Wedding Reception Menu Feedback

[Moxiefan]

I'm getting married in 25 days. I'm doing some, but not all, of my own food. Trying to keep things sensibly low impact. Thought I could post my menu here for creative suggestions/feedback, especially in a few troublesome places. The wedding is in early fall in New Hampshire, at my parent's farmhouse.

Hors d'oeuvre

1 platter of: red pepper crudite, cheddar biscuits, crackers, horseradish cheddar spread, apple butter

Lots of local apples EVERYWHERE!

Passed:

Crab Salad dressed with lemon and garlic on water crackers w/fresh herbs

Pork Rillets on baguette w/dijon

Cinnamon Pate Brisee w/ homemade apple sauce for dipping

Big Croutons topped with drizzle of ceasar dressing, chiffonade romaine and a chunk of super fino parm (This is no good... mostly because I can't assemble it the night before and have it be any good the next evening. I am getting some really fabulous parm direct from a small producer in Italy, and want to highlight it in a passed canape somehow.)

Entrees

Pulled Pork BBQ (being purchased from a local smokehouse)
cornbread

Baked Pit Ham (being purchased from a different local smokehouse)
baked beans (mom's recipie)

Chicken Limonata (also Mom's recipie... and somewhat incongruous, I know, but it's my Mom's speciality....)

Dinner Rolls

Mixed Greens; maple balsamic vin, honey mustard, ranch dressings

Plenty of Beer
Wines: Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Reisling; King Estate Pinot Gris '02; McKinlay Pinot Noir Willamete Valley '02/03; Martini and Rossi Asti Spumante for a toast (my honey's favourite... she's got a bit of a sweet tooth.)

And that, so far, is The Plan.

I'm curious about feedback, especially as relates to that parm canape. Thanks a lot, you guys.

Peace,
P

[miahoyhoy]

Looks fine. 2 pork entrees send a red flag to my brain. But it's your wedding so you can do what you want. I like the use of the local smoke houses.

Originally Posted by Moxiefan

Big Croutons topped with drizzle of ceasar dressing, chiffonade romaine and a chunk of super fino parm (This is no good... mostly because I can't assemble it the night before and have it be any good the next evening. I am getting some really fabulous parm direct from a small producer in Italy, and want to highlight it in a passed canape somehow.)P

You could do ceasar salads with the fresh shaved parmisano as a garnish instead of the mixed greens with other dressings.

[kuan]

Congratulations! Very cool menu. BBQ pork, Pork Rillettes, smoked PORK! Are you sure you're not from Iowa?

Congrats again!

Kuan

[kuan]

Hrm, after reading it again, I don't agree on "plenty of beer." It should be a boatload of beer, actually, more beer than you can drink, enough beer for the whole county! Yep. I suggest you change that.

[Headless Chicken]

Congrats btw...
menu looks pretty good though IMO, its lacking in the sweets and desserts area unless your cake will cover that. I'd also suggest some pallet clensers amits all the pungent pork & cheese, maybe a summery or mint drink or salad.

You mention plenty of beer...meaning keg? What kind of beer?

[Moxiefan]

It is a lot of pork. Doesn't bother me though. It's fall in the country which to me says apples and pork, not to mention that 1/3 of the businesses in town are smokehouses, so it's local flavour. When we were originally drafting this menu, I too said that we were having way too much pork. My wife to be, who is black, offered me her assurance, however, that so far as her family is concerned, there won't be nearly enough pork on the menu.
And I beleive her.

This cheese, though, still vexes me. It's something my mom ordered through a friend of a friend direct from the homeland... something like 18 bucks a pound. I'm betting it's going to be wonderful, but I don't know what to do with it. What I'd like to do with it is break it into chunks and serve it straight up... but I think I have to dress it up a bit more than that. Maybe with Peperoncini rings on a crouton or something? What would you do?

[Moxiefan]

... and about the Beer...

It's a little shameful actually. There'll be Heiniken and Bass, and High Life, and, worse yet but demanded by a vocal minority of guests... Micheloeb Ultra.

I'm sorry.

P

[Suzanne]

Originally Posted by Moxiefan

I'm getting married in 25 days. I'm doing some, but not all, of my own food. Trying to keep things sensibly low impact. Thought I could post my menu here for creative suggestions/feedback, especially in a few troublesome places. The wedding is in early fall in New Hampshire, at my parent's farmhouse.

Hors d'oeuvre

1 platter of: red pepper crudite, cheddar biscuits, crackers, horseradish cheddar spread, apple butter

Lots of local apples EVERYWHERE!

