THE HORS d’OEUVRES BUFFET

The cocktail party is a very American thing. Of course, other cultures have appetizers. The Italians celebrate with antipasto, the Spanish with tapas, and the Lebanese with mezza. And on and on. However, we often do not use hors d’oeuvres as a appetizer at all. We Americans are wont to put out an entire snack buffet, offer too much alcohol, and then expect people to enjoy the dinner table. I don’t believe we should be trying to do both.

Appetizers are to be served as a first course at the dinner table. Serve a plate of good pâté, for instance, and then on with the meal. The meal should be long enough, and lovely enough, to make the evening. But we need not serve elaborate appetizers at the buffet before the meal. The hors d’oeuvre buffet should be a separate event, one at which you are trying to get a large number of people together at one time but not going to feed them dinner.

I rarely serve hard liquor at a dinner party, nor do I serve hors d’oeuvres. The liquor will burn out the taste buds, and the snacks will fill people up. If I have worked hard on a dinner party, then I serve my guests dry sherry and perhaps a few olives and a bit of cheese. Then I bring on the dinner. And please serve dinner no more than one hour after you have invited people. The wait for dinner is sometimes terrible!

The cocktail party is something else. Load up the buffet with little things that will hold up well for the evening, and you can feel free to serve people whatever it is that they want to drink. The point of the evening is not the food but the company and conversation. The following recipes will help with the hors d’oeuvres buffet.