French Buffet
Source of Recipe
frenchfoodandcook.com
Recipe Introduction
Buffet
Organizing a buffet is certainly the best option when you have a large number of guests. In fact, many dishes
can be prepared in advance and a Buffet can be even more refined and good looking than a classical dinner.
But don't think it is going to be easy, it is a tiring job ; in fact, the peculiarity of a buffet is to offer much choice...
So just choose among the suggested ideas below according to the number of guests you have !
List of Ingredients
Some advice to get ready
Prepare as much as you can in advance. Many things can be done the day before your party.
Table : prepare a large table, ideally two, on which you can display a fancy tablecloth and express your imagination
in terms of decorating. Display on table all that you can in advance like bottles which don't need to be cold, paper towels, plates, glasses, settings, ashtrays.... Don't forget to put toothpicks in large quantities as well as empty
small dishes. Prepare as well everything you are going to need to serve wine ; don't put all wine bottles on the
table though, prefer keeping the red ones in the kitchen, and the whites in the fridge ; get them out 2 by 2.
On a tray, prepare everything you know you will have to bring later like condiments, service settings, etc… ;
have a separate tray for coffee time with cups, etc…
Kitchen : make sure everything you will not use is out of your way ; try to lay out an extra table if you have room.
Try as well to organize the groceries in your fridge in the order you will need them.
Prepare all you will need like big plates to place canapés, your cooking tools, your mixer, etc…
Recipe
Buffet - Drinks & Appetizers
Buffet must begin, like all meals, with an apéritif. Apéritif time will slowly slip towards the cocktail / buffet meal.
DRINKS
If you want to please and astonish, offer a glass of Champagne to your guests. You can replace it with our national Kir beverage if you wish, which becomes "royal" if you make
it with Champagne .
You should prepare as well one or two large cocktails like a Sangria and a Punch which are usually very popular. Prepare them in a huge salad bowl which will be displayed on the table and leave a laddle in it so that everybody can serve themselves during the party.
In any case, you need to be able to offer all classic alcohols (whisky, gin, martini…) as well as some fortified wines (Porto, Muscadet) and juices.
APPETIZERS
This time you can leave some chips and peanuts on the table before everybody has arrived.
You have of course all type of other solutions, and let's remember the ones of our traditional dinner section :
- Vegetables : you can use cherry olives, sticks of carrots and cucumbers, pieces of califlower or radish ; it is quiet quick to prepare them and you can easily cook some French dips for them.
- Various Others : crab sticks, dry sausage, cheese cubes, olives…
Cook your own canapés
Crab Endives : make a big mayonnaise and add
crab flesh and/or shrimps into it with lemon ;
serve it in endive leaves.
Stuffed eggs : hard-boil 10 to 20 eggs, peel them and cut them into 2 halves ; take the yolks off, crumble them in a bowl and mix with a mayonnaise and cocktail sauce. Add pepper and refill the cooked whites with this preparation.
Salmon mousse on cucumber : cook your own Salmon Mousse and serve it on a sliced cucumber (not pealed,
just washed) ; top with capers if you like them.
Brochette ideas
Parisian brochette : swiss cheese cubes ; cubed
ham ; cherry tomatoes ; French cornichons
pickles ; spread with cumin or caraway seeds.
Italian brochette : mozzarella cheese balls (salt+pepper) rolled into Parma ham, cherry
tomatoes ; spread with basel or pepper.
Sea brochette : cubed smoked salmon and/or
shrimps with pieces of pealed pink grapefruit.
Sweet brochette : roll a prune into a bacon
ham slice ; pick a few ones on each pick.
If you have a large number of brochettes, get a
whole farmhouse bread and pick them into it
(or alternatively into half a melon).
Make you own canapés
Smoked salmon : you can buy some smoked salmon
and just cut the slices in squares which you will place
on a buttered toast ; top them with a bit of lemon.
Parma Ham (or any cured ham) : again on a buttered toast and cut into squares ; remember the thiner the
slice is, the better the flavor and aromas are restitued
(2 thin layers are better than a thick one).
Chèvres chauds sur toasts : buy some small goat's milk cheeses and place them on a toast ; put them in a hot oven for a few minutes so that the cheese gets soft
and warm and the bread toasted. Serve immediatly.
Don't forget your friends
for any cocktail / canapé party, you
have some real "friends" :
- cherry tomatoe is probably your best friend ! it can be eaten just fresh, and will bring a bright color on
all your plates, canapés, brochettes or salads...
- cucumber can be a substrate for the toast, can decorate, can be presented in slices or sticks...
- parsley will be your green decorator...
- hard boiled eggs will look very good sliced
on canapés or original if stuffed
- olives and pickles can bring colors as much
as flavor on canapés or brochettes
- lemon is usually essential
- butter must be out from fridge some time
before you can spread it on toasts.
Viandes & Salades
Les viandes
Some simple solution is to cook a few varieties of roasted meat, hot or cold, like a joint of beef and/or a joint of pork. Prefer the cold solution because you can cook them a few hours in advance.
You can serve as well meat cooked on the barbecue if it is a garden party. You can also plan on baking several small patés, which can be prepared the day before. Simply look at our Rabbit Paté recipe
Serve your meat already sliced on large plates, which you need to decorate with lettuce, tomatoes, French cornichons (perfect with cold meats) or egg segments. Always display assorted mustards and pickles, as well as salt and pepper on the table.
Salads
With meat, serve some salads. Prepare at least 2 varieties. One based on rice, pasta or potatoes, another consisting of vegetables.
Make a Taboulé for example with a Endive and Roquefort salad. If you have between 8 and 12 guests, you can choose the option of serving them in individual dish. It looks better, but you may have left overs !
Before bringing the plates, display on the table(s) everything that will be needed : salt & pepper,
service settings, oil & vinegar, mustards and pickles. Also plan to make available a large enough
quantity of French bread ; if you don't want to cut too many slices in advance, just leave whole
Baguettes or farmhouse breads on the buffet table with a breadknife and cutting board
so that your guests can cut bread by themselves.
Be aware that you won't need huge quantities of food for this Buffet Part ;
because all the canapés and appetizers were an important part already....
Cheese, Dessert & Coffee
Cheese
Ideally, you need to have all the main sorts of different "cheeses". Make your selection as described in the French Classic Dinner section.
Cheese is usually presented on
a wooden board with special service settings. And once again, don't forget to fill the bread baskets with Baguette on the table.
For a buffet, you may or may not serve lettuce .
Desserts
Your Buffet can offer 2 or 3 different kinds of desserts.
Cook (the day before if you so wish) some Crème caramel, or Mousse au chocolat, presented in small individual ramequins.
You can also prepare some miniature Apple pies too, which look very good and refined and that can be done several hours in advance.
Complete with ice cream if needed and bake a cake if you wish.
All recipes are detailed if you click on them. Go to:
http://www.frenchfoodandcook.com/pages/dblast.htm
Coffee -- Serving Coffee the French way
In France, the big fashion is to serve a square of dark chocolate with your coffee. The reason is that dark chocolate is said to highlight the flavor and aroma of a good coffee.
You can offer Truffes/ Chocolate Truffles, that you would have prepared previously and which will make of your coffee a delightful time ; you can present them in miniature dishes.
To people who would not wish to drink coffee, you can offer some infusion or tea. Formal uses after Coffee
To men, you must offer different kinds of "digestif" alcohols, cognac or armagnac type. Remember the quantity is always very small and preferably serve in cognac special glasses.
Again to men, you can offer a good cigar and this might be
much appreciated by them, if all your guests are OK with its smell (which is rarely the case!).
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