Small Bites for Holiday Cocktail Parties

If this blog were in French, I’d call them hors d’oeuvres or amuse-bouches (“mouth-pleasers”). If it were in Spain, I’d say tapas. An Italian might call them cicchetti, while a Middle Easterner would insist on mezze. In China, you’d ask for dim sum.

Small Bites for Parties

Since we’re in America (at least most of us are), we’ll call them small bites, aka cocktail food, although the term doesn’t begin to capture the deliciousness of these small, savory dishes you serve at a cocktail party or at the outset of a meal to whet appetites and make mouths water.

The fact is that great cocktail food can compensate for an otherwise middling meal (not that you’d ever make a middling meal). More to the point, and assortment of small bites can make a meal in itself—which is especially welcome in the holiday season.

So what makes great cocktail food? Three words: snap, crackle, and salt. Cocktail fare should be small enough to snap up with your fingers and salty enough to drive you to drink. Wood smoke helps, as in smoked salmon and smoked shrimp cocktail. Skewers help, as in sates and kebabs, which are easy to eat while standing around, champagne glass in one hand, food in the other.

Below are five of our favorite grilled and smoked cocktail dishes—all quick and easy to prepare and perfect for your holiday cocktail party.

Best hors d’oeuvres Recipes

hors d’oeuvres tips to get you started.

• If hors d’oeuvres are the only food served at your party, figure on 6 to 8 pieces per person. Serve 3 to 5 different items—the more the better. Your reputation as a savvy host and accomplished grill master is directly proportional to the elaborateness of the spread.
• Use a delivery system that allows for one hand eating, so you don’t have to put down your cocktail. Bamboo skewers come to mind, as do oversize toothpicks. Toasts and chips for dips are also good for single-handing, as are sliders and mini sandwiches.
• As you build your menu, include a few items that can be prepared ahead of time and served at room temperature, such as my explosively flavorful Fire-Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Feta Cheese Dip.
• Don’t stint on salt. Hors d’oeuvres are supposed to be salty. Salt makes the cocktails taste even better. Work with salty flavorings like anchovies, capers, soy sauce, and olives. Serve salty meats, like bacon and ham—extra points if the latter is smoked. Try Village Hammers—Balkan-style cheese-stuffed, bacon-grilled prunes or dates.
• Do your marinating the night before and keep the pieces of food small, so they cook quickly. The Asian sate (mini-kebab) is the exemplar of the species. Get my stepson Jake’s Singapore-style cumin- and coriander-crusted beef sates.

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