Passed:

Crab Salad dressed with lemon and garlic on water crackers w/fresh herbs

Pork Rillets on baguette w/dijon

Cinnamon Pate Brisee w/ homemade apple sauce for dipping

Big Croutons topped with drizzle of ceasar dressing, chiffonade romaine and a chunk of super fino parm (This is no good... mostly because I can't assemble it the night before and have it be any good the next evening. I am getting some really fabulous parm direct from a small producer in Italy, and want to highlight it in a passed canape somehow.)
Entrees

Pulled Pork BBQ (being purchased from a local smokehouse)
cornbread

Baked Pit Ham (being purchased from a different local smokehouse)
baked beans (mom's recipie)

Chicken Limonata (also Mom's recipie... and somewhat incongruous, I know, but it's my Mom's speciality....)

Dinner Rolls

Mixed Greens; maple balsamic vin, honey mustard, ranch dressings

Plenty of Beer
Wines: Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Reisling; King Estate Pinot Gris '02; McKinlay Pinot Noir Willamete Valley '02/03; Martini and Rossi Asti Spumante for a toast (my honey's favourite... she's got a bit of a sweet tooth.)

And that, so far, is The Plan.

I'm curious about feedback, especially as relates to that parm canape. Thanks a lot, you guys.

Peace,
P

Hey, congrats!

Most of it sounds fine to me, except for those first few passed items: you cannot make up the crab salad on crackers the night before; they will fall into the most horrible sog. Ditto the rillettes, unless you butter the slices of baguette first (if that isn't gilding the lily, I don't know what is! ). If you're going to use mustard anyway, use a blend of mustard and butter to seal the bread.

As for what to do with the parm: why not just dispense with the crouton altogether, and use the smallest leaves from romaine hearts, or endive leaves? (If you use romaine hearts, you can use the outer leaves in your mixed greens.) You could prep the leaves and drop in the bits of parm the night before, then wrap them really well. Just before passing, someone can give a drizzle of caesar dressing from a squeeze bottle, a quick little Z.

Oh, and if you're having pulled pork and cornbread, how about some coleslaw? Not just because you look a little short of vegs, but because 1) it's easy to make in quantity; 2) it's easy to make ahead, and 3) it goes so well! If you add carrots and shredded or grated red bell peppers, it will also give you some nice bright color contrast.

And after the ceremony, find some new friends who drink better beer.

[Moxiefan]

Thanks Suzzane, for the helpful suggestions!

I've had luck forming rillets with a very tiny ring mold, which, once refrigerated, is pretty easy to handle. I figured on keeping my rillet "plugs" and baguette seperate until the last minute. I didn't think about sog issues with the crab salad... it was going to be quite dry, no mayonaise or anything. Perhaps I can use a simmilar strategy to my rillet plan. Or cucumber cups. Tacky? I'm now thinking of 86ing lettuce, buttering baguette with a ceaser-flavoured butter, and topping with cheese and peperoncini rings.

And Thank You! Coleslaw! Of Course Coleslaw!

Cheers,
P

[Chefmeow]

If you prepare most of the food yourself, is there a chef or trusted relatives that could fire the food the day of (with your instruction?)

I say say this because it may be a lot more work than you think- check out my post on the late night cafe- my reply to "help, i'm getting married" thread by kate w.

We were fortunate enough to have plenty of chef friends to help, but it still was a ton of work and stress compounded by lots of other factors. Yet, I just still had to have my 25# of handmade mozzarella! (to go with the Tuscan table with imported cheeses, marinated vegetables, bagna cauda, ice sculpture, grilled chicken, prime rib, yada yada yada)

I don't have a direct link to the site , but if you want to read more about our wedding, go under Yahoo and type in Kendra Glanbocky, it will come up as one of the top stories- we were on the cover of our city's newspaper food section. There is a lot of misquotes, mispelling of certain dishes, they got my hometown wrong- I am from Staten Island, and I was not in any way guaranteed a job at the World Trade Center- just was in talks with some people who really wanted to hire me on - I did really want it. And I now am executive chef for The Boeing Co. in wichita Kansas. But the article does print a pretty vivid description. Good Luck and let us know your plans!

[Moxiefan]

I apreciate your concern, and I was very mindful of potential pitfalls. Really we're buying most of the food, or my mom's preparing it well in advance. We'll only have about 50 guests, so it's not unbearable. My fiance and I met at culinary school, and she'll be helping out a little. Canape is really all we need to make, and I think I'll be doing most of that to keep myself busy the night before while she is partaking in the ancient mysteries of hairandnails. And we've hired a couple of waitresses that I've worked with before and who are quite trustworthy. A few of my chef friends will be in attendance, and I thought about asking for a little hand... but I'd perfer they were out of the kitchen and enjoying the reception. They'll probably be the only ones who notice the time and energy I'm putting into food and drink selections, anyway.

peace,

P