Entertaining in Tandem: Three Steps to Stress-Free Holiday Parties

Are holidays “the most wonderful time of the year”; or are they times of stress—a hectic pace of endless shopping, wrapping, decorating, cooking, and cleaning? Who has not thought, “Oh, to be a child again” (especially at holiday times)? Christmas and Hanukah should be joyous seasons in which are made lifetime memories that connect loved ones without all the pressures.

Susan Thacker, author of Supper Swapping—Cook Four Days a Month with Chefs’ and Restaurants’ Easy Recipes, provides three steps to easier holiday dinner parties. She believes that holiday responsibilities are sometimes self-imposed and plans do not have to be “all or nothing”. One of the ideas in Supper Swapping is to “entertain in tandem” by hosting a dinner party the same night as a friend and splitting the cooking.

Abandoning the festivities is not the solution to reducing holiday stress, according to Susan; sharing the workload with a friend and making simple, do-ahead recipes at leisure is. Below you’ll find her tips and a do-ahead recipe from Houston’s Post Oak Grill (taken from Supper Swapping, a cookbook with easy recipes from chefs and owners of restaurants around the country such as Ferrara Bakery & Café in New York and Joe’s Stone Crab.)

Step 1—Entertaining in Tandem—Sharing planning of menus, shopping for groceries, and dividing cooking duties with a friend who will host a dinner party on the same night can cut party-giving stress in half. Cooking may be done either separately in each respective kitchen or together in one kitchen (the latter arrangement is more fun).

Step 2---Selecting Do-Ahead Recipes---Careful selection of a menu that avoids difficult recipes, especially those having to be made the day of the party is a second stress reducer. Using freezable dishes for half the menu and choosing additional recipes that may be made the day before (see recipe for Blueberry Vinaigrette from Post Oak Grill in Houston) are two more great “tricks of party planning.” Many dishes are better the next day because flavors meld. (Susan Thacker recommends freezing Chicken Curry Suzanne on page 118 of her cookbook- from Florida’s top rated restaurant, Chalet Suzanne).

Step 3---Thinking in Terms of Moderation---Often the happiest holiday memories include simple meals. Susan commented, “ I remember being at my grandparents’ small Victorian cottage with a houseful of cousins. One cold evening we gathered around the floor furnace to warm our hands. Then my grandmother called us to dinner. She had made a large pot of navy beans and homemade rolls. It was a simple time and a basic menu, but truly a loving memory of my extended family together at Christmas.”