C – When cooking for a crowd, the golden rule is “know thy audience.”
My cousin requested I help with a tea party for her daughter. Picky eaters. Oh, and if you can, plan things for the parents, too, That would be awesome, but you don’t have to.
I get nervous about feeding people other than my husband, Jim and myself. Everyone else in the world I get scared of cooking for them.
Everyone is a critic. Once you are a self proclaimed professional food blogger, the expectations are even more heightened. Cooking comes easy for me but when it comes to cooking for other people I get nervous.
There are a few questions to ask to help relieve some of the stress that comes with cooking for an audience.
- First: Is anyone allergic to anything? Nuts, shellfish, melons, etc. Don’t want anyone to end up at the ER during or after the party. Definitely a mood killer. I always ask this first. It’s extremely important.
- Second: What do they want or like to eat? What do they not want to eat? Easy questions, but a lot of times they give you full range. Other times people can be super specific. Both can be a challenge. Full range might mean you over produce. Being too specific means you might be stuck with things you don’t really want to make.
- Third: Is there a theme? This one can be easy or really difficult. Tea party, easy, tea sandwiches, tea, fun drinks, fruit and mini-sized everything. Other times no theme means casual and make things the people you know are coming will like. If it’s for my husband’s friends, lots of meat and potatoes. Easy. But, it can be fancy depending on how and if you decorate.
- Lastly: Who and how many people will be there? I like having abundance at a party. I hate having people go hungry when they leave. That’s not the case for everyone. My cousin hates leftovers and I have a feeling the parents won’t eat a lot. Knowing how many people will be there will make it easy to set up how many of each item to make. The kids will be picky eaters, so having a lot of choices that are simple, colorful and fun will be good. The hardest challenge is when the host doesn’t know who will be coming. If they invite 40, and eight people come, there will be a lot of leftovers. Make sure to have people commit to coming or not coming. It makes life a lot easier.
This tea sandwich recipe was a test. It’s probably not going to make it to the party. It’s quite simple and some might eat it. I honestly loved it and ate a lot of them when testing. But, it didn’t even make it past the picture test.
Picture test: make it ahead of time, take the picture and share it with people. If they say they can’t wait to try it or oh yum!, make it. If no one responds or there are complaints, back to the drawing board.
| Sandwich Monday: Cucumber Tea Sandwiches |
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened at room temperature
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
- ¼ cup English cucumber, seeds removed and chopped
- 1 Tbsp red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 Tbsp carrot, shredded
- 1 Tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1 Tbsp chives, chopped
- A pinch of garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 slices brioche bread or a good white bread
- ¼ English cucumber, thinly sliced
- Chives, chopped for garnish
- In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese, mayonnaise, chopped English cucumber, red bell pepper, parsley, chives, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Divide the spread evenly among the six slices of bread. Spread the mixture evenly over each slice.
- Cut off the crust.
- Cut into the desired size and top with a thin slice of cucumber.
- Garnish with chives.
- Serve.
- Enjoy!
These tea sandwiches were a good way to test my audience. Now, I know three year old kids are really picky and won’t try anything. The parents are even pickier (sadly). I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot of fruit … but on toothpicks … and jam sandwiches. It’s easy.
I really wish I could get my creative juices flowing when helping with other people’s events.