Cooking for Crowds
 

Whether we cook for crowds only once a year or every week, it is an activity that requires careful planning and organization and that is the formula for fearless cooking in general. Planning for 12 or 24 guests at home will generally mean serving a buffet meal. Because people will be eating “lap style,” the dishes selected for the menu should comprise those that are easily cut—no thick cuts of meat, corn on the cob, and so forth. Here are the guidelines for menu planning: Pass two or more hors d’oeuvres, and eliminate a first course. Select the entrée and balance out the menu with fresh seasonal vegetables, a rice or potato dish, and always a tossed green salad. Serve at least two breads: French, Italian whole wheat, pumpernickel, hot rolls, biscuits, corn muffins, etc. Complete the meal with two or three desserts. This offers guests a choice and makes it possible to cook the desserts in normal amounts. Select as many dishes that can be partially or totally prepared in advance as possible.

Offer both coffee and tea. Because I’m a tea drinker, I’m always relieved when a hostess or host offers me coffee or tea, rather than rushing off to the kitchen to boil the water.

Here are some small tasks that can be done in advance of meal-time:

1. Stock and arrange the bar with glasses and cocktail napkins. Arrange chilled white wine, apéritifs, red wine, and liquor with set-ups of club soda, tonic, ginger ale, and a pitcher of ice water. Have lemon and limes in the refrigerator ready to set out with a small cutting board and knife and a corkscrew for opening the wines. Arrange for twice as much ice as you think you will need, and set out a large ice bucket or container.

2. Arrange the buffet table with a cloth, a centerpiece, dinner plates, and forks and knives rolled up in napkins, which makes it easier for guests to manage. Position the required numbers of trivets and serving spoons, with serving dishes selected and ready in the kitchen. Line bread baskets with cloth napkins and set out the butter dish and knife.

3. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, fill the sugar bowl and set out the creamer. Have the coffee and tea ready to prepare and have lemon slices cut. Set out cups and saucers, spoons and dessert plates and forks. Set out the dessert serving dishes if the desserts are not already on them and the required serving spoons or knives.

The few extra minutes devoted to arranging the bar, buffet table, utensils, and backup service items in the kitchen in advance of dinner will minimize the traffic and logistical problems that are almost unavoidable when more than a dozen hungry people gather to dine at the same time and place. And you will have a much better chance of enjoying your own party.

Note: In some instances, it will be necessary to double or triple the Serving Suggestion recipes included with the following recipes, depending upon the number of people being served.