How to feed eight people without a bad afternoon
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The rule: one hot thing. Everything else is cold, made the day before, or bought. Almost every stressful dinner party is somebody trying to plate three hot dishes at the same moment, which is a restaurant kitchen problem being attempted by one person with one oven.
Cooking for eight is not eight times harder than cooking for two. It is harder in one specific way: timing. Quantities scale linearly and attention does not.
One hot thing
Pick a single dish that comes out of the oven or off the hob at the moment you sit down. A braise, a tray roast, a big pot of something. Everything else on the table should already be there.
Braises are the ideal because they are better made the day before. You do the work on Saturday and reheat on Sunday, and the dish improves rather than suffers.
Quantities for eight
| Item | For eight |
|---|---|
| Meat, boneless | 1.4kg, about 3lb |
| Meat, bone in | 2.5kg, about 5.5lb |
| Dried pasta or rice | 800g |
| Potatoes | 2kg |
| Salad leaves | 300g, which looks absurd and is correct |
| Bread | Two loaves |
| Wine | Half a bottle a head, plus two spare |
People eat less at a table of eight than at a table of four. There is more talking and less eating. Slightly over-cater the starch and slightly under-cater the protein.
The timeline
Two days before. Shop. Make anything that improves with time: braise, soup, pickles, dressing.
Day before. Everything that can be cut, cut. Set the table. Genuinely, set the table the day before. It removes the worst half hour.
Morning. Anything cold: salads undressed, dips, desserts.
Two hours before. The hot thing goes in. Tidy the kitchen while it cooks.
Twenty minutes before. Dress the salad, warm the bread, pour yourself something.
Two dishes that scale badly
Anything fried to order. Tempura, schnitzel, fried fish. Delicious, and it means standing at the pan while everyone eats in shifts. If you must, fry before people arrive and hold it warm, accepting it will be softer.
Anything plated individually. Eight plates arranged by hand cool while you arrange them. Serve family style, on boards and in bowls in the middle. It is warmer, faster and more sociable.
The bit people forget
Enough of everything to serve with. Eight matching plates is usually fine. Eight matching serving spoons, glasses and utensils is where most households run out, and it is always discovered at the last minute.
Count them the day before, along with chairs. Borrowing is easy the day before and impossible at seven o'clock.
If you serve anything Asian, matching chopsticks for the table is the small thing guests notice, and the one most people are short of.
Chopstick Set, 5 Pairs, on Amazon $14.99 · 4.7★ from 846 ratings · profit pays for the care of FreemanQuestions
How much food do I need for eight people?
Roughly 1.4kg of boneless meat or 2.5kg bone in, 800g of dried pasta or rice, 2kg of potatoes and 300g of salad leaves. Over-cater the starch slightly and under-cater the protein, because people eat less at a large table.
What is the easiest meal to cook for a large group?
A braise or a tray roast, made the day before and reheated. Both improve overnight, both scale without extra attention, and both leave you free while guests arrive.
How far ahead can I prepare a dinner party?
Braises and soups two days ahead, chopping and table setting the day before, cold dishes on the morning. Only one hot dish should need attention on the day.
More: hand roll night for six.