Dinner Party Test Runs -- Do you do it?

[tjaehnigen]

I am curious if Mrs. TJ and I are the only ones that do this...

Whenever we plan a dinner party, we plan the menu. Sometimes, we want to try new recipes that we have never tried before. Not wanting any surprises, we usually do a 'test run' of any new recipe we're planning on using just to be sure that we like it, we work out the kinks so we know how to improve it for the actual event, and we know how to possibly embellish it.

Anyone else do this?

[marie-louise]

I used to do that. After once serving an almost inedible entree-well, actually, it WAS inedible, they were just polite and hungry guests-we made a house rule that we only experimented on each other. Now that you mention it, I realize I don't worry about it so much anymore. I haven't flopped that badly for years-through experience, I think I've developed a better eye for spotting a recipe that works well and that I'll like. Mostly, I tend to cook tried and true recipes for my friends for another reason: I prefer to be at the party, not off in the kitchen. If it's a recipe I don't know, it just makes it more time-consuming to cook it.

My favorite time to test out new recipes is on days off, when my husband and I are cooking together. Then it is really fun to make a whole new set of recipes.

[tanabutler]

I have some eerie kind of beginner's luck on new recipes—or maybe I'm just good at choosing things within my limitations. At any rate, I've only rolled one gutterball in the last fifteen years, I think. So no, I don't test recipes beforehand. If something started to go wrong with one, I'd just change courses and simplify.

[Varmint]

All my dinner parties are test runs. That's why I invite friends who don't mind being part of the great experiment!!!

[Foam Pants]

I often do test runs. It eases frustrations since I have already worked out the kinks and I am much more coordinated in the kitchen. Plus, I have served some stinkers and I don't want that to ever happen again.

I hate that first time recipe dischord where you dirty too many dishes, don't have the parsley chopped when you need it, and realize the pork roast isn't roasting like it should so it takes five hours. I want a smooth operation in the kitchen when I have guests coming. I can only get that by practicing a specific recipe.

[NeroW]

All my dinner parties are test runs.  That's why I invite friends who don't mind being part of the great experiment!!!

Word.

[Suzanne F]

Test runs??

What fun is that?

I have always broken the cardinal rule of dinner-party-giving ("Never try anything new out on your guests.") and never had a problem. After all, my guests don't know what it's supposed to be like, so why should I? I love the thrill of discovery. And of making up a story about what that stuff on the plate is.

[bloviatrix]

My husband has begged my not to experiment on our guests. So we settled on a compromise - our dull friends get boring food, the adventurous ones get the experiments. I find the meals which are experimental to be a lot more fun. Plus, a lot more wine gets drunk.

[vengroff]

I usually plan five or six courses. One or two will be things I have made before, or slight variations. One will typically go wildly wrong and be abandoned before it leaves the kitchen, but the remaining courses are usually more than enough.

[tjaehnigen]

We usually never go beyond 3-4 courses. We prefer to be with our guests in the dining room, too, hence the desire to test run the recipe to avoid kitchen time. heh heh

But I do see the possible fun in experimenting on your guests. It's Alive Alive I tell you Alive!!!!!

[AlexP]

If I know well my guests, I do not mind cooking new recipes. Nervertheless, lately most of our dinner parties involved people new to my cooking, so I have tried to cook dishes that I am familiar with.

Alex

[vengroff]

We usually never go beyond 3-4 courses. We prefer to be with our guests in the dining room, too, hence the desire to test run the recipe to avoid kitchen time. heh heh

But I do see the possible fun in experimenting on your guests. It's Alive Alive I tell you Alive!!!!!

Each of our guests is encouraged to pop into the kitchen and help out with a course or two. When we lived in a loft it was easy, since there was no real line between the kitchen and the dining/living area. In a house, it's harder. We just had a big hole cut in the wall between the kitchen and dining room. That should help.

[fifi]

When I have people over it is usually family and/or cooking friends. We enjoy experimenting together and that is part of the fun. Some of our disasters are still a source of great amusement. I have a hard time thinking about cooking for folks that I have to "put on a show". But, the few times I have been in that position, I stayed with my tried and true recipes.

I do have a friend that, along with some of his cooking buddies, cooks a really nice Sunday dinner for the Ronald McDonald House every few months. What a production! The most fun is that they always have a practice session and I get invited to the critique.

[torakris]

I guess I do a little of both and it depends on what kind or party it is and who is coming.

sometimes it is easier and faster to through together something you are familiar with and then spend more time with the guests, other times when with my friends who enjoy cooking we plan an entirely new menu and do it together.

Most parties tend to be a mix of true and tried along with something new, I am pretty good at picking recipes and can't recall a single bomb.