The first was a business reason. As a caterer, I work with vendors who can work at many different types of venues. Planners, florists, bands, and photographers in different sectors of the industry can work events at country clubs and hotels, but I can’t—these places do their own food. However, their kitchens don’t handle kosher food preparation—but I can, and it has expanded my venue base enormously. We’ve now catered in the Waldorf Astoria and all sorts of private clubs and venues all over the country.
The second reason I started this division was the challenge. People always said that glatt kosher food couldn’t taste good and I thought, “Well, that can’t be.” You can’t use foie gras, caviar, obviously shellfish and pork, and you can’t use the combination of dairy and meat, so there are limitations, but in my mind that doesn’t prevent one from making great food and serving it stylishly. Glatt kosher meat is very good meat, and I wanted to show that it can be delicious.
We started very organically, adding to the business mostly by word of mouth. We were fortunate to get hired for a large and prestigious event when we first started to offer glatt kosher menus, and that really helped us a lot. Now we do all sorts of distinguished charity galas and annual fundraisers as well as private events like weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs. We’re pleased and honored to bring our level of style and food to these celebrations—and people always tell us that they just can’t believe it’s kosher.
KIDS TO-GO BOXES I’ve learned over the years that kids don’t want to sit still at parties—they want to be up and around, having fun, and eat on the fly. So I developed what I call “to-go” boxes, with an entire mini-meal that they can carry with them. This one has chicken nuggets, a California roll, Caesar salad, fries, and a mini burger—all the kids’ favorite items. We then slide it into a parchment sleeve with a graphic sticker to hold it in place. For a dramatic entrance, we sometimes stack the boxes on long boards, which are carried out between two waiters, or make a very large stack of the boxes on a bar.
WALKING PAELLA PAN This is one of our more unusual roaming services—paella served in oversize paella pans, fitted with straps so they can be easily carried. This is a classic paella with shrimp, mussels, cockles, and chorizo. For catering, we put this together differently than you would if making it at home. So that we can execute quickly at the event, we make the saffron rice and sauté the shrimp ahead of time. At the event, we steam the mussels and cockles and warm everything separately. Once everything is hot, we mix it all together and serve. Adam, our co-executive chef, came up with the “walking paella pan” for his own wedding, which we catered.
ROAMING RAW BAR This idea was created for a wedding in Maine, where we were told there wasn’t room for a stationary raw bar. So I said, “We will bring the raw bar to you.” This is a traveling version of our raw bar. Waiters roam among the guests—usually during the cocktail hour—with a complete selection of seafood and the accompanying sauces. This is often more convenient for guests, as they don’t have to break off conversation to move to the raw bar location. We also use these roaming concession boxes for sushi, caviar and vodka, candy, and more. We create them in natural wood, white, and also covered with graphics.
MINI MEATBALL SUBS
A meatball sub is the classic example of something that, at full size, could never be done at a party. It’s traditionally a very heavy meal, but if you shrink it way, way down—we shrink it to about an inch and a half—it might be called adorable and cute and make the guys happy as well. People enjoy sub shop fare in the smaller scale. We shave a little bit of Parmesan over the top and add a baby basil sprig (picking tiny leaves from the very center of the basil stem).
Makes about 30
For the Buns (see Notes):
¾ cup warm (110°F) water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1¾ teaspoons sugar
½ cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 large eggs
2 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading
¾ teaspoon coarse salt
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 quarts Marinara Sauce (this page; substituting 1 small bunch of basil for the oregano)
For the Meatballs:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground beef (20 percent fat)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 large eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup shaved Parmesan cheese, for garnish
Baby basil sprigs, for garnish
BUNS
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together ¼ cup of the warm water, the yeast, and ¼ teaspoon of the sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Uncover and add the remaining ½ cup warm water, the remaining 1½ teaspoons sugar, the powdered milk, 1 egg, and 1 cup of the bread flour. Sprinkle the salt over the flour and beat with the paddle attachment on low speed until the mixture is moistened, 1 to 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes.
Stop the mixer and switch to the bread hook attachment. Add ¼ cup of the remaining bread flour and mix on low speed until most of the flour is absorbed. Add a few butter cubes and beat until incorporated. Then add another ¼ cup of the flour. Continue to alternate adding flour and butter until they’re both completely incorporated and the dough cleans the side of the bowl during mixing, about 7 minutes (add 2 to 3 more tablespoons flour if needed).
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until it forms a ball, 2 to 3 minutes. Grease a large bowl with the olive oil, place the dough ball in the bowl, and turn it to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled in size, about 1½ hours.
