Final Menu, notes and Critique from last night's party....

M

music-city-missy

Well-known member
As usual, I changed right up until the last minute - I'll just work around the table.....

Cheese board - Spanish Manchego, Rosy Goat, Appenzeller on one tier; Brie, goat, and Shropshire Blue on the lower tier. Garnished with grapes, blue berries, cherries and strawberries

Notes: This was not a cheese crowd

Salmon Rillettes

Notes: Should have put out signs - not a crowd to dig in and try things but once they got started on this from the few that did venture to try it, it started to really go and was one of the most favorite items.

Antipasto platter - smoked oysters, pepperocini peppers, marinated olives, marinated mushrooms, marinated bocaccini mozzarella, roasted red peppers, balsamic cipollini onions, marinated artichoke hearts, anchovies

Notes: Most disappointing - I actually get requests to do my antipasto platter and there is rarely anything left but maybe anchovies. This hardly got touched but the one Italian there thought it was outstanding and loved it.

Bagna Cauda and crudite

Notes - didn't get touched until the party wound down and I told the Italians what it was (they weren't familiar with it) and loved it and got everyone else there to try it and they did all rave about it

Ham Rolls - these are the ones made with party rolls & the poppy seed butter soak - the guests fiance made them

Notes - these went over pretty good - they are easy to make, easy to have on hand and a good cheap filler

Shrimp w/kicked up cocktail sauce and coconut mango sauce

Notes: People around here pretty much think this is the end all end all. I had these in a nice glass bowl filled with crushed ice and lemon slices with the shrimp piled on top so the presentation was really quite lovely and lasted very nicely throughout the night. Cocktail sauce was about anyone dared trying. Those that did try the mango coconut sauce loved it thought.

Tenderloin & Rolls served with horseradish sauce and onion marmalade and Jack Daniels mustard

Notes: Tenderloin was PERFECT! Trying to remember what all I rubbed it with so I can duplicate again. Wasn't paying attention to time or temp when I was cooking it - went strictly by instinct and look and it was perfect! Surprisingly, people tried the onion marmalade and it was almost all gone. They thought the combination with the horseradish and the onion marmalade was great.

Laquered Bacon

Notes: Hit - not one crumb left. Everyone asked for this recipe

Dessert Stand: Fruit on top level; next level was buckeye candy (have to have that at any gathering of OSU Buckeyes with cream puffs and chocolate dipped cream puffs; third level was Amaretto marscapone stuffed strawberries drizzled with milk chocolate; lowest level was lemon curt tartlets

Notes: Fruit on top was something straight out of a still life and got nibbled at a little.

My 15 year old daughter was helping me and decided to 'play' with the leftover melted chocolate and dipped herself some of the cream puffs in it so I told her to mix the plate 1/2 chocolate dipped and not and then when the buckeyes showed up we lined the plate with those - the chocolate dipped cream puffs were well received and most of the buckeyes were eaten (they were rather large - actually, they were HUGE which I think might have discourage people from them because normally her buckeyes are all gone - she puts rice krispies in them which makes them a little different)

The stuffed strawberries were the hit! The marscapone mixture was too runny though for me - didn't pipe out as perfectly as I wanted so I want to work on that recipe to get it where I want it - how to get the fully true amaretto flavor without the added moisure - drizzled lightly with chocolate and it was the perfect dessert for a cocktail party! By the end of the night they were taking all the leftover stuffing in a bowl with melted chocolate and plates of strawberries out by the pool and devouring. We also tried one of the sweet cherries and it went very well with the stuffing too - something else to try.

Lemon curd tartlets - just couldn't bring myself to use the bottled stuff at $9 a jar and lots of extra chemicals so I came here yesterday morning and used someone's recipe - WOW - how easy and perfect! The clincher was that I get fresh eggs from a friend that raises chickens and the yolks are so golden orange that the color was spectacular! Did cheat and use premade shells and topped with a blueberry since the raspberries went bad overnight and ruined the shirt I was wearing (had to borry a shirt from the host's fiance)

Also sitting around were the black pepper almonds that everyone always seems to love and marcona almonds. Surprised they didn't really go over and get the raves they normally do and I didn't have to refill the bowls.

