catering: hors d’oeuvres party, part ii

Now that the menu was set for my first real catering gig, I moved on to my next challenge: working out the game plan. There would be several steps I’d have to take to make sure I was completely prepared to serve good food at this party. No surprises, no disasters would be tolerated–I wanted to have a hitch-free event!



The first thing I needed to do was test all the recipes. Even if I’d made the dishes a hundred times before, it was important to refresh my memory; see if anything needed tweaking; help me to understand how to scale each recipe to feed 40 people. I also needed to develop a couple of the recipes from scratch, such as the chouchouka crostini and the pomegranate yogurt dip to accompany the lamb kebabs. Those would take a bit of trial and error to get just right.



Secondly, it was essential to shop and source my ingredients, with a mind to keeping food costs to a minimum. Costco is a great resource for ingredients like Medjool dates, lump crabmeat, goat cheese, and prosciutto–would be able to save a lot of money there. Whole Foods sells lovely smoked trout; Fairway has great prices on cheeses and is a good source for some of the more exotic ingredients like za’atar spice.



Third, and most importantly, I had to work out a schedule for prepping the components of each dish, then composing and cooking them. It was necessary to have as much of the prep work done as possible before the party–the hosts’ kitchen is open to the entire loft and I knew I’d have guests floating in and out. In order to stay focused, I’d have to be extremely organized.



To figure out a prep schedule any time I’m cooking or entertaining, I start by deconstructing my menu, one dish at a time. Once I’ve identified the preparation required for each dish, I work backward from there. I make a list of each element that needs to be made for a recipe, and then assign a time for it to be done. For example, I broke down the components of the Brioche Crab Melts as such: grate cheese, make crab salad, butter and toast brioche, assemble sandwiches, cook. In order to expedite each step so the dish would be ready for the event, I worked it out this way:

  • Friday: Grate Gruyere
  • Saturday AM: Make Crab Salad
  • Saturday PM: Toast Brioche
  • At Event: Assemble Sandwiches/Broil in Batches, as Needed



I continued working out the rest of my menu in this manner. It was necessary to complete as much of my prep as possible on the days leading up to the event, so that by Saturday night, I wouldn’t be deliriously exhausted. Everything had to be stored and labeled for travel; I also needed to identify any special cooking equipment or serving pieces I might need to bring with me.



Because I was organized and productive, I had only a few last minute components to complete the morning of the party. Once all the food was ready, I focused on making sure I packed up everything I needed to transport to the party. The most important thing I took with me was my “cheat sheet”: a list of last minute details for each dish, like cooking times and temperatures, so I could easily focus and keep my cool. By the time everyone started arriving that night, hors d’oeuvres were already popping out of the oven and platters were being passed. The guests were well-fed, my clients were happy. Party for 40…piece of cake!



Next, and final post on this catering adventure…keeping cool under pressure and some recipes!

3 thoughts on “catering: hors d’oeuvres party, part ii

  1. Pennie

    Thanks Eden. I think I could be persuaded to post that one…
    Thawing out a bit here–hope you’re soaking up the sun in Tortola!

  2. Eden Compton

    Love the blog Pennie! These little crab bites look delicious. They would be perfect for my happy hour during charter. Are you going to post the recipe? Hope all’s well up there in the North Pole!