Cooking for Large Parties

For unexpected surprises are apt to pop up just when we want everything to go particularly well. No matter how rich or how simple the menu, remember, first, that it is preferable to cook recipes with which you are familiar for special occasions.

Secondly, cook in several moderate-sized batches, rather than in one big chunk. Because, mysterious as it sounds-but true, even for the experts-quantity cooking is not just a matter of indefinite multiplication.

If you overexpand, too, you may run into a number of other problems. Take into account the longer tune needed in preparation-not only for paring and washing of vegetables or drying salad greens, but for heating up large quantities.

Even more important, you may be confronted with a sudden pinch of refrigerator space-discovering that the shelves are needed for properly chilling large aspics or puddings just when they should be doubling to keep other sizable quantities of food at safe temperatures.

This warning is of great importance if you are serving stuffed fowl, creamed foods, ground meat, mayonnaise, cream puffs, custards or custard pies.

These foods spoil readily without showing any evidence of hazard. Before planning the menu for larger groups, assess equipment for mixing, cooking, refrigerating and serving.
Plan, if the meal is a hot one, to use recipes involving both the oven and top burners. Increase your limited heating surfaces with the use of electric skillets, steam tables or hot trays to hold food in good serving condition.

Make sure, if you plan individual casseroles, that you have enough oven space; or if the casseroles are large, that they will fit. In fact, stage a dress rehearsal - from the cooking equipment requirements right through to the way the service dishes and table gear will be placed.

Then, satisfied that the mechanical requirements are met, plan the actual work on the menu so enough can be done in advance to relieve the sink and work surface of last-minute crowding and mess.

Stick not only to those dishes you are confident you can handle without worry, but to those that make sense for the time you can spare for them. If one dish is going to require much last-minute hand work and fiddling, balance it against others that can be preassembled or are easy to serve: casseroles, baked or scalloped dishes, gelatins or frozen foods.

One of the hardest things in mass cooking is to give the food that personalized and cherished look that is achieved in intimate dinners. Do not hesitate to serve simple foods for company. Choose seasonal ingredients and cook them skillfully. Then wind up with a home-baked cake or pastry-nothing is more delicious or more appreciated.

Guests are really captives, so build a menu, in any case, that is not too restrictive. If you decide on Octopus Pasta, be sure you know the guests are adventurous enough or have sophisticated enough palates to enjoy it-or that they know you well enough to be able to ask for an egg instead.