The host wanted some of the food to be trayed and passed. It stormed starting about 1pm and stopped in plenty of time but we never could get the party out around the pool as originally planned. Part of that was that the plan I had to open the gate to 'lead' them into the party via the pool wasn't followed so they came in the front door and congregated around the foyer, dining room and sunroom to the side of the dining room so everything was very linear and didn't permit very good flow.

But the trayed foods were: cucumber slices with lobster spread, crostini with black olive tapenade, and brie kisses.

Notes: The colors and textures were beautiful on the lacquered wicker tray I was using but the cucumber and lobster did not go over. I think it might have been the cucumber that deterred people. Dear hubby was completely surprised with how well the tapenade was received. But I could have made the brie kisses all night and never stopped - these are ALWAYS the hit.

So - I know it's more than you want to know but there is my menu and critique.

 
It sounds like a spectacular menu, Missy, and actually, I want to know more....

When you recover, could you share the recipe for laquered bacon? Maybe the only reason some things didn't get eaten was that there was just so much to choose from. When the guests start raiding the leftover dessert ingredients you know the party's a success, lol.

One idea: would some crushed almond macaroons added to the stawberry filling stiffen it up? Or a little almond extract in place of some of the amaretto?

This belongs in the Menus section for sure.

 
MCM, This is the type of food I love. Terrific menu. I know it is asking a lot

but if you can find the time would you post the Coconut/Mango sauce, the ham roll and onion marmalade recipes. would really appreciate. Coming from a catering family, I can well appreciate all your hard work. I think you did a bang up job.

 
Whoa! Great work...and thanks for the write up...I really appreciate reading your notes. Questions:

1. Remind me...how many people? And what time was the event?

2. I'm with Joe...maybe too much variety (espec. cheese AND antipasto AND bagnacuda). In cases like this, as a guest, I'd tend to nibble on a little of everything, then dive into the one thing I loved. Sounds like folks mostly did the same thing here. (Especially since sandwhiches can be filling and folks may have eaten two--sounds like those were a hit!)

3. Good to hear the lemon curd was a hit...that also might be a good way to jazz up the strawberries. I did a recipe with what they called Lemon Creme---lemon curd mixed with whipped cream. Sounds like that would be good with whipped marscapone too. So I'm picturing...instead of amaretto use an orange liquor. Or lemoncello. Yum! What a great launching pad for ideas!

4. I second all the previously requested recipes. smileys/smile.gif

Kudos to you woman! Sounds like you had some amazing food. You wouldn't have a morsel left in my crowd!

 
More details and critique....

The whole crowd and setting was a strange mix which added to the difficulty.

Guests: +/- 36

Guests background: Mostly Ohio State grads & spouses, age range varied from a new graduate to one gentleman who turned 85 yesterday. Income level and lifestyles vary a lot but very average I would say. Very few 'foodies' or people that appreciate finer/different things so I knew that was going to be my biggest challenge

Time: 7:00 pm on a Friday night - not long enough for most people to have dinner beforehand and late enough they won't want to go out afterwards - especially considering this is Country Music Fan Fair (or whatever they call it now) week with thousands of fans in town crowding the restaurants)

Setting: VERY exclusive neighborhood (as in Al Gore lives down the street - mainly old blue blood families) very nice house but bad flow. Was supposed to be out by the pool with people flowing in for the food but until it got down to the last 12 people, it never moved outside which was a shame because it was a beautiful setting that would have worked so much better. I should have taken more control on the whole set up because I did have an idea of how to mke them start on the patio.

What the host wanted: An elegant but casual event - no chips, hot wings, etc. - plenty of food for everyone, everyone to have a good time and say that we pulled off a great event (when we have hosted speakers from the university before and had dinners or lunches - it was not much of a success - we lost money and they had done stuff such as a catered meal down to a catered bbq.

