APPETIZER BASICS

THE DICTIONARY DEFINES APPETIZER AS "a food or drink that stimulates the appetite." The French word hors d'oeuvre is translated as "apart from the work," and the Italian antipasto literally means "before the meal." Both are synonyms for appetizer and refer to the fact that these little fingers foods are eaten away from the dining table, often on the hoof. At a cocktail party, appetizers can be a meal unto themselves.

For this book, we have tested countless recipes for appetizer favorites from around the world, finally selecting the versions that taste best and require the least amount of work. In general, we have limited hands-on work to no more than 20 minutes for each recipe, plus baking and cooling times. Wherever possible we have provided do-ahead instructions to keep the cook out of the kitchen during the party.

The book is divided by the main ingredient in the appetizer (eggs, vegetables, meat, etc.). Within each chapter, we start with the recipes that are the easiest and quickest to make. Recipes at the end of each chapter tend to be a bit more complicated.

DECIDING HOW MANY APPETIZERS TO MAKE

The question we hear most often about appetizers concerns quantity. How many types of appetizers and how many pieces are required? The answer depends how long you plan to serve the appetizers and what follows. Some examples.

If you plan a short cocktail hour (let's say 45 minutes, while you wait for all of your guests to arrive) followed by a multicourse meal, you want to serve just one to two appetizers. (If you are expecting a large crowd, you might consider making three appetizers.) Plan on three or four pieces per person if you plan on one hour or less for cocktails. For more than one hour, make at least two appetizers and plan on four to six pieces per person.

A true cocktail party (with no dinner to follow) requires more types of appetizer and more pieces. In many cases, guests drink for several hours and some may even make a meal out of the appetizers. In this case, you want to serve at least five or six appetizers and should plan on at least 10 to 12 pieces per person.

Dips can be used to supplement the above recommendations, or, for a simple appetizer, you can serve a single dip and some crudités (raw vegetables) and skip the individual pieces.

Take into account how heavy and filling the appetizers you have chosen are. Guests are likely to be satisfied by two or three pieces of rolled beef but might want four or five large shrimp with cocktail sauce.

CHOOSING SPECIFIC APPETIZERS

The other area that perplexes many cooks is choosing particular appetizers. There are no hard-and-fast rules, but these guidelines should help.

Keep the season in mind, serving lighter foods in summer and heavier fare in winter.

Figure out where you plan to serve appetizers. If guests will be seated on sofas and can hold forks, knives, and plates, then almost anything will work. If guests will be gathering on foot, limit your selection to true finger foods and dips.

If you are serving dinner, plan the meal first and then use foods not already represented in the appetizers. For example, if your menu calls for steak, potatoes, and asparagus as the main course, you would not want to want to serve any of these foods as appetizers.

If serving more than one or two appetizers, choose appetizers that go well together. It's fine to have one rich appetizer with cheese, but don't serve three cheese appetizers. At cocktail parties, you will probably want a mix of hot and cold (or room temperature) appetizers.

For a shorter cocktail hour before dinner, you many want to stick with cold appetizers, which don't require any last-minute preparation. If you want to serve a hot appetizer, consider gathering guests in the kitchen so you don't have to slave away in solitude.