Make-Ahead Dinner Party for Ten: A Three-Day Plan

The best dinner party I ever threw for ten people was the one where I spent the hour before the guests arrived sitting down. That happened because the main course had been cooked two days earlier, the dessert was in the refrigerator, and the starter needed nothing but a knife and a serving spoon. A braise is the reason this works. Short ribs, pork shoulder and beef chuck all taste better the day after they are cooked, because the sauce settles, the fat rises and can be lifted off in one cold sheet, and the meat has time to take up the wine and stock. You are not compromising by cooking ahead. You are cooking the dish the way it wants to be cooked.

Early October is the right time to start doing this. The evenings are cool enough for something rich, the farm stands still have good carrots and the last of the peppers, and apples are everywhere. Here is the menu, the shopping math, and a plan that spreads the work over three days so the third day is mostly setting the table and opening wine.

The menu

• Starter: roasted beet and apple salad with fresh goat cheese and toasted walnuts, dressed at the table
• Main: red wine braised short ribs
• Sides: make-ahead mashed potatoes, buttered green beans, crusty bread
• Dessert: chocolate mousse in small glasses, with lightly sweetened whipped cream

Every item on this list either improves overnight or holds for a day without complaint. The green beans are the only thing cooked in the last half hour, and they take eight minutes. If you want a fuller version of a seated menu at this size, with more courses and the reasoning behind them, the sample dinner party for 10 is a good companion to this one.

How much to buy

For bone-in short ribs, plan on 1 pound per person. That sounds like a lot until you see how much of the weight is bone and fat, and how much the meat shrinks in a three-hour braise. Ten guests means 10 pounds, which is two large roasting pans or two big Dutch ovens. Boneless chuck or pork shoulder is closer to half a pound raw per person, so 5 to 6 pounds for ten. If you want a broader rule of thumb for the rest of the table, the guide to how much food per guest covers each course by event type.

Buy one extra bottle of wine for the table than you think you need, and do not cook with the good one.

Day one: shop and braise

Thursday for a Saturday dinner. Shop in the morning, then give yourself four hours in the afternoon with the oven at 325°F (165°C).

Season the short ribs with salt and pepper as soon as you get home and let them sit while you chop the onions, carrots and celery. Brown the meat in batches. This is the one step that takes patience, and with 10 pounds of ribs it will take 30 to 40 minutes over medium-high heat. Do not crowd the pan. If the pieces touch, they steam and turn gray instead of brown, and the sauce will taste flat. Three or four pieces at a time in a heavy pot is right.

Once the ribs are in the oven, you have three hours to do other things. Roast the beets during this window: wrap them in foil in two packets and put them on the lower rack alongside the braise. At 325°F (165°C) they take about 90 minutes to become tender enough that a paring knife slides in with no resistance. Let them cool in the foil, then rub off the skins with a paper towel. Store them whole in a covered container.

When the ribs are done, the meat should pull away from the bone when you nudge it with tongs but still hold its shape. Let the pots cool on the stove for about an hour, then move the ribs and their sauce into shallow containers and refrigerate them uncovered until cold, then cover. A full 10-pound pot will not cool safely in the refrigerator in one deep mass, so split it up. The guide to keeping party food safe has the cooling rules if you want them in more detail.

Day two: lift the fat, make dessert, set up

Friday is the light day, about two hours of real work.

Take the ribs out of the refrigerator and lift off the fat. It will have set into a pale layer that comes away in pieces. Put the ribs in one container and pour the sauce through a strainer into a saucepan. Simmer the sauce until it has reduced by about a third and coats a spoon, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste it. It usually wants a splash of red wine vinegar and a little more salt at this point. Pour it back over the ribs, cover, and refrigerate.

Make the mousse. Chocolate mousse sets best with a full night in the refrigerator, and ten small glasses take up less room than you would expect if you put them on a sheet pan. The old mud season chocolate mousse is the version I use, doubled. It is rich, so a 4-ounce glass per person is plenty.

Make the mashed potatoes. Boil, drain, mash with butter and warm milk, season, and spread them in a buttered baking dish. Dot the top with a little more butter, cover, and refrigerate. Mashed potatoes made with enough butter reheat beautifully. Thin ones turn gluey.

