Cocktail party is a very convivial occasion, at which cocktails are likely to be the only drinks on offer. It is also a relatively simple way of entertaining a few friends with with some lovely catered food to help keep guess from getting a little too drunk. It’s a festive occasion, perfect for celebrating a special event – an engagement, wedding catering perhaps, or a birthday for a special person, a business success, a welcome to new neighbours, or a thank-you for old and valued friends. Either way and whatever the reason, for catering a cocktail party is usually bound to fit the bill.
Cocktail parties were especially popular in upper-class society in the 1920s and ’30s, so it would be fun to ask your guests if they would like to dress up in ’20s and ’30s costumes. If they’re not sure what to wear, ask the men to wear tails or a smart casual jacket with grey flannel trousers, and ask the women to wear pretty, ankle-length chiffon dresses. You’ll be amazed by how much effort they put into the occasion, when they turn up looking like extras for parts in The Great Gatsby. Cocktails will, of course, be the only drinks that you will have to serve at this sort of party. So plan the drinks, freeze the ice, and get shaking …
Most people like cocktails, whether drinking one or two as an aperitif before a meal, or indulging in rather more at a full-scale cocktail party. They are therefore a good way of entertaining friends. The cocktail hour is usually between 6 and 8 pm, and doesn’t usually run for more than two hours.
Don’t forget, in your enthusiasm, to cater for those who won’t be drinking alcohol perhaps because they prefer not to, or because they will be driving home. Always offer a choice of non-alcoholic drinks, such as mineral water and fruit juices, or – as this is a cocktail party, after all – a delicious fruit cocktail or punch.
To plan the drinks for your party you must, first of all, decide which, and how many, cocktails you’re going to offer. About three is usually a good number – perhaps a wine-based cocktail such as a Kir Royale or Buck’s Fizz; one based on fruit juice such as a Screwdriver or a Pina Colada, and some sort of spirit-based cocktail such as a Dry Martini or a White Russian.
As cocktail parties are usually held early in the evening, it is usually assumed that the guests will go out to dinner later. This means you won’t need to serve very much in the way of food at a cocktail party but a few canapes and simple bite-sized nibbles will add to the atmosphere and will also help soak up some of the alcohol and prevent people drinking too much. Reckon on about six to eight items of food per person, and offer a selection of three or four different items. Don’t choose anything fussy or messy and, if you’re short of time and can’t prepare snacks and nibbles specially for your guests, just scatter a few bowls around the room, with a simple selection of bought nibbles, such as olives, nuts and raisins. Cold food is much easier to provide than hot food when catering. Dips with savoury crackers or crudites are another good choice. Always provide lots of paper napkins to clean fingers and wipe up spills, and have plenty of cocktail sticks on hand for people to use with any items of food that are particularly greasy or sticky.
Archive for September, 2010
Party Catering Tips
Sunday, September 19th, 2010Cocktail Tips
Saturday, September 18th, 2010Cocktails are surprisingly easy to make. If they are to be a success, however, there are certain golden
rules to follow, which will guarantee that you get what you want every time in terms of both flavour and appearance.
Some of these rules may come as a surprise, while catering and others will probably strike you as being very obvious. Either way, follow them, and you will quickly become the world’s greatest expert in making cocktails at catering events.
1. Keep all your ingredients in a cool place, particularly mixers and fruit juices, which should be chilled in the refrigerator.
2. Always work, if you can, on a surface that will not be spoiled if drink is spilled or dripped on it, or if it is marked by glasses. It should be possible to wipe it easily.
3. Similarly, keep a container of warm water at hand in order to rinse spoons or stirrers.
4. Always serve iced drinks in chilled glasses.
5. Similarly, serve hot punches and mulled wine in warmed
glasses, the best being the ones that come with a metal holder.
The bartender’s tips
The efficient bartender will run an efficient bar, the smooth running of which will be mostly due to careful foreplanning. Have all the ingredients you need ready
to hand, and do as much as you can in advance. Have all your decorations prepared, so they are ready when you need them, and also make sure that you have
all the glasses, ice and whatever equipment you need ready.
