchers of tropical smoothies, muffins that you mixed the night before, platters of fresh fruit, and big pots of coffee. Lunch can be bowls of soup, baked ham, a big green salad, and apple crisp for dessert. I also love to invite my friends to come and cook with me. Sometimes I’ll make a big batch of dough and everyone can assemble their own pizza, or I make all the fillings for pita bread and everyone makes sandwiches (read on for recipes and menus).

There are lots of parties to give besides the traditional dinner on Saturday night, and it takes only a little inventiveness to think of them. An offbeat menu, a few unexpected guests, an unusual location, great music—all of these get a party off to a great start.

I often read books on entertaining as inspiration for making my own parties. I hope each reader will personalize the ideas in this book for his or her own parties. The New Year’s Day Lunch with three soups and a buffet for twenty can become an autumn lunch for eight with only one of the soups, and you can save the ham for another time. The Football Party with lots of sandwiches can become lobster rolls for six people that you take to the beach in August with brownies that you bought at a bakery. And I hope you’ll take the recipes in the English Tea party—especially the carrot cake cupcakes—and make them for dessert anytime of the year.

I CAN’T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT ASSEMBLING FOOD rather than cooking. I keep telling myself that my friends won’t have more fun if I spend two days making a daquoise for dessert than if I find a delicious pound cake at a bakery and serve it with store-bought lemon curd and fresh raspberries. In fact, they’ll have more fun, because I’m relaxed and having fun, too. Keep your eye on the prize—it’s fun! And I hope you’ll find some ideas in this book that will have your friends admiring your ability to give parties that are truly fun.