Never try a new recipe for guests?

[Mottmott]

I rarely make the same thing twice because I'm always trying to justify all my magazines, cookbooks and the time I spend on cooking sites.

[Varmint]

Hell, I'm having 3 clients over for dinner on Saturday and I have no idea what I'll be making them. It will be something different and pricey, as I get reimbursed for the expense. But it will be a new dish to me, as I hardly use recipes. So, what should I do, remembering that I can't get too cutting edge here?

[beccaboo]

I try out new recipes on guests--I can usually tell if a recipe sounds reasonable. My mother says you should never serve a recipe from Gourmet magazine without trying it first, because, though usually good, they can often be unexpectedly inedible. That's the Gourmet of 15 and more years ago, though--things may have changed.

[Tracy K.]

Becca,

Your mother is very wise. Hence, so are you....

I just picked up the new issue of Gourmet yesterday...haven't read it in so long because, with editor/editorial changes, it seemed to be less about cooking and more about travel/style.

[helenjp]

New recipe yes, new process, no.

I agree that concentration helps - I HAVE had disasters that came down to plain, unvarnished, slapdash negligence on my part.

But for my mother-in-law??? Maybe not. She married my father-in-law a few years ago, and if I stuff up, she always coos, "So LIKE you, Helen...".

[cjsadler]

I envy those of you that haven't had a disaster. Things usually work out when I try something new, but I learned my lesson the last time I had a dinner party. Tried 'Asian short ribs' from Simple to Spectacular (Vonderichten and Bittman). Used the freshest spices, know what I'm doing with short ribs, figured I could trust this book, etc... but the flavor of the final dish was disgusting! I was horrified when I tasted it in the kitchen and quickly made some soy BBQ sauce to throw on the ribs.

[bleudauvergne]

Speaking of short ribs, I discovered this new thing to sprinkle brown sugar and a little salt on them after you've sauced them and right before you put them under the grill and it caramelizes. So I had a table full of drooling invites waiting for the second batch - the night was going so well! I don't know what happened, I somehow got cornmeal instead of brown sugar and sprinkled it on, and kind of thickly too, because I wanted to be sticky and good, I didn't put on the overhead light in the kitchen because it was going to ruin the ambiance glaring out at everyone at the table. It came out really bad. Yuck. I just kept waiting for them to be sizzling just right and it seemed to take forever, and the meat dried up. Singed and it absorbed the sauce. But hey, we take these risks every time we do new things for guests.

[bleudauvergne]

Toasted said:

My biggest failures have always been recipes that I've made before and thought I could do again- easily! Noooooo-

That, and the ones that are a gastronomical triumph for two and then you try and do for 10. Inevitably theres some kind of plating complication that forces things to go too slowly and some people end up with cold food. How can you win? Luckily we learn from our mistakes!

[bleudauvergne]

Hell, I'm having 3 clients over for dinner on Saturday and I have no idea what I'll be making them. It will be something different and pricey, as I get reimbursed for the expense. But it will be a new dish to me, as I hardly use recipes. So, what should I do, remembering that I can't get too cutting edge here?

Varmint - How about crawfish or shrimp! Nearly impossible to mess up and nice and expensive.

[Marlene]

Hell, I'm having 3 clients over for dinner on Saturday and I have no idea what I'll be making them. It will be something different and pricey, as I get reimbursed for the expense. But it will be a new dish to me, as I hardly use recipes. So, what should I do, remembering that I can't get too cutting edge here?

Varmint - How about crawfish or shrimp! Nearly impossible to mess up and nice and expensive.

Before you do that, check for seafood or shellfish allergies!

Edited March 2, 2004 by Marlene (log)

[browniebaker]

My problem is not so much trying new recipes when I have guests, but tinkering with my tried and true recipes in order to make something etxra-special for guests. More peaches than usual in my muffins? The muffins sank in the middle and were soggy inside. Couldn't bring myself to serve the concave muffins, and served boring old toast instead, with apologies. I tell myself "never again," but I don't believe that.

[Varmint]

I'm still thinking of what to do. I see some veal in my future -- perhaps veal breast. Some divers scallops from a chef friend. Lobster? Damn, no truffles.

