Passed Hors d'Oeuvres for a Crowd: Counts, Trays and Timing

I grew up in a house where someone was always about to arrive, and the first thing anyone saw after the coat closet was a tray. My mother's rule was that a guest should have something in one hand within three minutes of walking in, and that the something should not require a fork, a plate or a decision. Passed hors d'oeuvres are the most hospitable food there is, and also the easiest to get wrong. Too few and people hover by the kitchen door. Too many kinds and nobody remembers any of them. Too big and your guests are trying to shake hands with puff pastry on their chins.

Here is how I plan them now, for twenty guests or for a hundred.

How many pieces, and how many kinds

The single most useful question is whether dinner follows.

Before a seated dinner or a buffet

Plan 4 to 6 pieces per guest for the first hour, in 3 or 4 kinds. The point is to take the edge off, not to fill anyone up. If the meal is a big one, stay at the low end. If dinner is running late (it always runs late), have one extra tray ready to go out at the 45-minute mark.

Cocktail party with no meal after

Plan 10 to 14 pieces per guest over a two- to three-hour party, in 6 to 8 kinds, with at least two that are substantial: a small sandwich, a skewer of meat, something with a pastry base. People are eating dinner whether you call it dinner or not.

How the count shifts over time

Roughly half of everything gets eaten in the first hour. Plan your trays that way. For a two-hour cocktail party of 50 guests at 12 pieces each, you need 600 pieces total, and about 300 should be ready to go out in the first hour.

Do not make equal amounts of every kind. The gougère and the shrimp will go first, every time, so make 20 percent more of the favorites and a little less of the thing you think is interesting. For more ideas sorted by type, the long appetizers list is a good place to start building a menu.

If you are still working out the whole party, the guide on how much food per guest has the counts for the rest of the meal.

Mixing hot and cold

A good passed menu is about half hot and half cold, but the cold half is your insurance policy. Cold bites can be made hours ahead, plated, covered and kept in the refrigerator. Hot bites need an oven, a person watching it and a sense of timing.

For a party of 50 with four kinds before dinner, I would do two cold and two hot. For a cocktail party with eight kinds, I like three cold, four hot and one sweet near the end, which tells people politely that the evening is winding down.

Think about contrast across the whole menu: something rich (cheese pastry), something bright (citrus, pickled vegetables, herbs), something meaty, and something vegetarian that is not just a cherry tomato on a stick. Label nothing on a passed tray, but brief your servers so they can say "this one has nuts" or "this one is vegetarian" without thinking about it.

The one-bite rules

Everything on a passed tray should obey a few rules, and I am strict about them.

• One bite, two at most. A piece should be about the size of a large walnut. If it has to be bitten, the second half has to survive being held.
• No drips. Sauces go under the topping, not on top. Anything glazed should be glazed well ahead and allowed to set.
• No utensils. If it needs a fork, it goes on the buffet.
• Something to hold. Pastry, bread, a sturdy leaf, a skewer, a spoon. Bare wet things (a shrimp with no tail, a melon ball) are miserable to pick up.
• A place for the leftovers. Anything with a skewer, a toothpick or a tail needs a small empty dish on the same tray for the discards, or people will start hiding toothpicks in your houseplants.
• Temperature that holds. A hot bite should still be good after five minutes on a tray. Fried things go soggy fast; puffs and baked bites hold.

Trays, napkins and the people carrying them

Use flat trays with a small rim, 12 to 16 inches across, and a liner if the food might slide: a folded linen napkin, a bed of coarse salt or dried beans under spoons, a layer of fresh greens. A tray should carry 20 to 30 pieces. More than that and it is too heavy to hold with one hand for a slow lap around the room; fewer and the server spends all night walking back to the kitchen.

Every tray goes out with a stack of cocktail napkins on it. Every one.

Servers. Plan about one server per 20 to 25 guests during the first hour, and one per 30 to 40 after that. These can be hired help, teenage nieces and nephews, or a couple of friends who know their way around your kitchen. Brief them before guests arrive: what each bite is, what is in it, which one is vegetarian, where the empty trays and discard dishes go, and the route. I ask servers to start at the far side of the room, away from the kitchen door, because the near side is always overfed.

A station as a backup. If you do not have enough hands, set one cold item on a small table as a stationary display and pass only the hot ones. That halves the work and still feels generous.

A make-ahead schedule for a Saturday party

This is my timeline for a 6 p.m. cocktail party with six kinds, two of them hot.

Two weeks ahead. Make and freeze any doughs or unbaked pastries: gougères piped and frozen on sheets, then bagged; mini quiche shells; cheese straws.

