A chef’s guide to throwing a stress-free dinner party - and why six is the magic number of guests
Ahead of the launch of their book, The Dinner Party, on August 2, chef Martin Benn and partner Vicki Wild share their insider knowledge on entertaining.
We’re having a dinner party. Those words can either cue meltdown, anxiety and uncertainty ... or anticipation, excitement and joy. Our book, The Dinner Party, comes from a deep desire to see people coming together to eat, drink and have fun in their own homes, with their own food on the table. This is our advice, honed by years of hosting dinners, to make your dinner party both simple and memorable.
Make it fun
To theme or not to theme? A theme can start with the simplest thing – the time of year, a colour, or a feeling. It can be inspired by an ingredient such as a great cut of meat, a fresh haul of seafood or a seasonal mushroom. Some of our finest dinner parties have been inspired by a bottle of wine.
Dinner parties aren’t about showing off, they’re about sharing, about setting the scene for good times. Creating a theme for each occasion not only makes each dinner party completely different; it also makes life easier, narrowing down the options.
Themes can also be unspoken; just something you work towards without necessarily sharing with your guests. Something for your own amusement.
The all-important guests
Guests are as much ingredients of a great dinner party as those in the kitchen. And in the same way, they come waiting to be transformed, uplifted, into something special.
The very best number of people to invite, depending on your table, is six; any more and the conversation tends to split. With six, you can talk together, hear each other, speak to those either side of you and across the table. A good mix of couples and singles makes it lively. And while there’s nothing better than meeting up with old friends, we often invite people who have never met, which makes it more interesting for everyone.
Planning the menu
As you may have gathered, our mantra is to make it fun. And planning the menu is the most fun part of the whole process.
Start with one main ingredient and build the menu from there. Always check that your guests are able and willing to eat everything, and don’t worry too much if there are a couple of requests to avoid certain things – that can actually help you narrow the number of options.
There’s nothing wrong with the old-school format of entree, main course, and dessert, but for a dinner party, it’s more dynamic to have quite a few small dishes, some individually plated and some shared. That way, small eaters can take what they like (and so can large eaters!), and don’t have to worry about leaving food on their plate. Preparing share dishes is a much more convivial way of dining.
Cocktails and canapes
People can be a little nervous when they come to your home for the first time, so do what you can to help them relax. We love gathering around the kitchen bench and opening a bottle of champagne. It’s festive and celebratory, and it lets people know you value their company. A big bowl of olives on the bench is a nice touch for those who arrive hungry.
Cocktails and canapes are great ice-breakers; there is nothing better than a classic cocktail, done well. The best way to do this is to pre-batch your cocktail, such as a negroni, in advance. Make a big batch of it and pop it in the freezer ready to go.
These days, there are some great, considered options for non-drinkers as well. Always have plenty of water, and make it easy for guests to keep their glasses topped up. We carbonate our own because we like a sparkle, and it’s much more cost-effective and better for the environment than buying imported water.
There are no rules
Another mantra, and a good one. Who says, for instance, that you have to serve dessert? Sometimes we finish by putting out some beautiful cheeses and accompaniments. In winter, we warm a whole cheese in the oven and serve it like fondue – very decadent.
Mind you, it never ceases to amaze me how many people will announce they couldn’t possibly eat another thing, but then out comes a spectacular dessert and it disappears in no time flat.
If you do dessert, have it already prepared so all that is needed is a finishing touch when it’s time to serve. And if you haven’t been able to achieve that, sometimes just a bowl of bittersweet chocolate or Italian biscotti can make a beautiful finale.
Music to our ears
Our background in restaurants has given us great insight into the role music can play in setting a mood and dialling the energy up or down. That’s why we always make a playlist of different tracks that we think will suit the occasion.
Even though the two of us have very different taste in music, we come together over a shared love of jazz, so that’s always on the playlist. This is something you can prepare weeks before the dinner party, and you can continue to add more tracks as you go, so it will evolve and can be cut up into new playlists for other dinner parties.
Don’t be sweating the table setting
We love a beautiful table, but that doesn’t mean fancy and formal. The best tables are simple and welcoming. Glasses gleam, napkins are cloth, and there’s a little greenery from the garden or some small flowers arranged in with the candles.
After years of running fine-dining restaurants, we have a fetish for crockery and cutlery, and have collected some stunning things, both high and low, expensive and streetwise. That’s the thing: not everything has to be perfect, or matchy-matchy. We love a bit of a mix of cutlery and napkins, and choose bowls and plates that we feel will show off the food to its best advantage.
Having the table set when guests arrive is a nice touch, and leaves you with little to do. If nothing else, just dim the lights and set out some candles, and everyone will relax and enjoy themselves. It’s your home, and it should feel that way to you and your guests.
Relax, it’s only dinner
Three key words: make it fun. You’ve done all the planning and cooking, so make sure you relax and let your hair down. There is nothing more pleasurable in life than good food, good wine, good friends and good conversation. The added bonus is that remarkable, memorable and exciting things can come out of a dinner party. It’s like a team bonding exercise, with guards let down, friendships deepened and experiences shared. (Although what happens at the dinner party stays at the dinner party, right?)
Here’s to a lifetime of dinner parties, and the dinner parties of a lifetime!
Practical tips for hosting a memorable night
- Read your recipes and consider those you can make in advance. There is nothing wrong with braising your lamb shanks two or three days before the dinner party. That way you can cook them so they are super tender, then just reheat them on the night. Nothing worse than waiting for them to cook through properly or serving undercooked shanks.
- Write a checklist of what you need to make and have prepared in advance. Do this the week before, not on the day.
- Flavoured oils, flavoured then frozen butters, good vinegars and stocks are great pantry staples that are not only used for dinner parties but are there for whenever you need them. They’re also useful to have to hand when you need to whip up a mid-week meal from nothing.
- When preparing for a dinner party, always clear a shelf or two in your refrigerator for everything you have prepared so that it’s ready to go, and you are super-organised.
- Buy stackable containers so you can efficiently store pre-prepared ingredients in the pantry, freezer or refrigerator. Trust us, you can never have too many containers!
- Ice is important when it comes to cocktails so buy large ice cube moulds – tennis ball-sized are ideal. Make your ice days in advance, then decant from the moulds and place in a large container and cover with a tight-fitting lid. That way you can just pull them out on the night and pour in the cocktails.
- Don’t fill your fridge with champagne, whites or rosé. They take up valuable space, make things hard to find and, actually, this is not the best way to chill wine. Our tip is to either use the laundry sink or a large plastic container and fill it with ice bought from your local service station. Cover the ice with water and then place the bottles in it. When you are ready to serve, move the wine into an ice bucket.
- Remember there are people who don’t drink alcohol, so think about iced tea as a good alternative.
- Put out salt and pepper, even if you’re sure your food doesn’t need it. We don’t all have the same palate.
- For dessert, something home-made is always memorable, but so is a great piece of cheese with fruit or a bowl of your favourite chocolate broken into pieces.
This is an edited extract from The Dinner Party by Martin Benn & Vicky Wild, Hardie Grant Books, RRP $60. Photography: Kristoffer Paulsen. Buy now
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