A Caterer's Take on the Holiday Meal

A CATERER'S TAKE ON THE HOLIDAY MEAL
By Juliet Lambert

As the owner of a catering company, clients are always asking me to reveal the tricks and tips that we use in our kitchen. This time of the year brings out lots of questions about how to make the perfect holiday meal. Although we love to experiment with new flavor combinations at Spice Catering, I am a firm traditionalist when it comes to the all-important Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. Here are some tips that will help your meal turn out perfectly while allowing you to actually enjoy your own party - what a concept!

"Caterers plan, make lists, repeat"

The key to any good party is to plan it out first. Go over your menu to make sure that it's balanced, then make lists: shopping lists, errand lists, cleaning lists, guest lists, cooking lists. These will help you map out the event. On the day of the party, I take 15 minutes to lie down and visualize how I want the party to go. This may seem new-agey, but it's exactly what athletes do before a big game. By doing this, you mentally go through a checklist and invariably remember something you forgot.

"Cooking is an art, baking is a science."

In my experience, people generally fall in to two categories: those who like to cook and those who like to bake. It makes sense since the two tasks require very different skill sets. A cook or chef likes to play around and experiment with ingredients, and rarely will something taste exactly the same each time. The baker must be aware of chemical reactions and follow a strict recipe with measured ingredients. When I was growing up, my sister was the baker and I was the cook. While she carefully weighed out her flour on a scale, I was searching the cupboards for interesting spices that I could dump in to my soup.

As a rule, don't be afraid to try new things, but the holidays is not the time to indulge in 'free-association' cooking experiments. If, like me, everything you bake turns out to resemble a hockey puck, then by all means, buy your cakes and breads from a bakery. If you are famous for your baked goods, then ask a guest to bring the soup or order-out items you are not confidant making.

Speaking of guests, I have found that people like to help, so take them up on their offers. Because people's guest list almost always includes family members and close friends, it's not only appropriate, but also more fun to invite guests to contribute to the meal. It's best if the host prepares items requiring long-cooking times, complicated last-minute preparation or messy (non-portable) items. The most successful dishes to farm out are baked desserts, breads, salads, soups, wine/alcohol, homemade condiments like relishes or cranberry sauce and re-heatable casseroles.

Along these lines, enlist children to help in the preparation - how else are they going to learn? It may take a little longer, but they will be proud to be a part of the team, they'll learn new skills and you will be instilling your family's holiday traditions in to them - which is what it's all about.

"If nothing else - brine that bird!"

If you are serving turkey, you must brine it. No excuses. Brining will save you from committing the biggest sin of all: dry meat. As the turkey sits in brine it absorbs liquid that will be lost during the cooking process, thus ensuring a moist bird. To prepare the brine, dissolve one cup each of kosher salt and sugar to every gallon of cold water. The turkey needs to sit in the brine in the refrigerator one hour for every pound. Average 14 pound turkey = 14 hours. Simple, but so worth it.

"About Sugar & Fat and Other Tips"

As far as I'm concerned, cream and butter are honored guests at the holiday table. You can diet the other 364 days of the year. If a recipe calls for cream and butter, please use them. Now is not the time to use puréed tofu in place of cream cheese. In catering, it's all about the 'mouth feel', which you only get from full-fat ingredients. And no, margarine is not the same as butter.

We use sugar in a variety of savory dishes. Most home cooks don't realize that a teaspoon of sugar will enhance any meat or vegetable dish. Even if the recipe doesn't call for sugar, adding a teaspoon of sugar to the dish will brighten the flavor and round out the overall taste.

A caterer's trick we sometimes use is all-purpose cooking spray. If your pie is looking a bit drab, spray lightly with cooking spray and dust with regular sugar. This technique can also be used to brighten up stuffed mushrooms or any vegetable side dish. A drizzle of olive oil over a bowl of soup has the same pleasing effect.
Make sure your menu is balanced, not all meat or spicy items. Provide some fresh fruits and vegetables for those who may be dieting or are vegetarian. Think of textures - a mixture of soft and crunchy foods. Don't repeat intensely flavored ingredients such as sage or basil in too many dishes, aim for variety.

Catering and rental companies can provide dinner wear and glass wear if you do not have enough for all of your guests. Most companies will also offer a delivery service if you want to order side dishes you don't have time to make. If you do as much preparation such as cleaning and cutting of vegetables as you can the day before, you will be able relax and enjoy your party.

If things don't work out exactly as you planned, don't stress out. Julia Child once had a fallen chocolate souffle and supposedly quipped, "We'll just put it in a pretty bowl and call it the most delicious pudding we've ever tasted."