Appetizers are small dishes or starters served before a meal to complement it. They’re meant to stimulate one’s appetite and can also be used to break up the courses in a formal dinner so that the start of each course is not too overwhelming. Appetizers can be as simple as bread-butter or cheese and crackers or more complex like smoked salmon, bagel cream cheese, assorted crudité with dip or hummus, or veggies platters.
Types of Appetizers
While “appetizing” means enhancing one’s hunger, its French term is hors d’oeuvre, commonly used worldwide and translates to “outside the masterpiece.” The term is synonymous with the French concept that food is a kind of artistic expression. Here are the most common appetizers in every home:
Cocktails
One of the most popular choices is cocktails. And they typically contain fruit, vegetable, or seafood juices, making them an ideal drink for guests to warm up to the party and place.
Canapes
These are flavorful combinations of various foods that serve as delicious small bites. They’re meant to be eaten with fingers or toothpicks. Such appetizers typically contain a base like bread or pancake, toppings, and garnishes and can offer an assortment of biscuits, crackers, or puff pastries.
Salads
Salads are the easiest and the most guilt-free appetizers to put together. With a readily available mix of vegetables and meat, one can enhance its taste with simple cheese and dressings.
Soups
While soups alone can be considered appetizers, they also work well with bread and crackers. They are light on the stomach, healthy, and easy to prepare on short notice.
Rolls, hummus and tortilla chips, baked potatoes loaded with cheese and bacon, nuggets, french fries, dumplings, crackers, breadsticks, mini pizzas, tacos, and bruschetta are some of the classic appetizers that most people enjoy. One can also add protein-rich, guilt-free bites to their menu with foods containing meat or fish, such as meatballs, fish cakes, chicken wings dipped in sweet chili or oyster sauce, egg rolls, garlic shrimp, smoked salmon canapes, or tofu dishes.
Tips to follow while planning for appetizers
The occasion, timing, season, guest food preferences, and party theme should all be considered when deciding the kinds of appetizers one needs to make. It’s also easier to pick ones that can be prepared in advance. Tortillas, mini sandwiches, pastries, grilled cheese, chicken salads, etc., can be made, frozen, and then reheated before the party begins. These tips will save the host’s efforts and allow them to spend more time with their guests:
Serve a variety
Prepare for a range of flavors, textures, and colors to cater to the different taste palettes of one’s guests. Alternating rich, highly-flavored foods can achieve this balance with simple, fresh items. The first couple hours of one’s open house or party should include six to eight appetizers per guest.
Avoid repeating flavors
It’s also good to avoid repeating flavors. While it’s good to use surplus produce, having an apple in a punch, salad, and dessert is overkill.
Keep it simple and light
Know that the appetizers are meant to boost people’s appetite, and overloading one’s guests with large servings or heavy stomach-filling food options will make them full too soon, and they’re likely to skip the main course.
Spread out the appetizers
If one has more space, one can distribute appetizers around several areas to encourage interactions among guests.
A mix of drinks
Aim for a mix of non-alcoholic beverages like canned cocktails or punch, beer, and wine to cater to different types of people. It’s also convenient for the guests to have a separate beverage station that isn’t near the kitchen but is still audible for conversations to flow.
Consider temperature
Appetizers will likely stay on the table for a long time, with people gravitating towards them at different times. So consider whether there will be both hot and cold items. It is simpler to serve appetizers that don’t need to be kept hot at room temperature. Similarly, depending on the season and the time of day, a buffet can have seasonal water-rich fruits and cool salads and drinks for hot summer days, warm soups for winter dinners, or a combination of both during other times.
Keep it visually appealing
Maintain an aesthetic appeal by using contrasting colors and shapes. For example, thick creamy colors of cheeses, bread, and dips placed near fresh herbs, fruits, and salads stand out and make the spread visually appealing.
While planning for a party a week in advance is ideal, it might not always be possible. At times like these, one can roll with readily-available ingredients and whip up last-minute dishes. Mashed potatoes with seasoning, fruits and cheese sticks, no-cook throw-together salads, etc., make for an appealing spread. Ultimately, creativity and people’s involvement are what make party-perfect appetizers.
