Helping With Holidays: Learning to Host

There's a reason so many holiday disasters show up in movies, romcoms, and sitcoms- the general public unreservedly empathizes. Why? Because they don't know how to entertain! The craft of hosting is not as commonly learned or practiced a skill as it ought to be, which is how I've been keeping the lights on lately.

People have been asking me over for my How To Holiday consultation. The concept is pretty straightforward from my end- are you entertaining for the first time in a while, and think you might be in over your head? Have me come visit! For a modest fee, I take a thorough look at your house, decor, arrangements, kitchen, menu, guest list, and whatever else we think needs checking over. Then, together, we make a plan to help you pull it all off without a hitch. I get to eat that week, and they get peace of mind in an otherwise very stressful time. Simple, right?

Well... yes, once you get the basics down.

The notion of spectacle gets everybody from time to time, and it's really easy to give in to ambition, take a leap of faith, and faceplant in front of everybody you were trying to impress. So the first thing to do is Avoid That, and the best way to do that is to keep things simple, and play to your strengths. 

Got a nice house? Decorate without being gaudy, and make it as accessible as possible. Spacious kitchen? Consider bringing the party in there. Love to cook? Lean into it. But above all else, do these things carefully. 

• Fancy decorations? Might get broken if your guests have young children. Know your guests.
• Party in the kitchen? Make sure there's space for everyone, and that there's plenty of food that doesn't need cooking so the mess stays minimal. 
• Doing a whole lot of cooking? Figure out what can be done ahead, so you can spend more time with the people you really want to see while you enjoy yourselves together- last minute touches are all well and good, but not at the expense of your guests.
• How long is everyone over for? Think about traffic, travel, and relative sobriety.
• Shoe space, coat space, fridge space, freezer space, closet space, parking space, it's all important.
• What's on the radio, stereo, or TV? 
• How are you and yours dressing? What mood are you trying to set?

This is just the start of it, really. Learning how to think like a host isn't difficult, exactly, but it does require a measured, thoughtful approach. Once your party's over though, you've learned what worked, what didn't, why, and how to make it better next time. These are skills you can apply over and over again no matter where you are. 

The greatest gifts, after all, are knowledge and understanding.

Cookbook Review: "Dorie's Cookies" by Dorie Greenspan

Come on, Dorie. Your book's title is Dorie's Cookies, so why is the first recipe a brownie?

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, I can be serious.

It meets all the professional and casual expectations I consider important to a reader. Having worked alongside her in the past, I'm certainly not surprised. She's practical, reasonable, and fantastic to work with, all of which translates quite well into the book.

The first section is Techniques, Ingredients, and Gear, which is always important. Notions for getting the most out of your methods aren't something I turn down in a specialty cookbook like this. Minutiae on ingredients I can take or leave, but that's because I'm a professional too- the average home baker will likely find some useful tidbits. Equipment is vital- if you don't have the usual suspects, you'll know what you do need or want to get the job done. That's something cookbooks are notoriously bad at, and while baking-centric volumes have better odds, they still tend to be a little more “Well of course you need this- you're baking!”, which I don't like. Dorie doesn't do that.

Tools that remove variables are always a blessing in baking, so it's no surprise that most of them do that in some form or another. Some choices are obvious- the hand tools like like a rolling pin, a scale, or cookie scoops (just ice cream scoops with tiered measures). Then there's the heavies like the stand mixer or hand mixer, and the food processor. Most of the people looking at this book as something beyond a display piece will probably have most of this stuff. But there's also things like an oven thermometer (don't trust the number on the oven display), or what she calls 'cheaters', for your rolling pin. Elegantly simple- they're bands of set thicknesses to wrap around the edges of your rolling pin to insure your dough's also uniform. Don't underestimate the benefits, believe me.

Now we get to the proverbial meat of the book, wherein there's something for everybody. Lots of these I'd never see myself baking except to sell or send as gifts. Certainly not a problem though, there are plenty I'd happily bake every day (though of course I shouldn't- I like being the exact same weight I was in high school). But whether they're to my taste or not, they're thoughtfully constructed and intuitive to make. That's what really matters, right? No matter how delicious, the balance of “is this too much of a hassle” should always be a consideration, and Dorie does so from start to finish, sometimes so subtly you'd hardly notice.