[Suzanne F]

Varmint -- speaking of scallops AND short ribs: I once had the two together at the late Jean-Louis Palladin's restaurant in NYC: WOW! Maybe you could get the veal breast cut into chunks, braise it a la short ribs but with white wine, and then pair it with seared scallops?

See, I always figure that if it's something new and no one else knows how it should turn out, unless it's a REAL disaster like the cornmeal-in-place-of-brown-sugar experience, everyone will still be impressed and happy. After all, no one -- not even you, the cook -- will know if it came out perfect or not!

[dano1]

I'm always trying something new. I've made my share of mistakes in the kitchen and a few total flops ;). To me it's what you can do with the product to save and serve/sell it-and do it with flair and confidence-that separates the kids from the adults. Almost everything can be made servable-almost. I remember the time i was making a couple gal batch of mascarpone filling for tiramisu in a kitchen i hadn't been in in awhile. Someone started using the same containers for sugar and iodized salt and i was too busy yacking to look at it before it was too late. That was a complete loss.

danny

[hedoness]

Yes, but usually twists to familiar recipes & techniques. I don't mess with the main dishes. Also I stick to *non-essential* items, such as additional sides, appetizers, spreads or dessert toppings-- things that if they don't turn out 100% right, they could be say, be secretly eliminated and never discussed again- and their absense won't affect the overall meal...

I have had to toss a thing or two without any guests knowing that they ever existed... most recently, a carrot ginger dressing recipe from one of the Mousewood Cafe cookbooks that was supposed to be just like that orange dressing commonly served at Japanese restaurants-- but it turned out like a weird carrot slushy. I had my favorite prepared Ginger dressing ready as a backup. Privately, my husband asked "what *were* all those carrots for, anyway?" ;-) ...But the guests never knew about it. And I am still trying to figure out how to make the stuff.

[Cusina]

Varmint, if you were really in for adventure you would make whatever the random three recipes feature on recipeGullet gives you. C'mon I dare you.

I love to try new stuff, but have to admit that I don't do it often with guests unless we know them well and they are the kind of folks who love to experiment themselves and even then it is usually only one new dish. I'm not comfortable enough with my skills yet to make something completely new for guests, unless, and this does happen, my first choice meal is a complete blowout and I'm forced to improvise. Have, admittedly, had some tasty meals happen that way.

[marie-louise]

I don't have a problem w/ making something new-I'm finally over the inedible main course I made for casual friends back in the 70's-but I find it takes a lot more energy and concentration to try and follow a new recipe than it does to make one of my tried and true recipes. So I usually take the lazy way out and make something I know will work. I'd rather be hanging out w/ my friends-and there's no room in the kitchen for them to come & hang out w/ me.

[lala]

I often make new dishes for my group's potlucks and dinners. But I admit to experimentation first, with the final dish being my best version. I don't really use recipes, but love trying to recreate dishes that I've had, or variations on standards from my repetoire. There's also just making something up after I come home from the Farmer's Market, and look at what I've bought. The only time I stick to a recipe is when I'm baking, as that's more about chemistry.

As a teenager, I usually catered my parent's dinner parties, and since I was learning, I often made new dishes on those evenings. I still remember the lovely mid-summer dinner party out on the patio. The ending was my very first chocolate souffle, which was a success (yay!). That was either incredible balls on my part, or the fact that I was sipping champagne all night, and was tipsy and relaxed about it all... not sure which.

Edited March 27, 2004 by lala (log)

[Foodie in Vancouver]

I'm with the majority- if I didn't try out new recipes for guests, it would be an endless round of the same old, same old. I pore through the magazines and have purchased ridiculous numbers of cookbooks so if I didn't try something new all the time I couldn't even begin to justify the hours, not to mention the money I spend on my food-porn! And, besides I am almost always cooking for friends - they are here for the friendship and have never complained if every dish isn't a success. Like the saying goes, "If you don't like the food, drink more wine."

[auntdot]

If you have been cooking for a while you know what goes together.

You know what recipes should work and which might not. And you have an idea how to salvage the mess, if it should come to that.

And there are always the steaks in the freezer if all goes awry.

If a recipe calls for cilantro, peanut butter, vanilla, five spice powder, and pesto, you might want to try it out before serving it to guests.

But most of the time we go with our instincts.