Banquet menus & Types of Buffets

Banquet menus & Types of Buffets

Banquet menus (dinner) Here is the chance to excel in the choice of the menu and the full menu as set forth for normal Dinner may be followed.

Light buffets 

                       Light buffets may be required for all kinds of catering-to augment a long function (dance) some hours after the main meal, for tea dances, supper dances and the like. The light buffet can be of two sorts, an inclusive "help yourself" running buffet-where the food is displayed for everyone to choose or an à la carte buffet which served by waiters and not usually displayed. The la carte will follow the same lines displayed buffet but may include less of the smaller items and more of those prepared to order in the kitchen. The general arrangements will be a boxed-in line of tables, where guests can walk around with enough space inside for the servers. The la carte buffet will include menu card (priced) and waiter service. The menu should consist of items easily eaten with the fingers, though forks and serviettes will be provided. In connection with this kind of work one often hears of "Fork Luncheon" or "Fork Buffet" and the idea behind this means that guests will probably be standing (that is, tables will not be provided nor chairs) and food will be any items easily eaten with a single implement (fork or spoon) while the guest is standing with the plate in one hand and the fork in the other. Most of the following light buffet items will be suitable for "Fork parties even with the addition of anything soft like chicken mousse, galantine, terrines, chicken and other salads, etc.

Light buffet menu

                 Savoury Finger Foods To include any of the cold canapés-chipolata sausages on sticks; wrapped in bacon; prune sticks; celery branches piped with cheese spread; game chips, or gaufrette, very dry and seasoned; patties of chicken, lobster, crab, salmon; sausage rolls and any other puff pastry savoury snack; sandwiches: cut very small, brown or white bread -smoked salmon, egg and cress, tomato, ham, tongue, chicken, ete. Sweets Charlotte Russe, jellies, trifles, bavaroise, etc. fruit salads or fresh raw fruits like strawberries. Ice creams, various flavours, but not as a rule coupes. Pastries, gateaux, biscuits.

Beverages Coffee, tea, punch, iced coffee.

Supper buffets Generally speaking, a Supper Ball will begin late and full buffet will be available, This is not served course by course, but will be rightly divided by lines or spaces in the printed menu denoting the different types of food as follows: 

Shellfish Oysters, prawns.

Smoked fish and meat Smoked salmon, ham, trout, eels, etc.

Canapes Savoury finger toasts, with various spreads.

Savouries Chicken, lobster, crab, salmon patties, game chips, chipolata, celery sticks, cheese straws.

Fish Cold salmon, lobster, crab, fillets of sole, pomfret in aspic.

Meats: Chicken suprêmes, mayonnaise and salads: turkey roast-cold; ham- cold, decorated and jellied, mousse and cornets; cutlets in aspic; galantine, foie gras in aspic.

Salads Lettuce, Russian and all kinds. Mixed and plain.

Sandwiches Ham, tongue, chicken, turkey, smoked salmon, etc. Bread Rolls Plain, egg and cress, etc., milk rolls. Cold Sweets Charlottes, jelly trifle, bavaroise, cream, caramel, condes, fians. French pastries, various gateaux.

Ices Various bombes, biscuits, glacés with fruit and petit fours.

Beverages Coffee, tea, punch, iced coffee and tea:

Soups Sometimes hot turtle soup or a cold consomme madrilene) will also be served at the commencement of the buffet, or it may be served at the end of the ball in which case it will be printed "en partant.

                   All the dishes will be very well decorated, making a great display, and quite often the ball will finish up with a breakfast dish such as eggs and bacon, kippers, etc., or as mentioned before, a bowl of soup such as hot double consommé (clarified twice) or turtle soup, or very often soupe À l'oignon.

Outdoor catering 

          Great care must be taken in selecting the menu, keeping in mind the facilities available on the spot, and what must be taken to augment them. The secret of outdoor catering is proper equipment, properly equipped vans, trained staff, and a knowledge of weather conditions and the number likely to be fed. Among the equipment will be shamianas, marquees, trestle tables, chairs, containers, calor gas equipment, trays, wash-up facilities, guarded arrangements (where necessary) for the payment of money, as well as the usual equipment.

Weddings

 
                Wedding parties follow either the ordinary sit-down meal pattern, or, more often than not, have a running buffet. The wedding cake will always be the centrepiece, and more floral displays will be arranged than usual. The flowers of the bride and bridesmaids may be laid alongside the cake. A silver salver will be ready to receive the telegrams. Particular care will be taken with the seating plan in conjunction with the parties. For the reception, sherries may be served (or cocktails) while the guests are congratulating the married couple, or Hometimes after the nuptial service (which the guests may have attended) a cup of tea and biscuits may be served.

1st Course: Cocktails, smoked salmon, fruit, hors d'oeuvre or a good soup.

2nd Course: Cold salmon, roast poultry, grilled butcher's meat, cold suprme of chicken, aspics, etc., with vegetables and potatoes or salad and potatoes.

3rd Course: A very good sweet course; fruit sundaes, coupes, biscuits, bombes, with most likely an alternative of the cold sweets, flans, trifles, etc., served with fruit, and sometimes with petit fours or a course of French pastries.

4th Course: Coffee.

                              The cake is then cut and handed round, and the bride and groom are toasted with champagne. Then follow the reading of the telegrams and the speeches.

                                        In buffet wedding receptions several dishes will be chosen from the Supper Ball menu-leaving out the hot soup, with fewer savouries and sandwiches, but a full range of cold meats—or a light buffet may be chosen as sufficient to meet the need, and tea will be served instead of coffee.

 Cocktail parties

             Apart from the actual drinks which are the main item for a cocktail party, very tiny snacks (savoury), cigarettes and a well equipped bar are the other necessities. The food will be dressed attractively, but will also be handed round with the cocktails by the waiters.

The menu (never printed or shown) can be all kinds of savoury finger toasts, cocktail olives, stuffed olives, gherkins, walnuts, pickled onions, etc., very crisp, salted game chips, salted almonds, chipolata sausages, bacon rolls, prune and bacon rolls, cherry and bacon rolls, all on sticks. Stuffed sticks of celery, cheese fritters, cheese straws, very tiny savoury filled sandwiches. The fillings used for the canapés are caviar, smoked salmon, smoked ham, cooked ham, anchovies, sardines, shrimps, freshly made savoury purées for spreading, sliced egg, cheese, etc. Some of them will be spread on crisp toast, and others on thin, crisp flaky pastry or biscuits. All will be well decorated and then jellied with aspic.

Hospital catering This is better organised now than it was a few yearsa go-diets are in the charge of a dietitian, and catering is supervised by a catering officer. Their three main functions are to feed the staff, patients, and visitors. Staff will be provided with good canteen food or, as is most often the case, with the ordinary hospital diet, and the canteen will stock light refreshments. The food leaves the main kitchen in electric hotplate trolleys, and is sent to each ward which has an anteroom with an adjoining mise-en-place' of small equipment for making tea, bread and butter, light items like toast, etc., and salads. Each ward sends an order daily for the three meals with requests for full, light, fluid or special diets. The tea meal is usually prepared in this service room. 

The three meals from the kitchen will be breakfast, lunch, ordered and either supper or dinner.