The Young Person’s Guide to a First Dinner Party

Published on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, by James Norton / Edit Post

Part tutorial, part confessional, and part totally helpful how-to guide, this chef-blogger's guide for young people on how to throw a simple, successful dinner party is as entertaining as it is practical.

It's also got some killer lines:

On the difficulty of acquiring good taste in food as a young person even if you work in a restaurant: "Even if you suffer the Dickensian misfortune of working in a professional kitchen at that age, your exposure to good food won’t have much of an effect on your taste as you’ll be too busy cutting off your fingers to broaden your horizons."

On the difficulty of impressing young women with your knowledge of food even if you happen to acquire it: "22-year-old girls rarely want to hear lectures about artisanal cheese production; they’re at that party to drink Icehouse and catch chlamydia."

And on the importance of follow-through on the part of guests: "Show up if you say you will.... People will RSVP in writing and verbally, and still manage to not show up to your shindig because they had to go see some shitty indie-rock band."

If you're young, read this and learn something. If you're old, read this and laugh knowingly. And regardless of your age, get your act together and fire up the oven or the grill or the deep-fat fryer. There are friends to entertain.

Image from Mushakesa/Shutterstock
ALLFood Media
POST A COMMENT |5 Comments

COMMENT

  • "22-year-old girls rarely want to hear lectures about artisanal cheese production; they’re at that party to drink Icehouse and catch chlamydia." Wow. Did you really have to pull a quote that was so offensively sexist just because it was catchy?

  • Even if truffle oil is perfume, I don't see the problem, since most of what we perceive as taste is actually smell. So what if it's "artificial" -- if you like the way it tastes, why not use it?

  • bwinter714: You may want to read this RE: truffle oil--that is, if you aren't a fan of flavoring your food with what is essentially perfume... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=dining&pagewanted=all

    Also, you can keep avocados (and other apt-to-brown foods like apples, pears, etc.) looking fresh by adding a sprinkle of lemon or lime juice! It won't...+READ

    bwinter714: You may want to read this RE: truffle oil--that is, if you aren't a fan of flavoring your food with what is essentially perfume... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=dining&pagewanted=all

    Also, you can keep avocados (and other apt-to-brown foods like apples, pears, etc.) looking fresh by adding a sprinkle of lemon or lime juice! It won't change the flavor unless you go way overboard and it lets you prepare things like guacamole ahead of time. :D-COLLAPSE

  • *Sorry about the spelling and grammar mistakes in my above post, I am normally more careful than that! And I don't see a way to edit the post :)

  • Thats was a very candid article, I enjoyed it. I'm 25, and I have had people over a few times since I bought and renoved my house. I finally have the open-layout kitchen/family room I always wanted, so my setup is perfect for having people over for dinner with me the wife. I have to admit, the first time I had people over it was more than a little nerve-wrecking. I pretty knew I wanted to...+READ

    Thats was a very candid article, I enjoyed it. I'm 25, and I have had people over a few times since I bought and renoved my house. I finally have the open-layout kitchen/family room I always wanted, so my setup is perfect for having people over for dinner with me the wife. I have to admit, the first time I had people over it was more than a little nerve-wrecking. I pretty knew I wanted to impress, but knew I had to keep it simple, I did make a lot of things ahead of time. This is what I made the first time, and it came out great..

    For starters, I thinly sliced sashimi tuna (partially froze it, then sliced as thin as I could) a couple of hours before people came over. Once people were here, I shelled an avacado, and placed it in a blender with a small amount of olive oil and about a half-head of garlic (pre-chopped) and fresh oregano and pureed it. You don't want to do that ahead of time, lest you lose that fresh green color of the avacado. I then spread a thin layer of the avacado paste on plates, put the tuna on top, then sprinkled himalayan salt, white truffle oil and a small amount of very finely chopped basil. Try it, its amazing!

    Then, I had premade a cold garlic and leek potato soup (or vichyssoise for the more elegant sounding name) the night before, and that was served after the tuna. It was about 90 degrees outside, so that was a good choice I think.

    Then the main course was a standing rib roast, with salt-baked potatoes (with whole sprigs of rosemary to help the aroma and flavor) and creamed spinach.

    Dinner was great, not I'm constantly being asked to host again. And the best part, was most of that food was very simple. The only things that I actually had to cook while people were there was the creamed spinach and the avacado paste. The rest was prepped before hand, and the oven did most of the work. And btw, all this while drinking copious amounts of wine, as me, my wife and friends aren't exactly known for teetotalism!

    -Brian-COLLAPSE