Three days ahead. Shop. Make any pickled vegetables, spiced nuts, compound butters and dips. As the weather turns toward spring I start looking for the first radishes and thin asparagus to blanch and set out with a good dip like the curry dip that has been around forever for a reason.

Two days ahead. Make fillings: chicken salad, herbed cheese, smoked fish spreads. Cut and wrap any vegetables that hold well (carrots, celery, peppers).

The day before. Assemble skewers that do not involve bread. Toast crostini and store airtight. Set out every tray, platter, liner and stack of napkins and label each one with a sticky note naming what goes on it.

Party day, morning. Cut cucumbers and anything delicate. Assemble cold bites on their trays, cover tightly and refrigerate.

Party day, 4:30 p.m. Oven on. Set out the first two cold trays in the refrigerator door so they can go out in one motion.

5:45 p.m. First batch of gougères into the oven from frozen.

6:00 p.m. Cold tray goes out as the first guests arrive. Hot tray follows at about 6:15.

Every 15 to 20 minutes after that. One hot batch in, one cold tray refilled. Keep the counter clear so the servers have somewhere to land.

A reliable passed bite: gougères

If I could serve only one hot hors d'oeuvre for the rest of my life, it would be these. They are small cheese puffs made from a cooked choux paste, they freeze unbaked for weeks, they bake from frozen, they hold their texture on a tray, and everyone eats them. They are also forgiving. A slightly uneven piping job still bakes into something lovely.

From the recipe box

Gruyere gougeres

About 45 bite-size puffs

Prep

25 min

Cook

25 min

Total

50 min

Show amounts in

US cups & spoons metric

Choux paste

• 1 cup240 ml water
• 1 stick113 g unsalted butter, cut in pieces
• 1/2 tsp3 g fine salt
• 1 cup125 g all-purpose flour
• 4 large4 large eggs, at room temperature

Flavoring

• 1 1/2 cups150 g finely grated Gruyere or aged Swiss-style cheese, plus a little for the tops
• 1/4 tsp1 g freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp5 ml Dijon mustard

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with racks in the upper and lower thirds, and line two sheet pans with parchment.
2. Bring the water, butter and salt to a full rolling boil in a medium saucepan so the butter is completely melted.
3. Take the pan off the heat, add the flour all at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon until a smooth ball forms.
4. Return the pan to medium heat and stir for 2 minutes, until a thin film forms on the bottom of the pan and the dough smells toasty.
5. Turn the dough into a bowl and let it cool for 3 to 4 minutes, until you can hold a finger in it comfortably.
6. Beat in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully absorbed; the paste should be glossy and fall from the spoon in a thick ribbon that leaves a V.
7. Beat in the cheese, pepper, nutmeg and mustard.
8. Pipe or spoon mounds about 1 inch across and 1 inch apart, smooth any peaks with a damp fingertip and sprinkle with a little more cheese.
9. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven to 375°F (190°C) and bake 15 to 18 minutes more, swapping the pans halfway, until deep golden and light when lifted.
10. Pierce the side of each puff with a paring knife to let steam out, then serve warm within 20 minutes.

Notes from the kitchen

• To freeze, pipe the unbaked puffs onto a parchment-lined sheet, freeze until hard, then bag them; bake straight from frozen, adding 4 to 5 minutes.
• Baked puffs reheat at 350°F (175°C) for 5 minutes, which brings the crisp shell back.
• Swap the Gruyere for an aged Vermont-style cheddar and a pinch of cayenne for a sharper puff.

For a party of 50 with gougères as one of four kinds, I make three batches and freeze them on parchment in the two weeks before. On the day, two sheet pans at a time come out every 25 minutes, which is just about the rate a room of fifty people will empty a tray.

Questions from hosts

Can I pass food without hired servers?

Yes, with two or three volunteers and a simpler menu. Pass the hot items only and set the cold ones on a side table. Ask each helper to do two laps and then hand the tray to the next person.

What are the best cold bites for making far ahead?

Spiced or marinated nuts, cheese straws, pickled vegetables, deviled eggs (filled the morning of the party), and cucumber rounds with a firm topping. Avoid anything on bread or crackers until the last hour, or it softens.

How do I keep the hot ones hot?

Bake in small batches instead of all at once, and send trays out straight from the oven. A warm tray (rinsed in hot water, dried) helps for a few extra minutes.

When the last tray comes back with two lonely puffs and a pile of toothpicks, you have counted correctly. Hand those two to the servers.