I knew I was in trouble when someone in the club came in and asked for a bowl to put the shrimp tails in - that isn't how the flow was supposed to be - not standing at the table eating straight off of it - there were plates. The flow started at the middle of the table (opposite the plates and cheese/antipasto/crudite side) and went from the ham rolls on the end to the shrimp to the tenderloin, bacon and desserts then to the plates. Also the side where the heavier foods were was 'wider' and allowed more traffic and congregation.

 
P.S., MCM and Traca, may I put the salmon rillettes in T&T? I'm anxious for others to try it.

 
REC Laquered bacon

I had been playing around with this and then saw a recipe from Chef Walter Scheib that was the White House chef that Hillary Clinton brought in to "Americanize" the White House. I tried his then combined what I had been playing with and think I created a winner.

You can vary this based on how much you want to make or just store the extra sugar mixture.

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
Bacon that is not too thinly sliced (I used Kirkland Signature - only problem I had was one package was thinly sliced and the other just perfect - it all worked - just took more careful watching)
Freshly ground course black pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a jelly roll pan with a couple of layers of aluminum foil. Place a wire rack in the pan. Lay strips of bacon across the rack.

Combine the two sugars well. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the sugar mixture on each slice and spread evenly but being sure to not get too much on the ends.

Bake until the bacon is nicely browned and crispy. Remove to a plate to cool slightly. Serve while still warm or cool and warm slightly before serving.

I served mine room temp and it was just fine. It was right beside the tenderloin and rolls so several things happened with it - some people made bacon rolls and some bacon tenderloin rolls and most just ate it by itself. I did three pounds of bacon and cut each piece in half. to make it go further.

Even the pieces that were slightly 'over done' were devoured - some people actually like the sort of slighly burned sugar taste - I had them in the kitchen picking at the bacon and brie kisses that the sugars had slighly burned.

I also liked a version I did with fresh cracked pepper - sort of like the black pepper almonds - I love the sweet and hot.

 
Ooh, this sounds good. About the "flow" issues. You can never predict where people will end up,

You don't want to get bossy and ruin the fun (though you know now that your instincts were right about entering through the gate.)

At least they asked for a bowl--I always hate to find that some well-meaning person has taken it upon themselves to plunk a plastic beverage cup or mismatched candy dish on the buffet to catch tails or shells, lol.

Placecards for the food are a nice idea; I like to print a single menu for the center of the table. A chalkboard menu is nice too and less formal.

It still sounds like a huge success. And thanks for the recipe. It sounds like a real crowd pleaser, and when I serve it I can tell people it came from the White House. Wouldn't it have been funny if Al Gore had wandered in because he smelled something familiar?

 
Music, I love reading your menu and notes! I'm drooling and learning! smileys/smile.gif

 
What kind of rolls did you use with the tenderloin?

Your menu sounds fabulous. Thank you.

 
I cheat some - we have a WONDERFUL place called Puffy Muffin

and their rolls are to die for - $24 for 8 dozen little fresh yeast party rolls. Not worth my time especially since I work full time, took a vacation day to do this and was out of town until Thursday night.

I have their cookbook and think the recipe is in there. Will post in the next few days when I have time to recover. Just went tonight to get all my 'stuff' since they are leaving tomorrow for a couple of days at The Inn at Blackberry Farm - lucky devils - talk about wonderful food! And I made a pasta with cream sauce and nice salad with leftovers. BTW - the black pepper almonds are ust as good on a salad as any of the candied walnuts and such.

http://www.puffymuffin.com/

 
Thank You MCM, would love to have the recipe

for the party rolls. But only when you've recovered - wow, what a spread you put on! I think they should take you up to the Blackberry Farm for some r&r - you deserve it!

 
Dang, I'm impressed. I love logistics along with recipes...it really helps

widen my viewpoint instead of always serving "well, I'D like that!" type foods.

Great job...thank you, Missy!

 
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