The Dos and Don’ts of Appetizers

May 18, 2018 - Event Catering

Did you know that serving and presenting appetizers is fairly complex? Since most people only break out appetizers for parties, events, and special occasions, a lot of people forget to think about all of the different rules of appetizers.

Unlike dinner where you have a set time when everyone will eat, appetizers need to be available to eat for up to 2 hours straight. This means that the temperature and integrity of the food needs to remain constant for 2 hours.

To maintain the quality during this period of time, some appetizers will need to be built by your guests at your appetizer station, or built by a staff member on-site. This includes all crostini, shooters, and bruschetta. This is mandatory to avoid one or more of the ingredients to get soggy while sitting out.

To maintain the correct temperature, cold appetizers should be sitting on a tray of ice, and hot appetizers should be resting in a chafing dish. Common items on our menu that we put in chafing dishes at events are Cranberry Chili Meatballs, Mini Chicken Skewers, and Banyan Beef Skewers.

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Next, let’s talk about passed appetizers. Choosing to have appetizers passed at your event or party is one of the best ways to increase the classiness and formality of your event. Passed appetizers works by having one or more staff members behind the scenes packing serving trays with appetizers, while the rest of the staff is out presenting the appetizers. Each tray should only have one type of appetizer on it.

We recommend sticking with a total of two, maybe three appetizers to be passed around, one of them being a vegetarian option.

That is all for our short list of the dos and don’ts of appetizers. If you have more questions regarding appetizers, feel free to give us a call and we’d be happy to help.

SF Catering Company caters a large number of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres every week for all types of events and parties. If you are having an event or party in the near future, make sure to reach out to one of our staff members to receive a custom quote today.

Sincerely,
SF Catering Catering
877-789-4377
www.sfcateringcompany.com