Preparing dinner for guests can be very fulfilling and I love it when the food is served. Especially when everyone goes quiet, enjoying what’s on their plate. It’s not always easy to get to that point if you’re cooking multiple dishes with varying cooking times and using different cooking techniques.
For me, one of the challenges is to have everything ready at the same time, so people can experience every dish at once and at the right temperature. When I was asked to list at least four steps to successful meal planning, I decided to share that on this page. There are other things that will help as well, these are just the ones that I found most beneficial.
If you have new dinner ideas for guests, follow the steps below. You will enjoy cooking for your dinner party a lot more and the results will be better!
Practice cooking recipes
Most recipes will give you cooking temperatures and times that will let you estimate how long it should take to prepare a dish from start to finish. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that this will be accurate.
It usually takes me longer to cook a dish than the recipe says. Maybe I’m a slow cook, or maybe recipe authors get it wrong most of the time. The result is that I end up with hungry guests if I make a dish for the first time for dinner and rely on the recipe for estimating the duration.
There are other factors at play here as well. Maybe the thermostat in your oven is off (they often are!) and when you think you’re cooking at 400 degrees, the actual oven temperature is only 350 degrees. This will lead to longer cooking times and delay serving the dish. Or your grill doesn’t get quite as hot as you need it, prolonging the time it takes to get the food ready.
The best way to figure all this stuff out, is to “practice” a recipe at least once for yourself or a smaller crowd. When you do this, be sure to make notes and update the recipe where necessary. This could be for cooking times, temperatures, how much of a particular seasoning to use etc.
Of course, making the dish will also tell you if it’s even worth making again. Recipes often have great pictures, but you never know if the actual results look and taste as good as advertised.
One last point here is to keep it simple. Make food that’s not too complex if you’re just starting out and opt for a main course with 2 sides, instead of multiple dishes.
Prepare in advance what you can
Always look for opportunities for how to prepare meals in advance, or at least some of the dishes on the menu.
See if you can prepare side dishes like cornbread early in the day and then warm them up on the grill when your guests arrive. This creates a nice smell and atmosphere. Barbecue and other sauces can be prepared a couple of days in advance and kept in the fridge, and so can most salad dressings.
Cutting vegetables and other ingredients can take quite some time, so do this prep work ahead of time as much as possible. Depending on the ingredient, you may have to store it in a particular way until it’s cooked. For example, peeled potatoes turn brown if exposed to oxygen. They will be fine when stored in water and in the fridge for several hours.
There are a few items that are better left whole until they’re cooked. The flavor of onion and garlic intensifies over time once it’s cut and can overpower a dish if cut too long in advance. While onion can handle a few hours if needed, garlic should not be chopped or minced until right before it’s used.
Mise en Place
The term Mise en Place (or Mis en Place ) originates from the French kitchen and means “to put in place” or to “gather”. So, what is mis en place?
A lot of recipes will tell you to add different ingredients at different times while cooking. With a mis en place, you gather all ingredients in separate containers or little bowls. You can then line these bowls up on the counter in the order you’re going to use them when you’re cooking.
This approach will let you focus on cooking versus hunting down ingredients. If you’ve ever gone to your pantry to find a particular spice and come back to burnt onions in your skillet, you’ll probably see the benefits of a mis en place.
I like to use small glass bowls with lids for my mis en place bowls, because I can stack them in the fridge and see what’s inside without taking the lid of. Here’s an example of glass bowls available on Amazon (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases).
Another advantage of gathering your ingredients in advance is that you’ll find out early if you’re missing a particular item. This will give you time to send someone to the store to get it, or to look for substitutes. Doing this when there’s a hot pan on the stove can cause a bit of stress.
Smoked Appetizers
Even if you do everything you possibly can, you will still run into timing issues every once in a while.
Earlier this year, I got up at 5 am on a Sunday to smoke a brisket I was planning to serve around 7 pm. Having smoked a brisket in about 12 hrs. before, I figured it would be fine to put it on the smoker around 5:30.
For some reason, this one took longer to get to the desired tenderness, and I had no choice but to serve a slightly undercooked brisket. It tasted good and people liked it, but it really was little tough and needed more time on the smoker. I used the leftovers in a chili the next day and simmered the meat for about an hour. After that, it was “melt in your mouth” perfect.
Since this happened, I always have some appetizers available in case the main dish is delayed. I usually put some extra items on the smoker, along with the brisket or other main courses. Sausage and salmon are great options for this. Chicken wings on the grill are great as well, since they cook fast, and most people love them.
Conclusion
There you go, now you have a couple of ideas to have a dinner party that’s easier to pull off. Remember, like my undercooked brisket there will still be times when things are less than perfect. Don’t get frustrated if things don’t turn out exactly as planned. Just learn from it and you’ll be better next time around.
That’s it for now. For your convenience there’s a Barbecue Basics for Everyone page on my site covering all kinds of other stuff.
Thank you for visiting and talk to you soon,
Herman