The cocktail hour is a time for unwinding, not for getting into a last-minute panic, so think about what you need, make a list, and follow it. A successful cocktail party is one that runs smoothly, where the only hiccups you get are the ones you get as a result of drinking too many cocktails – and you won’t get much sympathy for that!
Ice is one of the most important ingredients needed when making cocktails at any catered event in London. Above all, don’t try-to skimp on ice – it’s very important. In fact, you are almost bound to need much more ice than you think you will. Ice has two principal functions: one is obviously to chill the drink; the other is to act as a beater in the shaker.
If you’re doing catering, the ice can be made several days in advance and stored in the freezer until you need it. Tip the ice cubes into a large polythene bag and squirt them with soda water this will keep the cubes separate from each other and stop them sticking together in the bag. Store the bag in the freezer or the freezing compartment of the refrigerator until required. Then store it in an ice bucket or a wine cooler, where you will be able to keep stockpiles of ice to hand ready for use when needed.
Ice cubes can also be obtained from specialist suppliers, and are sometimes available free of charge from the off-licence from which you buy your alcoholic drinks, or from the fishmonger.
Some cocktails need cracked ice. To make this, put the cubes into a polythene bag, and hit it hard with a rolling pin or bang it against a wall until it is broken up. Others use crushed ice – which cools a drink more, and faster than cracked ice.
History Of Spirits
Friday, September 17th, 2010Spirits are at the heart of most catering events and cocktails. They provide both the original starting point for the concoction , as well as the powerful kick that lurks behind it to help get any events off to a good start.
The choice of different cocktails is enormous. There are a great many more cocktails than there are individual spirits, because each spirit can be mixed with any number of liqueurs, mixers, flavourings and decorations. The possible permutations are infinite.
1. Gin is one of the most popular choices. It is a clear grain spirit further distilled with herb and fruit flavourings – the botanicals – that originated some 400 years ago in Holland, where it was originally used as a medicine. As it became increasingly available in cheap, adulterated forms, it moved further and further down the social scale until the 18th century when it was distilled from almost anything that would ferment and caused untold disease and distress. Nowadays there are many different excellent gins available. London dry gin is generally considered to be more suitable for making cocktails than the heavier Plymouth gin, or than the Dutch gins, which have a stronger flavour. Gin is the basic ingredient in that most famous of all cock¬tails, the Dry Martini.
2. Vodka is virtually flavourless, which makes it a very good choice for cocktails as it adds a surprising depth to a concoction without actually affecting the flavour. This is what is known, in the trade, as being ‘felt but not smelt’.
3. Rum is distilled from sugar cane, with the West Indies and other parts of the Caribbean being the most common places of origin. Rum comes in both dark and white forms, with the dark rums being heavier in flavour than the pale types. Generally speaking, white rum is a particularly good choice in cocktails, while dark rum can be excellent in warming winter drinks such as hot punches – which are guaranteed to keep out the chill during even the coldest months of the year. Zombies are one of the most potent rum cocktails, using both dark and light rums.
4. Whisky is the oldest known spirit. Its origins are lost in the mists of time but there are official records dating from 15th century Scotland. Whisky also comes from Ireland (where it is spelled whiskey) and from the US (home of rye and Bourbon whiskey), though aficionados consider that Scotch is the only real whisky -as it has been made and drunk for generations in Scotland and it has played such an important role in the life of the Scottish nation. Of all the spirits, whisky is the one that is used the least in cocktails but is great for when you have provided catered food and served after.
When it is used in cocktails, it is usually only put in the more straight forward cocktails.
Cocktail Catering Essentails
Friday, September 17th, 2010The blender
A blender is especially useful for making those drinks that contain fresh fruit, ice cream and milk. It is used, too, for making smoothies and milk shakes, or any other drinks of that sort. For big catered events you will most definitely want at least two blenders to hand so one can be washed whilst the other is is service
Additional essentials
In addition to those pieces of equipment, there are also other things that will come in useful for making cocktails at catering events. They are generally pieces of equipment that you will probably have around the kitchen already, so you will probably not need to buy many of these things specially. These are:
- a chopping board for cutting ingredients and decorations t
- a sharp knife
- ice trays for freezing ice
- tongs to lift pieces of ice
- a long-handled spoon for mixing in the mixing glass
- a supply of cocktail sticks
- a corkscrew- it’s actually a good idea to have more than one corkscrew to hand, as they are easy to mislay and a lost corkscrew could be disastrous!
