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How to host the perfect dinner party…

Most of us party all year round, but summer is fast approaching and this opens the potential for dinner parties outside, family BBQ’s, lavish sit down dinners with friends that lead to vacating outside to enjoy the last of the sunset. You know, those real summer party vibes. We all love a good party, a cheeky little house party or getting together with our loved ones eating great food, drinking great wine and laughing about old memories whilst making new ones.

Are you the ‘perfect’ party host though? Is there even such a thing? Well, you might be… you might not be and quite frankly we aren’t saying you are or you’re not. We are however, giving some top tips to make it so your friends think YOU are the hostess with the mostest every time you entertain.

Planning a dinner party can take up a lot of time (mostly stressing we know). Depending of course on how many people you plan to entertain. But making a check list can make the process fairly fuss free. So, what you could include on your list;

  • Theme
  • Music
  • Table decorations
  • Candles (set that scene)
  • Appetisers
  • Assortment of cheese
  • Assortment of crackers
  • Grapes, sliced apples or pears
  • Salami and other cured meats
  • A platter in which to host your food
  • Bread basket + bread
  • Main course (something super tasty that people will want seconds and thirds of)
  • Pudding (something sickly and chocolatey is always a winner)
  • Coffee and those scrummy little chocolates to go with
  • A selection of alcohol (of course!)
  • After dinner nibbles
  • After dinner games
  • Maybe some blankets if you plan to take the party outside

Take this list with a pinch of salt and change accordingly, because it all depends on what type of party you are hosting, for how many people and what the aim of the night is. I mean some dinner parties consist of ordering an Indian takeaway and sinking a few beers or glasses of wine, whilst chilling with your friends and family on the sofa having a good old gossip. It doesn’t have to be something formal and over the top, although those kinds of nights are equally as great! We all like getting a little dressed up don’t we!?

Our top dinner party tips consist of the best way to cook your food, how best to store your wines, how useful a warming drawer is and having a reliable dishwasher to wash up for you. Things that will make planning a dinner party less stressful (we hope).

Before you even consider music, place mats, wine glasses, platters, bread baskets, who sits where and what fancy table decoration you’re going to position in the middle of the table, you need to know what you’re cooking. Maybe something like a tomato, red wine and chorizo risotto, or a crab and chilli linguine, maybe even a fillet of beef with a herb crusted top. Whatever it ends up being, you need a competent, multifunctional oven that will cook your food to perfection.

The AEG BP300311KM SteamBake oven is a great example of cooking to perfection. This electric oven has many great cooking functions. Its SteamBake function, which inserts steam at the beginning of the baking/cooking process is the perfect function if you like to bake. The steam cooking keeps the dough/mixture, or a succulent meat joint moist on the surface to create a golden colour and an incredibly tasty crust, whilst leaving the heart of your creation soft, tender and succulent. Remember that steam cooking maintains all the nutrients, colours and vitamins in your foods, it is the healthiest way to cook. Also thanks to the Thermic°Air function, your food is evenly cooked due to the perfect heat distribution. Even heat is one of the secrets to cooking tasty oven dishes. Every corner of the oven is heated to the same even temperature for perfect cooking results. So, if you did decide that a fillet of beef was the choice for your dinner party, you could rest assured that whilst the outside would have that perfect crunchy bite, the inside would be juicy, tender, evenly cooked throughout therefore cooked to perfection.

So, once you’ve figured out what food you’ll be cooking, alcohol springs to mind right? Of course, it does. The tricky thing is, not everybody drinks the same thing. So, you’ll need a selection, I assume of white wine, red wine, rose, maybe even some cheeky fizz like prosecco or champagne. But how to keep them all the perfect temperatures I wonder…

Many people are investing in a kitchen must have – the wine cooler! With several types to choose from, wine coolers are suitable for any home. You can get single zone, dual zone, single doors, double doors, tall or small, freestanding or integrated, you name it. One of our best sellers is the stunning Caple WI6131 60cm dual zone under counter wine cooler. It features a seamless stainless steel door with a curved handle, stainless steel fronted beech wood shelves that can be slid out with ease and the interior is lit with ambient LED lighting. This wine cooler offers space for an amazing 46 bottles of wine! Great amount for a party, right? With dual zones, you can keep your red and white wines at their ideal temperatures, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. White wine zone temperature ranges between 5°C – 10°C and red wine zone temperature ranges between 10°C – 18°C. A wine cooler means your fridge can be full of scrumptious food instead of trying to cram in bottle after bottle of wine too – which then is served at the wrong temperature to your guests. Wine coolers are not only practical, but look great too. Your friends will be really impressed by it!

Let’s set the scene for this dinner party. The table is set, the music is on, your dishes are cooking in the oven, wines are chilling in the wine cooler and you’re putting together tiny little appetisers to go on a sharing platter for people to nibble on whilst waiting for the main event. You don’t feel stressed, why? Because you know your oven is cooking your food to perfection, your wine is cooling at its perfect serving temperature in the cooler and your warming drawer is keeping your plates nice and toasty. Warming drawers are the perfect kitchen essential, especially if you entertain a lot or have the family around for Sunday dinner each week. Designed to keep plates and cutlery, or even a few cooked dishes warm, they are a must have.

The AEG KD91404M 14cm handless warming drawer matches the AEG BP300311KM SteamBake oven perfectly. The warming drawer is finished in anti-fingerprint stainless steel and boasts a capacity of 6 place settings. With variable temperature control and rotary control operation, this drawer has a temperature range of 30°C – 80°C. It can be used to either warm crockery or food, depending on what you need it for. So, in this instance you can keep both your plates and any additional food warm to ensure your party is on point throughout the entire evening. No need to panic on those food timings, phew.

Ok, so let’s fast forward the evening slightly. Dinner went down a treat, all plates were left empty, lots of wine has been drunk. Laughter fills the entirety of your house. You’ve scoffed pudding, you’ve even had your after-dinner coffees with those scrummy little chocolates. There is lots of dancing around the garden whilst playing charades, you can see in everyone’s faces they’ve had a great night. As people are starting to retire, you nip into the kitchen to make a start on the washing up. The mountain of pots, pans and glasses is what nightmares are made of.

However, if you had a smart dishwasher, this mountain would seem more like a mole hill. So, having a dishwasher like the Siemens SN26M892GB IQ-500 60cm freestanding dishwasher would soon make that mountain of pots disappear. Finished in stainless steel, this Siemens dishwasher has a very impressive A++ energy rating and with its innovative Vario speed plus, it cuts down the cycle time by a massive 66% without losing any of its cleaning power. It has space for 14 place settings and 6 wash programmes, it features Siemens’ advanced technology designed to enhance and improve the quality of the wash at every step and for every programme. It also has features such as auto programme, dosage assist, intensive zone, glass care system and aqua stop, which all work together to make this the dream dishwasher. It has a designated glass rack so you can rest assured that your wine glasses will be kept safe during the cycle. Beautiful gleaming pots and glasses every time.

In your vision, the party went down an absolute storm with your friends, you all had a great night and they’ve already asked when you’re hosting another one. Feels good, doesn’t it? You really are the hostess with the mostest.

So, don’t just dream about the perfect dinner party – host the perfect dinner party. If you require any more information on any of the appliances mentioned in this blog, or similar appliances then give a member of our team a call. They love a good dinner party too! 0115 965 1937 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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