There was a time, way back in the ’90s, when if you were having a holiday party and wanted to serve fancy hors d’oeuvres, you spent days in the kitchen – or called a caterer.
Today, all you have to do is head to the frozen food aisle of your local grocery store.
Frozen appetizers – or “boxed meat,” as some of the grocery chains call them – have been eating up a bigger and bigger section of freezer shelves, as retailers do their best to entice time-starved people who still want to entertain in a grand fashion.
Loblaws offers 37 different frozen appetizers in its President’s Choice brand, ranging from bacon-wrapped scallops and mini salmon and beef wellingtons to more versions containing shrimp than you can shake a cocktail spear at.
Ian Gordon, senior vice-president of Loblaw brands, says Loblaws has led the pack in Canadian hors d’oeuvres since it first introduced its President’s Choice cheese-based pastries in the 1990s.
“Every year we come out with one or two new ones,” says Gordon. “We try to push the needle a little bit in terms of what is new and innovative.
“It embodies everything President’s Choice is all about.”
Yvonne Graham, director of integrated marketing communications for Sobeys, says appetizers are “absolutely” a growth area for the retailer as people move from inviting guests over for a “key meal” to more casual entertaining where they can serve bite-size, tapas-style food to more people.
It used to be that about all that was available was sausage rolls. “The quality of the product has grown,” says Graham.
Purchasing appetizers gives the host more time to add their own touch with a special presentation, she says.
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Cristina Azevedo, product developer for boxed meat and seafood for President’s Choice, thinks even seasoned chefs appreciate well-made bought appetizers because they can’t always do it all.
“I cook all the time and my focus is on the main meal, or maybe dessert,” says Azevedo. Purchased hors d’oeuvres have the advantage of being easy to integrate into most menus. And they can be time-consuming to make, especially pastry-based options.
“We offer the customer the convenience of time.”
Azevedo’s efforts for this holiday season have focused on two trends – mini-sized portions and making items look pretty on the plate. She describes her latest creation – a shrimp mini hors d’oeuvres collection as “four beautiful little parcels of shrimp.”
At Sobeys, tops in the apps lineup show ethnic influences, such as Thai-inspired little dumpling “purses” of shrimp and vegetables.
But is it bad form to serve your guests appetizers out of a box? Can that really be considered “entertaining”?
Don’t sweat it, say the food professionals – although they have some suggestions to keep it personal.
“If you are going to get stressed out, go and buy stuff,” says Julia Aitken, author of the cookbook “125 Best Entertaining Recipes” (Robert Rose).
“There’s a tendency for people who aren’t that confident about entertaining to think they have to produce six or eight amazing nibblies. I don’t think people want that. They’re coming to see you and the rest of the guests.
“Keep it simple and keep it minimalist.”
When it comes to store-bought or homemade, she says “half and half is good.”
For hors d’oeuvres before a dinner party, she recommends taking a tip from the French, who do not serve a huge number of appetizers. “They will do one thing before you sit down (to the meal) and it might be a bowl of nuts.
“Do one good thing. Buy a really good pate or a really nice smoked salmon.”
Or take advantage of bought ingredients to take cooking shortcuts, says Aitken. She suggests spreading a circle of frozen puff pastry (President’s Choice now sells it already rolled out) with goat cheese and roasted red peppers, rolling it up, slicing it into rounds and baking them in a 200 C (400 F) oven for about 10 minutes.
Food consultant Trish Magwood remembers the craziness of the hors d’oeuvres season – that six weeks preceding Christmas – from her years running Dish, a Toronto catering company she sold in 2009.
Now she is a working parent and fancy finger foods are not a big part of her life. She didn’t even include an appetizer section in “In My Mother’s Kitchen” (HarperCollins), her recent cookbook.
Like Aitken, she doesn’t think a lot of appetizers are required before a sitdown dinner, but “we still need hors d’oeuvres to entertain bigger groups of people.” For that, “I’m all for a combo approach.”
Both Magwood and Aitken believe the secret is to choose your purchases carefully.
Magwood focuses on making simple appetizers – such as beef or chicken satays, which only require a quick marinade and a dipping sauce – and leaving the more complex ones to the professionals.
“I’m not going to make my own sausage rolls. You can buy good ones. I will also buy meatballs. I’m not going to make spring rolls. I am likely going to order them from a Thai restaurant.”
Overall, her advice for entertaining: “Be easy on yourself.”
Magwood says her life is pretty casual and that’s how she entertains. She doesn’t have a dining room table so entertaining formally is out of the question, anyway. “A white linen tablecloth would look pretty ridiculous in my breakfast nook, especially since I don’t iron.”
The same goes for Aitken.
“The most successful parties I remember are because of the people and the conversation. And I’m in the food biz.”
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