It's party time! Holiday entertaining tips from the experts

By Valerie Phillips
Deseret Morning News food editor

The food is what makes or breaks any social occasion, says Mary Crafts of Culinary Crafts. "My feeling is they may not remember anything else, but they'll remember what they ate."

For tips on entertaining, we turned to caterers who shone during Salt Lake City's major hospitality event, the 2002 Winter Olympics:

• Crafts catered dinners for both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as celebrities and foreign heads of state.
• Maxine Turner, of Cuisine Unlimited, was named "Caterer of the Year" by Events Solutions magazine, in part due to her extraordinary work during the Olympics.
• We also gathered ideas from Desperation Dinners syndicated column authors Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. Their book, "Desperation Entertaining," offers recipes for the socially inclined but time-deprived. They wrote that, like most people, they also suffered from entertaining angst. "We came to recognize that the rewards of offering hospitality — the warmth, laughter and fellowship — are just what we need to put life back into perspective after a difficult week. But we just can't stand the idea of all that pre-dinner worry and an all-day cooking marathon to make entertaining happen."
  All of these experts agree that a party should be fun for everyone — including the host. Planning ahead — and cooking ahead — is the way to take the stress out of the event.

Plan ahead

"My panic moment is one hour before the party starts, so get everything done ahead of time to allow that last hour to be as stress-free as possible," Turner advised. "Then, if a problem comes up, you can easily deal with it."
Make your lists and check them twice, she said. Don't deviate from your original menu plan or wait until the last minute to shop. And keeps pets and kids away from the party area when you're setting it up.

Quaker Oats

"We've had dogs jump in the back of the vans, and they can certainly jump on the side of the table and into the food," Turner said. "Once, my daughter went over and put her hand in the side of a wedding cake. I cried first, then I glued it back together — it's a miracle what icing can do."
"Of a menu with eight items, you should have only two that need to be heated or assembled at the last minute," Crafts said. "If I'm new at entertaining, I wouldn't have any last-minute items on that menu. You want to appear as the hostess with the mostest, looking beautiful and relaxed and your guests saying, 'I don't know how you did all this.' You never want to be seen scrambling at the last minute. That's all in planning the menu with things you can platter early and have in the refrigerator."
Pull out serving trays, bowls, pitchers, etc., and mark what they will be used for with sticky notes ahead of time, said Turner. Then you won't be running around at the last minute looking for serving dishes.
Even if you're not planning a party, keep a few things on hand for quick hors d'oeuvres when unexpected guests drop in — cheese, frozen pita bread, crackers and cream cheese that can be topped with pepper jelly or salsa.

Advice for new hosts

"I always tell young people who are starting out to make a few things yourself and purchase a few things already done, so you don't feel like you have to make everything," Turner said. "As you become a seasoned entertainer, you will learn how to make those items in advance and have them ready."
Also, make your first parties small and intimate until you become comfortable entertaining at home, she said.
Contrary to what some people think, a sit-down dinner is often easier for a novice to do than a buffet of appetizers, said Crafts. "Appetizers require a lot more display work — each tray has to be garnished with that Martha Stewart look. Much of a dinner can be done ahead — the salad, potatoes, meats roasting in the oven, so there aren't as many last-minute things. Keep the menu simple and ask yourself what items you could buy that won't compromise quality."

Pepperidge Farm

Another pitfall, "Often times when people are doing their own entertaining, they are such nervous wrecks about running out of food that they prepare too much," said Crafts. "Caterers have it down; they know how much to prepare for 100 or 200 people. If you prepare too much, you'll spend a lot more money. And that's when you run out of refrigerator space to store it and get into food-safety problems."
Two hours is the limit for keeping food out before refrigerating and/or rotating with fresh food. If you're doing food ahead of time, ask neighbors if you can use some of their refrigerator space.
Hire a couple of high-school kids in the neighborhood to bus tables, suggested Crafts. Your own kids may get bored and leave, but those who are hired will stay around to get paid, and possibly a tip.

Mixing and mingling

If you're doing a buffet, have several serving stations. "I'm hosting a party at my home this year, and I'm doing a small buffet so people can pick up a small 8-inch plate that they can easily manage while walking around, and a dessert table," said Crafts. "That gives people several places to go. Also, I like to have trays of hors d'oeuvres to pass so I can walk around and offer them to people. It creates a social atmosphere."
Get the guests out the door while everyone is still having fun, rather than waiting until things fall apart, say Ross and Mills. When you extend invitations, be clear about what time the gathering will begin and end. Serve the food so the meal will be finished at least 30 minutes before your ending time. If a close friend is on the list, enlist her/him to start making a move to leave —others will usually follow. Or make a few "winding-down" cues — start cleaning up, or tell your guests how great it was to get together.

Dollars and sense

With the economic downturn, both Craft and Turner are seeing more requests for "comfort food." "We thought people were coming to the Olympics for European cuisine, but they came here to experience Utah," said Crafts. "They requested things like macaroni and cheese, and it was such a hit, we kept it on the menu. Foods that we thought we were past are popular again — barbecue beef on Kaiser rolls, dumplings and cobblers."

Mary Crafts

"Our No. 1-selling package this year is our 'Rustic Country Christmas,' with hot, homey food, the turkey-ham kind of thing," said Turner. "Very few are asking for caviar and exotic seafood. They're not being quite as lavish. But catering often is the first sign of a change in the economy, and we're seeing signals of an upward change."
Crafts said people are inviting smaller groups than before. "There's a desire to still do something very nice, and the desire to reconnect with people and have a more intimate time. If people are on a budget, I would advise them to have fewer items on their menu — but all of them quality — than a lot of things on the low end. I'd rather have five bites of something wonderful than 10 bites of something I could have gotten anywhere."
Perhaps it's also due to the economy, but Turner has noticed more last-minute calls than ever before. "Maybe they have put it off, and then at the last minute, they realize they really do need a party. It plays a great deal of havoc in our kitchen and for our staff. Next year, I've vowed to stop taking reservations after a certain date, and we'll focus on the parties we have."

Which brings us back to the party-giver's motto: Plan ahead

E-MAIL: vphillips@desnews.com