Great party food for your party guests

Great Party Food - Planning and Ideas

Party food will always be the most anticipated, the "main attraction" and most talked about at any party.

From weddings tobirthday parties , BBQs to cocktails, if you don't have great food to satisfy your hungry guests while they socialise, you can be sure the topic on their chats will be about the substandard food being served.

(Photo by: Joel Terrell)

It doesn't matter how great the party games and music were or how creative the party theme or how beautifully the party venue was decorated. Once the food does not meet the expected standards of your party guests, you can be sure that you will not get many happy guests. Creative and interesting party food will definitely make your party a great hit.

How to plan party food for 10 persons? Or preparing or catering for a huge crowd? Party food can range from simple to lavish, interesting to sophisticated. You also need to consider whether the food is for adults, teens or kids. Whatever type of food you wish to serve, for the food to be great it will need to achieve the following:

(Photo by: Peter Hellebrand)

1. Taste

2. Smell

3. Presentation

4. Fresh food

5. Creative

6. Variety

7. Enough

8. Balanced meals

1. Taste

For great tasting party food from simple sandwiches to gourmet roast turkeys. All great chefs' secret is to experiment with cooking the same dishes over many times. And the key to achieving great tasty food is to sample or taste the food. You need to taste whether the food is too salty, too sweet, to bland, too oily etc. For example, nowadays many people are more health concious, do strike a balance between too sweet and bland.

Remember natural flavorings is still best, don't throw away your shrimp stock or chicken broth. Freeze them in smaller portions and use them for your sauces or rice.

2. Smell

What is more alluring than smell. It is said that men fall in love with women because of smell. I fell in love with food because of the same reason. Great smelling food is the draw, it is like the food is telling you - "Come savoir me now!".

3. Presentation

Presentation is just like products packaging. A little food garnish here and there with complimenting colours with definitely make the food look attractive and it creates a perception that the food taste great. Try to present your food to match the party theme too. It will definitely make the whole party experience more unique. Half your battle is won.

4. Fresh food

Choose fresh food especially perishables like vegetables and fruits or chilled meat. Carefully frozen and thawed meats can still taste great if you know how to thaw them without exposing them too much to the germs in the air in room tempertaure. A good way of thawing frozen food is to leave the frozen meats overnight in your chill compartment. Cooking seafood is tricky especially prawns. Make sure you clean them thoroughly.

Cooked seafood do not stay well in hot weather especially summer and outdoor parties. So do take note. Raw vegetables need to be washed thoroughly and drained. If you are serving salads in warm weather make sure you have ice or cooler for these food items. (Note: I will not attempt serving any raw food for parties as raw food cannot be left on the food table over a long period of time)

5. Creative

You can either have a creative dish for example a bland of East and West food reciepes or creatively name your food to suit the party themes. Get hilarious! Tickle those funny bones give funny names or unusual names. Or get to decorate the party food with unsual shaped dishes or baskets. Let your creative juices flow!

6. Variety

If your food consists of 3 dishes that are fried in the same batter or same ingredients in different breads...you will be sure to get some yawns. Guests really like variety. A good party host will try to cook every dish differently, using different meats, vegetables, sauces and marinate. Some party hosts goes as far as cooking exotic meat!

Well, I don't think we need to do that to achieve variety. You can cook 2 chicken dishes in different cooking style for example, fried chicken wings and baked stuff lemon chicken with mixed herbs or chicken stew. Variety can also mean party food that is cooked using different culture's cooking style. A good example is to have international cuisine, ranging from local dishes to foreign delicacies. On top of your usual European or French cuisine and American fare, you can have Korean Kim Chi, Vietnamese Rice Rolls, Chinese Tim Sum, Japanese Sushi, Thai Tom Yum soup, Indian naan and curry, Malaysian satay etc

7. Enough

One of the most embrassing and disappointing thing to happen to a party host - is that the food is not enough. A good guide for being a good party host is to cater or cook at least 15 - 20% more food so that it ensures that no one goes home hungry.

8. Balanced meals

I went to one BBQ party and they served only meat dishes. As a result, I had constipation for the next two days as they do not served any vegetables or fruits or enough water. There's plenty of drinks but they mostly contain sodas and liquor.

If you are organising a BBQ, you still have to take into consideration a balanced meal for your guests, this is especially important if you have young children as party guests.

Planning party food will be a breeze if you planned your party at least three weeks ahead.

Do armed yourself with a party food plan and party food checklist, you are well on your way to cooking great party food for you and your guests to enjoy.

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