Let Me Entertain You

I’ve always liked to entertain, which, to me, means having people in for meals. But my attitude toward entertaining has changed in the course of my life and, I am happy to say, has become much more reasonable. When 1 was young, I sought perfection, with a vision of myself as an exquisitely groomed hostess— her brow serene, her movements soft, her table and food things of beauty in every detail. Now that 1 am no longer young, I know that this kind of perfection and serenity can be achieved only by a hostess with a large, well-trained staff. People like me, who do everything by themselves with little help, cannot be perfect. Maybe some women can, but most of them look plain silly and pretentious when they become too ambitious. If I think everything has to be perfect for guests (and I feel this way only when entertaining business clients and the like), my husband and I take them out to a good restaurant. Guests of this kind will be impressed if you spend plenty of money on them in a famous place they can brag about later. Mercifully, this does not happen to us very often. As for the rest of my guests, I do my best and hope they will like it.

Two verities that life has taught me guide me in my entertaining. The first is that guests, however inconvenient, must be honored; the second is that one should never as a hostess wear the patient air of a tired saint. To me, the best way of honoring guests is to feed them properly, because, even if they came to the house with side thoughts (finding a mate, making connections, free advice, etc.), they also came to eat. So, in order to avoid weary saintliness, I serve food that I can prepare beforehand and that needs only a few finishing touches at serving time. I also concentrate on dishes that do not have to be eaten at a precise moment. This means no soufflés or fried foods. It also means that things like beef bourguignon, chicken fricassee, and even roasts have to be somewhat undercooked to emerge nicely when the time comes rather than coming out mush. (Yes, even stews can be overcooked.) The one vegetable that goes with the main dish (more than one is a waste, because people don’t notice them unless, like asparagus, they are served as a separate course) is pureed and kept warm in a double boiler. Pureed vegetables don’t fade in color and flavor, which is why so many restaurants serve them that way. Another nice method of serving vegetables—cutting them into thin strips and sauteeing them quickly so that they remain crisp—requires that they be done at the last moment, which makes this way inappropriate for dinner parties.

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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Food

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I’ve always liked to entertain, which, to me, means having people in for meals. But my attitude toward entertaining has changed in the course of my life and, I am happy to say, has become much more reasonable. When 1 was young, I sought perfection, with a vision of myself as an exquisitely groomed hostess— her brow serene, her movements soft, her table and food things of beauty in every detail. Now that 1 am no longer young, I know that this kind of perfection and serenity can be achieved only by a hostess with a large, well-trained staff. People like me, who do everything by themselves with little help, cannot be perfect. Maybe some women can, but most of them look plain silly and pretentious when they become too ambitious. If I think everything has to be perfect for guests (and I feel this way only when entertaining business clients and the like), my husband and I take them out to a good restaurant. Guests of this kind will be impressed if you spend plenty of money on them in a famous place they can brag about later. Mercifully, this does not happen to us very often. As for the rest of my guests, I do my best and hope they will like it.

Two verities that life has taught me guide me in my entertaining. The first is that guests, however inconvenient, must be honored; the second is that one should never as a hostess wear the patient air of a tired saint. To me, the best way of honoring guests is to feed them properly, because, even if they came to the house with side thoughts (finding a mate, making connections, free advice, etc.), they also came to eat. So, in order to avoid weary saintliness, I serve food that I can prepare beforehand and that needs only a few finishing touches at serving time. I also concentrate on dishes that do not have to be eaten at a precise moment. This means no soufflés or fried foods. It also means that things like beef bourguignon, chicken fricassee, and even roasts have to be somewhat undercooked to emerge nicely when the time comes rather than coming out mush. (Yes, even stews can be overcooked.) The one vegetable that goes with the main dish (more than one is a waste, because people don’t notice them unless, like asparagus, they are served as a separate course) is pureed and kept warm in a double boiler. Pureed vegetables don’t fade in color and flavor, which is why so many restaurants serve them that way. Another nice method of serving vegetables—cutting them into thin strips and sauteeing them quickly so that they remain crisp—requires that they be done at the last moment, which makes this way inappropriate for dinner parties.