Give It, Serve It, Send It
Don’t let the holidays stress you out: Host a holiday bar food party. You can also earn Santa points by giving the gift of “bar food” to others, even without cooking.
Great Bar Food at Home offers the ultimate holiday solution in one snazzy package: It’s a gorgeous, compact book you can tuck into your carry-on bag, bring to a party as a gift for the hosts, mail in a padded envelope, and serve in more than fifty different ways. Food & Wine magazine picked it as one of the best cookbooks of the year, and it was honored as a James Beard Award finalist. But I wrote it because bar food is my favorite way to eat, with or without guests.
Tribes of all ages love bar food. You know what I mean by bar food: 21 Club’s Crab Cakes, Eggplant Pizzettes, Smoked Paprika Chicken Wings, Cognac Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon...Have I got your attention? By planning your party around a bar food menu, complete with classic bar tales, you’ll have the splashiest, most memorable event of the season.
But when you’re the cook, bartender and patron all in one, you need tasty nibbles that are as easy to make as they are to eat, and ones you can prep mostly in advance. These dishes may look complicated, but they’re surprisingly simple. Some, like the Santa Fe-Caesar Crema (think guacamole with a Caesar salad punch), also serve as great pre-meal nibbles to fend off the crowd until the turkey hits the table, or the quarterback kicks the ball.
Top Tips for a Bar Food Party
Focus on just two to four bar food recipes, then fill out the spread with nibbles and small bowls of no-prep goodies, like olives and caperberries from the olive bar, antipasto meats and cheeses, and crunchy snacks like nuts or Japanese rice crackers.
Divide the prepared plates between ones made completely in advance, and ones that need only a quick reheat or last minute cooking. For instance, make the Santa-Fe Caesar Crema earlier in the day, and assemble the Eggplant Pizzettes (topped with pecans, balsamic, barbecue sauce, and provolone) on a tray, refrigerate, then when the party’s on, just broil and serve.
Dress up your holiday plates with simple garnishing. A little lime zest or splash of smoked paprika work wonders. Discover more of these easy tips at Glamorous Garnishes for Great Bar Food at Home.
Don’t buy new plates and glasses just to make a matching set, and don’t use disposables. Pick up vintage and unique pieces at thrift shops for cheap, then mix them up. As the evening wears on, your guests will always be able to identify which special plate or glass was theirs, and by repurposing old pieces instead of buying disposables, you’ll be a greener host.
Forget stemmed glasses, which so easily tip over and spill. Use stemless wine glasses or small glasses (like short juice glasses), cafe-style.
Focus on limited spirits instead of a full bar. Whip up a single special cocktail, like a punch or a pitcher of Appletini, and supplement with a red and a white wine, and some craft beers. Or, skip the spirits and serve only unique craft beers or organic wines. Include some non-alcoholic cocktails too, so non-drinkers don’t feel left out of the festivities.
Finally, set the atmosphere by using barware for food as well as drink. Stick a handful of grissini in a highball glass, or long pretzels in a beer mug. Serve olives in a tall martini glass, with cocktail picks, or in skinny shot glasses. Rim an old-fashioned with a ring of shrimp. Pour nuts, wine buttons, or bite-size cheese biscuits into a wide mouth tumbler.
Brush Up on Great Bar Lore
Keep the party going. Break the ice and entertain your guests with classic bar stories, like these:
• Did you know that Phil Collins’ album No Jacket Required evolved from him being kicked out of a Chicago bar for not wearing a jacket?
• Dorothy Parker, one of the Algonquin Round Table’s most sharp-tongued writers, quipped: If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised. And: One more drink and I’d have been under the host.
• Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Jackie O. often wound up their evenings at PJ Clarke’s in New York, where bartenders still serve half-shells of raw clams and oysters on the original century-old oak bar (which also appeared in Billy Wilder’s classic film, The Lost Weekend).
• Barbara Walters is so comfortable around celebrities because she grew up in a star-studded atmosphere. Her father was Lou Walters, producer of the Times Square showplace, The Latin Quarter, where his handpicked showgirls from Paris and London danced flashy can-can flurries between performances by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Sophie Tucker, and Milton Berle, among others.
This book covers it all--from food and drink pairing to specific cocktail, wine and beer accompaniments, to lusty tales of celebrities and their drinks. The photos are so mouth-watering and the tales so entertaining, even the kitchen clueless will love this book. Food & Wine magazine says Great Bar Food at Home is the “Perfect gift for: people who like to entertain during the holiday season.” For kudos by National Public Radio, Better Homes & Gardens, Texas Monthly, Publisher’s Weekly and more, check out Great Bar Food reviews.
Cheers!
Check out Kate’s favorite kitchen products in the Kitchen & Home Gift Guide.
ken zubec on December 16, 2008 at 08:28 PM
when cooking a turkey in a convection oven do you put any water into the empty cavity
Mr. Bingley on December 17, 2008 at 12:15 PM
You've really left out the best parts of Parker's poem:
I love a good martini
But only two at the most
After three I'm under the table
After four I'm under the host.
speedwell on December 17, 2008 at 03:17 PM
What is this trendy obsession with smoked paprika? Paprika has a flavor, not just a color. That is, it has a flavor if you use good fresh Hungarian paprika instead of that ten-year-old tin your mother gave you before you left for college.
If you want smoked pepper, use ground chipotle, unless you're too wussy.
send food philippines on January 07, 2009 at 11:19 PM
Nice site i like the layout.
-vee-