The Million Canape Challenge
Well, that's what it felt like when I started out to do a canapé party for a client. 70 people, 10 different canap é s (8 savoury, 2 sweet), roughly 1.5 of each kind for each person, served over a 2-hour period. That's 70 x 15 = just over 1,000 morsels. Trust me, it felt like a lot more! When a client requests such an event, the first thing is to draw up menus for them to choose from. I evaluate the function (hopefully with a good indication of the client's profile and spending base) and offer 6 or 8 in each category (meat, fish, veggie, sweet), with a back-up list in reserve if those don't appeal. Into the costing must be factored the time each canap é might take to prepare, and to assemble and serve, bearing in mind that a canape's size and delicacy is directly inverse to the time it takes to prepare and serve. In this case I cannot have been thinking clearly when I pre-selected the list and my client, correctly, chose the most expensive and time-consuming m...