Punch down the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface, and divide it in half. Roll each piece into a log 12 inches long and 1 inch wide. Cut each log into 18 pieces. Roll each piece into an oval and slightly flatten it. Place the pieces on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between them. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until the loaves are about ½ inch high, 12 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg with 2 tablespoons water. Lightly dab the top of each dough ball with the egg wash. Bake until the buns are golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
MEATBALLS
In a 5- or 6-quart pot, bring the marinara sauce to a slow simmer over low heat.
Heat the oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until just soft, but not browned. In a large bowl, combine the sautéed garlic, ground beef, bread crumbs, eggs, Parmesan, parsley, cream, salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly with clean hands. Shape the meat into 1-inch balls (we use a #100 disher). You’ll want to fit at least 2 meatballs into each mini sub.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
SERVE
Use a serrated knife to slice each bun at a 45-degree angle, starting at the top right corner and slicing three-quarters of the way through the roll. Place 2 meatballs in each roll, dust with shaved Parmesan, and top with a sprig of basil. Serve warm.
NOTES
Substitute your favorite recipe for the rolls if you prefer. Or, if you’re short on time, buy King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls and cut them down to 2½ inches in length.
You will have extra marinara sauce after assembling the heroes; freeze it for another use.
How Many Courses?
We do dinners with four (or more) courses wit
h some regularity. These are usually for clients who consider themselves foodies and who want the emphasis on the dinner served in multiple courses. That adds a whole different set of criteria. First, you have to be sure the courses aren’t too filling. We’ve all been taught to eat what’s in front of us and even if you have a menu card advising guests of how much food is ahead, people will eat what’s on their plate. Your job as a caterer is to make sure that you have enough food, but—just as important—that the portions aren’t too big.
The majority of the dinner parties we do have two savory courses before dessert, so clients typically want something a little bit filling as the first course. For that reason we don’t often do a soup. But especially when entertaining at home during the winter months, when an entrée may be heartier, soup makes a great first course. And when we serve multiple courses, a soup is a wonderful thing.
Risotto is a very popular component of a multiple-course meal. A pasta course is another—we like to do ravioli, either in wonton wrappers, so they’re steamed, or open-faced, which highlights the ingredients and lets people choose how much pasta they want to eat. And we quite often serve a cheese course at the end.
FISH CARVING STATION I cater a number of events where the food must be kosher (see Kosher Catering, this page). Because meat and dairy products cannot be mixed, clients choose a menu based on one or the other. One large celebration had a dairy menu, but we wanted it to be hearty, so I suggested a fish carving station, which was a big hit. We mimicked the idea of the meat carving station, with a central beam that displayed all the fish available. The guests could help themselves to the many garnishes and accompaniments.
HOMEMADE POTATO CHIPS
The whole idea for this hors d’oeuvre is high/low. We first made them for a very fancy wedding. The couple wanted something interesting to be served before the ceremony—a little snack accompanied by Pellegrino or Champagne. Service was to be in a very ornate marble foyer. The juxtaposition of simple potato chips in paper cones against a beautiful silver tray is what made it a great addition to a party. It’s a little campy serving potato chips on a silver-tone tray. We printed the monogrammed cones, which were lined with parchment paper. The tray was highly polished stainless steel; we drilled holes to hold the cones. You also can find many different platforms to hold cones online (see Sources).
Makes 18 to 20 cones of 8 to 10 chips
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 Idaho potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
Fine sea salt
Line a baking sheet with 2 or 3 layers of paper towels.
Pour about 2 inches of oil into a deep 10- or 12-inch sauté pan and heat to 300°F. (If you don’t have a thermometer, drop in a potato slice as a test. If the oil begins to bubble, it’s ready.)
Carefully use a mandoline (see Note) to slice 1 potato very thinly. Fry the slices until crisp and golden, about 3 minutes.
Use a spider or slotted spoon to lay the chips in a single layer on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle immediately with fine sea salt.
Repeat with the remaining potatoes, making sure the oil comes up to temperature before starting each batch. Store the chips in an airtight container until ready to serve.
NOTE
A mandoline will give you very thin, uniform slices, but if you don’t have one, you can use a vegetable peeler.
BACON AND MAKER’S MARK
Bacon is such a delicious food with a fanatical following that you don’t need to do anything to it—we like serving it all by itself. We started off by serving just a little crispy square of bacon that stands up vertically on the tray. People were always surprised: “What’s this?” they’d ask. And we’d simply reply, “It’s bacon!” I’ve been told by the most illustrious party planners that this is their favorite hors d’oeuvre.
