- Go through your recipes and decide your menu, from starter to dessert. Write your menu down on a piece of paper.
- Organize your menu around the vegetables and fruits in season, take advantage of what is in season at the time.
- Make a detailed list of all ingredients you need for each recipe.
- Check your inventory of ingredients, write down what is missing, and cross out of f your list what you already have.
- Identify the best sources for your ingredients, ask people where they get ingredients .
- Walk through your menu, figuring out any difficult and/or tricky parts, so you can slot the necessary time for them. You may even want to make a particular dish once before your dinner party so you know the time it takes to make any changes or improvements you may want to make.
- Pay attention to all the notes you have taken or any drawings you have made on your copy during cooking classes. I do encourage my students to make drawings or take photos, as they do help in remembering how certain dessert or dish should look like.
- Make a note of who you have invited and what you have served each time you have a dinner party or when you invite people over for a meal. Try not to serve the same people the same dish twice within one year. Keep a file under the heading of ‘home entertainment’ where you keep all this information for easy access
- Choose the most appropriate wine with your menu. If you don’t know a lot about wine, ask someone who knows or refer to a good reference book on the topic. Below are 2 useful guides you can get: “Oxford Companion to Wine”, edited by Jancis Robinson, Oxford University Press, 1994 “Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine”, edited by Christopher Foulkes, Larousse International, 1994
- Pay attention to what your guests like and dislike. Note who pushed a particular ingredient aside while eating, who is vegetarian and who likes meat, fish, or chicken and who doesn’t, who is allergic to a particular kind of food, etc. When you invite them next time, you will be better prepared for them. It is always a good idea to ask your guests beforehand if there are foods they can’t or don’t like to eat.
