Menu Planning

When fresh asparagus or corn on the cob are in season, or soft shelled crabs or shad roe, or strawberries or local melons one of these treats may be the starting point of a menu, but most meals are planned around the meat or poultry to be served as the main dish. A good main course should include protein – meat, poultry, fish, eggs – and other ingredients to supply necessary nutritional elements – vegetables, fruits, grains. Vegetables and fruits can be served cooked or raw; grains can be served separately or in pasta, bread or other mixtures. The traditional American dinner of meat, potato and a vegetable makes a sound nutritional package. Nevertheless, 365 dinners a year constructed in just that way would be boring. Be adventurous. New foods are new only once but new combinations can add variety endlessly.

A meal of any kind should have a balance of flavors and textures and should show a balance of colors and shapes as well. Shape and color may seem a far cry from diet and food planning, but these are important in stimulating appetite; the eye as well as the nose helps to make us hungry and gives us pleasure at the table. This does not apply to the main course alone; your whole menu needs to be considered as a unit.

Aside from any special dietary considerations, it is a mistake to plan a meal that is overpowering in any way – too rich, too spicy, too acid, too anything. Do not use the same ingredient in two dishes in the same meal; that does not mean never to use a flavoring ingredient such as parsley, or a basic cooking element such as butter or stock. But never have two dishes made with whipped cream or dressed with whipped cream. Never use nuts or tomatoes or green peppers or cornmeal in two dishes on the same menu. If your main dish is chicken in some form, obviously poultry is out for the first course. If you start with cheese tarts, do not use cheese on anything else. If you start with liver pate, do not use it to flavor any other dish. Avoid too many eggs; they are used unobtrusively in so many preparations that the cook tends to forget they are there. Skip the custard tart if you have an egg enriched sauce already planned, and save those stuffed eggs for the picnic menu that does not include any sauces.

Do not flavor everything with the same herbs and spices. If your main course is rich, the accompaniments should be simple, even plain. If your first course is very salty or spicy, the other dishes should be reasonably bland. If you are serving ham or corned beef with a sweet glaze, be sure to strike another note in your dessert.

Texture is very important. If you are using meat in ground form for one course or another, do not use it a second time in the same meal. Do not have several foods that are pureed, and one dish wrapped in pastry is all that any meal can stand. Another thing to avoid – and this may not be so obvious – is the use of several closely related foods; for instance, do not serve melon and cucumber and squash in the same meal, and do not serve more than one variety of meat.

A first course implies at least three in the meal, whether lunch or dinner. Plan for that first course to be an enhancing prelude to what follows. With an ample first course like antipasto, which usually includes meat, fish and several vegetables, you can forget the meat-potato-vegetable main course and instead serve pasta with sauce. If your main course is based on a dish of delicate taste and appearance – chicken in white wine sauce, for example – the prelude to it should not be so overwhelmingly spicy or sharp that the palate is ruined at the outset.

Dessert must be considered too. If dessert is a custard based dish, do not serve a quiche to start. If a pie or tart is planned for dessert, skip pastry in any other course.

With these simple rules in mind, you should be able to plan your menus with ease and get rave reviews from your family and friends. The aim of all menu planning are good nutrition in the food itself and a presentation that stimulates the appetite. Be creative, Use imagination.