I could happily run through the many chocolate, coffee, and almond variations and nothing else without a moment's regret- I actually stopped reading at one point to bake a recipe and see if it worked (Chocolate Chip Not-Quite Madelbrot, p. 104). Not only was it effortless, I cut it back by a third and it scaled perfectly. Recipes designed to scale up or down well are also rather uncommon, something she mentions here and there, so trusting one to halve or double isn't a big deal and there are usually notes if a recipe will make it difficult.

Several times throughout the book I'd be eyeing a cookie and think “Hmm, I wonder why she didn't add XYZ flavor/component”. Then I'd look at the next recipe or two and see one that did. Her flexibility with ingredients and flavor combinations is excellent, and serves quite nicely to fill out the book. (I've actually got another new baking book that does this very well too. Probably have a review on it by the end of the month.)

There's one thing that threw me a bit, but it's just perspective. There are a goodly number of savory cookie recipes in here, and my brain didn't immediately want to associate 'savory' with 'cookie', jumping instead to 'cracker', 'scone', or 'biscuit'. Don't let it get into your head, and nothing else will bug you.

Overall, this is an excellent volume on cookies. It give you what you need, what you want, and what you might try for yourself.

Cupboard Shortcuts and Time Savers

As someone who prefers to do most of the actual work of cooking myself, I still acknowledge the need for handling things in a hurry, whether it's for savory or sweet applications. As such, there are a number of things I like to have on hand as 'just in case' ingredients that I use to take some time lag out of delicious, or just save me time washing dishes.

Puff pastry. An expensive but essential part of my freezer, I always have at least one box on hand- usually the brand made with actual butter. Near to limitless in its utility, I've made meals out of samosas, pot pies, quiches, or rissoles, desserts ranging from palmiers and cinnamon twists to napoleons and curd cups, even snacks like herb and cheese breadsticks or mini turnovers.

Salsa. While I tend to make my own for direct applications, I also usually keep one of the cheapish canned supermarket ones in the cupboard. I could use it to bulk out my own batch, but frequently it'll get added as a liquid component to soups, stews, or braises. Don't have stock on hand? Thin out your salsa and get your work done. Ditto for making rice, though that may not look pretty.

Beer. This one's a little odder, but important. Rather like salsa, it serves as a foundational flavorful liquid for poaching, braising, or other techniques. Typically my go-to is a 12-pack of Sapporo cans, but most mild beers will serve just fine. Most recently, I blended it into a dark roux that later became a rather nice gumbo. Many of the other components had sweet and spicy notes, so the faint bitterness served very well to round out the flavors and bring depth to the whole.

Curry bricks. Yes, I use them too- and not just the curry ones either. I often keep the prefab brick for what the manufacturer calls Hayashi Rice on hand as well. While important to be aware of potential allergens, they make it so much easier to bring out massive flavor with hardly any work, and have food on the table in a matter of minutes.

Frozen vegetables. It might sound obvious, but growing seasons don't last forever. Many things with fairly short prominence periods are best preserved by modern freezing technology, but my freezer is small so my choices are limited. For utility's sake I keep peas, corn, and spinach available. They all make for suitable vegetable sides in a hurry, and can also be used to enrich soups, stews, sauces, or other amalgamations like fried rice.
Tip: when making a batch of soup you want to cool and store, add the frozen vegetables after you have the soup is done and exactly where you want it. That way the cooling process happens faster and more efficiently.

Applesauce. Odd one, no? But it's always in my cupboard. Moisture and flavor for any forcemeat, a foundation for dips, dressings, baking, sauce work, and if need be you can just put it alongside a sandwich to bulk out your lunch.

Miso (and/or Doubanjiang). These are in the category of essential because they're literally better than bouillon. Fermented soy products with tons of flavor, they can be used in marinades, dressings, soups, sauces, and almost anywhere you'd put salt- even on the sweet side of things. For example, I don't really like peanut butter cookies, but adding a little white miso to the dough creates a transcendent thing indeed.