- a supply of tea-towels
- A lemon squeezer
- an ice bucket
Not essential but nice to have around are:
1 glass swizzle sticks
Coloured straws
A set of bar measures for measuring quantities of drink
Posh sausage sandwich
Thursday, September 16th, 2010Small ciabatta, 4 sausages, 1 onion, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 1 tbsp clear honey.
Add a little oil to a frying pan and heat, then add the sausages and cook till they turn brown this should take about 10 minutes.
While they are cooking slice the onion, and slice the ciabatta and ready the grill.
Once thhe sausages are done take them out of the pan.
Now add the onions to the same pan and wait until they soften, once softened add the dijon mustard, and the honey and continue to cook.
Put the ciabatta under the grill turning once 1 minute each side.
Now put the sausages back in the pan to heat up.
Take the ciabatta out, pile on the onions and then lay the sausages on top, add ketchup or brown sauce and indulge yourself.
Shepherds pie
Thursday, September 16th, 20101 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 onion, 3 carrots, 500g mince lamb, 2 tbsp tomato puree, large splash Worcestershire sauce, 500 ml beef stock, 900g potatoes, 85 g butter, 3 tbsp milk.
- Heat a pan and put the oil in, chop the onion and carrots and add to the pan and cook until they are soft.
- Once soft add the tomato puree, and Worcestershire sauce and stir in.
- Add the mince and brown it off. Take the excess fat out with a spoon as this cooks.
- Season with salt and pepper then add the stock.
- Cover and then cook for 20 minutes on a low heat then uncover and continue cooking for 20 minutes.
- While this is cooking peel and cube the potatoes and put onto boil, once they are soft drain them. Put them back in the pan and add the butter, then start mashing, once mashed add the milk and stir in, you should now have a smooth mash.
- Once the mince is done put it in a deep oven proof dish and then smooth the mash over the top with a fork.
- Cook for a further 20 minutes in the oven at 150c to crisp and brown the top. Take out and leave to stand for 5 minutes, or you can continue to brown under the grill.
- Either way a delicious dinner perfect for a cold winter evening.
History of Cocktails
Thursday, September 16th, 2010The question of who invented the original cocktail is one that is asked by a great many people, and almost as many are convinced that they know the definitive answer. The problem is, however, that no two answers will ever be the same, and they can’t all be right!
A great many people will come up without hesitation with the colourful story of Princess Xoctl, the Mexican princess who, according to legend, offered a drink to American officers at her father’s court. A classic misunder-standing ensued; the soldiers thought that Xoctl was in fact the name of the drink rather than the princess’s name. Thus the name cocktail passed into the history of drink as the name of a curiously exotic, lethally powerful and utterly delicious drink.
Unfortunately, this story probably owes more to a vivid imagination than to the truth, and the cocktail as we know it today almost certainly had its origins during the time of Prohibition in the United States in the 1920s, when alcohol was banned. The idea behind the cocktail was an attempt to create something drinkable out of the infamous bathtub gin and various
other bootlegged liquors. This was the time when furtive drinkers sat in the speakeasies of the day, eager to fool the authorities into believing that the drinks they were sipping from their tea cups were, in fact, free of forbidden hard liquor. Intent on their illegal purpose, they invented a fanciful coded system of imaginative and exciting names to disguise what was really in their cups. It was often these names that lent glamour, in part anyway, to the whole business of making, drinking and serving cocktails.
Prohibition began on 17 January 1920. It ended in December 1933 when, not surprisingly, the standard of the liquor that was available for sale improved beyond measure. This was a signal for many of the
better concoctions to become rather more refined. The full range of cocktails became more and more varied at this time, boasting more and more imaginative ingredients as well as more and more imaginative and fanciful names.
The cocktail really got into its stride as the range of cocktails increased, and cocktails became the drink that all the smart people liked to drink, not only in the US but also in all the more sophisticated cities of Britain and continental Europe. It wasn’t long before every smart hotel and club in town could boast that it had a cocktail bar to its name.