We started pairing bacon with bourbon at a wedding for a couple with Southern connections. We bought mini bottles of Maker’s Mark bourbon (see Sources, this page)—they have an iconic red wax seal on the cap, which is why I like their look. We drilled through the wax and the metal cap with a drill bit that is a bit wider than the straw, emptied out the bourbon—which was then mixed with apple cider and sparkling water and funneled back into the bottle. (You could simply remove the cap and mix your favorite bourbon cocktail.)
Finally, we inserted a matching red straw, and served the bacon squares alongside.
Makes 12 to 16 (depending on the size of your bacon)
12 slices thick-cut, applewood-smoked bacon
12 mini bottles Maker’s Mark bourbon (see Sources)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line a quarter-sheet pan with parchment. Lay the bacon strips on top of the parchment and cover with a second sheet of parchment. Set a second quarter-sheet pan on top to keep the bacon flat.
Bake until the bacon is almost cooked but still flexible, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and discard the top sheet of parchment. With a sharp knife, cut the bacon into 2-inch pieces.
Return the bacon to the oven and cook, uncovered, to desired doneness, another 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.
Use a power drill to drill a hole in the top of each bottle. Arrange the mini bottles of bourbon on a serving tray and insert mini red drinking straws (see Note). Lean the bacon square against the bottle.
NOTE
As an alternative, you can serve the bourbon—or your favorite bourbon cocktail—in a shot glass, using the same red straws; simply lean the bacon against the glass instead of the bottle.
DIM SUM DISPLAY
What does the person most famous for shrinking food do next? We supersize it. Or at least, we supersize the display.
The idea for this display brought dim sum back onto our menu. We love dim sum and it’s very popular, but we needed a new way to present it—what could we do to take it to a whole new level? Well, we’ve miniaturized a Chinese food take-out box; now let’s blow it up.
These giant boxes lend themselves to custom graphics that make the display even better. We lay a sheet of acrylic just below the opening and cover that with a nest of fried cellophane noodles or parsley. Then we set the dumplings on top. Like all my displays, it allows us to set the food at different levels, but it’s still very easy for guests to serve themselves.
Flat pegboards that our prop team makes in-house are set at either end of the display to hold the chopsticks vertically, while small bowls of dipping sauces and toppings are set at the front, along with lo mein and crispy noodles.
PEKING DUCK STEAMED BUNS
Chef David Chang brought so much attention to steamed buns at his New York restaurant Momofuku (and rightly so—they are amazing) that I thought this would be another great take on a mini version of a very comforting food.
The trick to success here is to make the buns small, but with enough room for the filling without being too doughy. So we roll the dough a bit thinner than we would for a full-size bun. We make this super-delicious bite with two different fillings: here we use purchased Peking duck, but we also do a version with pork belly.
We present these on a bed of baby greens in mini bamboo steamer baskets. The red baskets set against the dark metal tray make a dramatic display, but these could be served on any plate or platter.
You can buy frozen Chinese buns (bao) in most Asian markets, but they are large. Thaw the dough, cut it to the desired size, and steam as described.
Makes 36
For the Steamed Buns:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup warm milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for the bowl and brushing
2 cups cake flour
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ teaspoon coarse salt
For the Filling:
¾ cup hoisin sauce
1½ cup julienned roast duck meat (from a store-bought Peking duck), cut to the length of the buns
¾ cup thinly sliced crispy
roast duck skin
3 scallions, green part only, sliced, for garnish
BUNS
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the yeast, sugar, and milk. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.
Add the oil, cake and all-purpose flours, and salt to the milk and beat on medium speed until a smooth, elastic dough is formed. Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil, place the dough in the bowl, turn it to coat with oil, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and roll it ⅛ inch thick. Use a 2-inch oval or round cutter to cut out 36 buns. (If you have only a round cutter, gently tug the rounds into oval shapes if you’d like.) Brush one side of each bun lightly with oil and fold in half crosswise, oiled side in, pressing lightly.
Fill a pot wide enough to snugly hold the bamboo steamer halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and set a bamboo steamer on top. Working in batches, place the folded buns in the steamer with at least ¾ inch between them and steam for 10 minutes. Remove from the steamer and set aside to cool. At this point, you can freeze the buns for later use. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until firm, then transfer to freezer bags. The buns can be frozen for up to 2 months.
ASSEMBLE
When you’re ready to fill the buns, bring the water under the steamer back up to a boil. Open each bun and place a small bead of hoisin sauce on the bottom half. Fill with 3 or 4 pieces of duck meat. Return the buns to the steamer for about 5 minutes to warm them through.
Peter Callahan's Party Food Page 3