Then the small jobs: trim the green beans and store them in a bag with a damp paper towel. Toast the walnuts. Whisk a cider vinaigrette in a jar. Slice the beets into wedges and keep them in their own container so they do not stain everything. Set the table, choose the serving dishes, and write a short list of what goes into the oven when. Tape it inside a cabinet door.

Day three: the day of

Assume guests arrive at 6:30 and you sit down at 7:15.

The ribs need 60 to 75 minutes to heat through from cool, covered, in a moderate oven. Check one of the thickest pieces with an instant-read thermometer. Once it reads 165°F (74°C), you can turn the oven down to 200°F (93°C) and hold everything there for half an hour without harm if the salad course runs long.

Slice the apples at the last possible moment so they stay white. A squeeze of lemon helps if you have to do it earlier.

The recipe

This is written for ten, in two pots. If you only have one large Dutch oven, use a deep roasting pan covered tightly with foil for the second batch.

From the recipe box

Red wine braised short ribs for ten

Serves 10 as a main course

Prep

1 hr

Cook

3 hr 30 min

Rest

8 hr

Total

12 hr 30 min

Show amounts in

US cups & spoons metric

Ribs

• 10 lb4.5 kg bone-in beef short ribs, English cut
• 3 tbsp45 ml kosher salt
• 2 tsp10 ml freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup62 g all-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1/4 cup60 ml neutral oil, more as needed

Braising liquid

• 2 large2 large yellow onions, chopped
• 44 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 33 celery ribs, chopped
• 1010 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/4 cup60 ml tomato paste
• 6 1/4 cups1.5 l dry red wine (two 750 ml bottles)
• 3 cups720 ml beef or chicken stock
• 66 sprigs fresh thyme
• 33 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp15 ml red wine vinegar, to finish

Method

1. Season the ribs all over with the salt and pepper and let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C).
2. Dust the ribs lightly with flour. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat and brown the ribs in batches of three or four, 8 to 10 minutes per batch, until deep brown on all sides. Move them to a sheet pan.
3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook over medium heat, scraping the bottom, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook 2 minutes, until the paste darkens to a brick color.
5. Pour in the wine, bring to a boil, and simmer 10 minutes to cook off the raw alcohol smell. Add the stock, thyme and bay leaves.
6. Divide the vegetables and liquid between two Dutch ovens or deep roasting pans and nestle in the ribs bone side up. The liquid should come about three quarters of the way up the meat.
7. Cover tightly and braise for 3 hours, until the meat is very tender and pulls back from the bones.
8. Cool for an hour, then transfer to shallow containers and refrigerate overnight.
9. The next day, lift off the solid fat. Strain the sauce into a saucepan, simmer until reduced by a third and glossy, 20 to 30 minutes, and finish with the vinegar and salt to taste.
10. Return the sauce to the ribs and reheat, covered, at 325°F (165°C) for 60 to 75 minutes, until the thickest piece reads 165°F (74°C).

Notes from the kitchen

• Pork shoulder works the same way: use 6 lb boneless, cut into 3 inch chunks, and braise about 2 1/2 hours.
• The ribs keep in the sauce for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, or freeze for a month.

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Swaps and adjustments

If one of your guests does not eat beef, a pot of white beans braised with garlic, rosemary and a little of the same wine is an easy parallel main. It also improves overnight and reheats in the same oven. For a vegetarian guest who wants something substantial, roast a whole butternut squash the day before and serve it in thick slices over the beans.

For a larger group, the plan scales as long as your oven does. Twelve guests is still two pots. Sixteen means three pots and a long brown on day one, so start earlier. Above that I would switch to boneless chuck in a hotel pan, which takes less room and browns faster in a hot oven than on the stove.

Questions from hosts

Can I braise the meat more than two days ahead?

Three days is fine in the refrigerator. Beyond that, freeze it in its sauce and thaw it in the refrigerator for a full day and a half before reheating.

What if my oven is full on the day?

The ribs can reheat on the stove over low heat, covered, with a splash of stock. Stir gently every 10 minutes and turn the pieces so the bottoms do not stick.

Do I need to serve a first course at all?

You do not, but it buys you time. A salad that takes five minutes to plate keeps everyone at the table while the main finishes heating, and nobody notices that you planned it that way.

Leave the bones on the platter. Somebody will always pick one up when they think no one is looking.