The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of the cocktail, and some of the more exotic ones that were formulated then are still drunk in bars and catering parties today. The Bloody Mary, the Gimlet, the Tequila Sunrise, the Corpse Reviver, Buck’s Fizz and the Zombie – these are all examples of drinks that were produced in the cocktail age of the ’20s and ’30s and that are still as popular among the smart set these days as they were then.
It may surprise you to learn, however, that some of the cocktails that we still enjoy today are, in fact, a lot older than that. Many cocktails have developed from the punches and cups that were fashionable so much earlier on, in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they were often served at public entertainments, parties and dances. The most famous cocktail of all time, for example, the Dry Martini, actually originated in the 19th century, though it has probably become steadily drier as tastes have changed – and people have become more sophisticated – over the years. The first-ever cocktail book went by the ponderous title of The Bon Vivant’s Guide, or How to Mix Drinks by ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas and was published in the United States as long ago as the 1860s. Many of the other classic cocktails, such as the Daiquiri, the Mint Julep and the Manhattan, also hail from those early days and were revived when cocktails enjoyed a come-back in the’20s and’30s.
There are other cocktails, too, such as the Harvey Wallbanger and the Pina Colada, which belong to the cocktail revival of the late 70s and early ’80s. While others still, such as the B52 and other short, layered drinks known
as shooters, served in a shot glass and intended to be downed in a single throw, are part of the very latest cocktail fashion.
Different types of cocktails There are a great many different types of cocktail. A lot of them are based on spirits, but there are also many wine-based drinks and delicious alcohol-free cups based on fruit juices, teas and herbal teas. Cocktails were origi¬nally intended to be put together individually, according to each drinker’s personal tastes and desires, which explains why the recipes for so many cocktails serve only one.
The fashion for the cocktail has been revived at the turn of the 21st century, and is currently enjoying a great surge in popularity and no catering event is complete without some delicious cocktails to get the party started.
Stuffed chicken with mustard and cheese
Thursday, September 16th, 20101 ball mozzarella, 50g cheddar, 1tbsp dijon mustard, 4 chicken breast, 8 rashers streaky bacon.
Chop the mozzarella into small pieces then add to a bowl, now grate the cheddar into the same bowl, add the mustard and mix together.
Now lay the chicken on the chopping board and slice the middle but not all the way through, all we are doing is making a hole to stuff.
So once you’ve done that with the cheese mix fill your chicken breasts.
Then wrap each breast with bacon but not to tight. Season with salt and pepper and put in the oven 180c for 25 minutes.
Chicken biriyani
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010300g basmati rice, 25g butter, 1 onion, 1 bay leaf, 3 cardomen pods, 1 small cinnamin stick, 1 tsp tumeric, 4 chicken breast, 4 tbsp curry paste, 850ml chicken stock.
Chop the onion into small pieces, and the chicken into bite size chunks.
Now add the butter to a deep pan, cook the onion, bay leaf, cardomen, and cinnamin for about 5 minutes.
While this is cooking you will need to wash your rice so add it to a bowl and add cold water, mixx with your hand and drain, continue this process till the water runs clear.
Now back to your pan add the chicken and the tumeric and stir in, then the curry paste, stir and cook for about 5 mins then add the rice.
Pour the chicken stock over and cover with a lid.
Boil hard for 5 mins then turn the heat down to minimum, and cook till all the stock has evaporated.
Once all stock has gone turn off the heat but leave the pan to sit for a further 10 minutes.
Then serve best with a cold beer.
Spaghetti carbonara
Thursday, September 9th, 2010250g spaghetti, butter, 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 6 rashers bacon, 2 eggs, 142ml carton single cream, 25g grated Parmesan.
Boil the spaghetti following the packet instructions.
While that is cooking chop the onion and garlic and bacon into small pieces, and fry for about 5 mins until golden.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs, cream and half the Parmesan.
Once the pasta is cooked drain it and return to the pan.
Mix in the bacon mix, then the egg mix and stir till every bit of pasta is coated.
Luxury! quick and easy, and delicious pasta.