The Entertaining Survival Guide by Lora Brody

by Lora Brody

It's time to pay back all those kind souls who fed you through years of graduate school, but you work full-time and you've never had two people to your studio apartment. How can you pull it off?The boss is coming to dinner -- he's on a diet and his wife is allergic to fruits and vegetables -- what in the world can you serve without risking your future?Relax. Lora Brody, who successfully has taught thousands of novices how to cook (and survive), now turns her attention to entertaining (and surviving). The Entertaining Survival Guide includes everything from planning menus, creating budgets, and drawing up guest lists to shopping, cooking, and (ugh) cleaning.This step-by-step primer tackles every imaginable entertaining problem -- what to do if you don't have enough tables, chairs, or dishes; who sits where; what to do if a guest is rude or has had too much to drink; how to figure out how much food you need; how to clean your house in record time; what to do if there's a power failure thirty minutes before your guests arrive; how to cope; and how to stay sane and relax. There's even a section on entertaining for business in and out of the home.Whether you're planning an informal get-together for six or an elegant dinner party for twelve, Lora's do-ahead survival recipes are geared to making your entertaining go as smoothly as possible. To take the guesswork out of mixing and matching recipes, she's even included menus for every occasion.

Genres: Cookbooks

Paperback

First published October 26, 1994

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been a wonderful resource over the years. The first half or so the book is the "prep" for having a dinner party: ie what equipment you need, who to invite, where to host, what to serve, and what I have found most useful how to pull together a cohesive menu and how to get it all done without being a nervous wreck. For me, I grew up with a mother who entertained as second nature and when I asked her how she prepared for the meal and got everything to the table at the same time hot, she said "I don't know". This book answered all those questions for me.
The second half consists of recipes and in addition to the usual information about servings per recipe and prep and cooking times it also includes useful information on if and how the recipe can be made ahead, how to double or half the recipe, and if it can be frozen. The recipes are somewhat hit or miss. Some are good, others are dated and a bit over processed. (Why make turkey chili with jarred salsa??) I recently made the "Nancy Belsky's sesame chicken" for a potluck and won first place. Yes I still use this as a resource more than 15 years after I bought it. Which is probably the best endorsement a cookbook can receive.
I would highly recommend this wonderful book, if you can find it. Either half makes it worth a place on the bookshelf. Oh, sadly there are NO photos in this book but it does have a interior spiral binding to allow it to lay flat.

[Jess Razza · Rating 5 out of 5]

My aunt gave me this book for my 21st birthday and while dinner party entertaining was not what I had in mind back then, it has been a lifesaver. This book lists any type of "entertaining" that may come up and gives you a perfect menu for that occasion (birthdays, summer brunch, winter potluck, condolence calls).
10 years after first getting this book, I went to my friend's wedding and there was the author, my friend's aunt! Small world. I have to get my hands on some of her other cookbooks.