Five tips to make sure that your dinner party is remembered for all the right reasons
While dinner parties at this time of year promise to be festive occasions, they can be a minefield of etiquette rules and formality faux pas. George Rouse, owner of George's Kitchen, shares the top five tips he swears by to carry off a flawless evening from start to finish.


Organising and executing the perfect dinner party can be extremely stressful and hosts often feel under pressure to impress. George Rouse, owner of George’s Kitchen, has been catering dinner parties for many of London’s elite for the past 12 years - here's his guide on how to get it right.
Keep the menu simple
Aside from the great company, the most important element of the evening is the food. This is your chance to be creative and show off your culinary skills – but don't show off too many of them at once. The key is finding the balance between an impressive menu and not being too ambitious – it'll only increase stress on the day.
When creating bespoke menus, I usually try and keep it simple with only three or four items on a plate so as to not over complicate. Trust me: focusing on serving three perfect items will only help enhance the up-scale home-cooked feel you're after.
Get yourself the right equipment
Gadgets aren't always gimmicks when it comes to food – they can be indispensable tools to help you execute your dishes as well as you possibly can, and a I have three I couldn't do without. A good blender will help you make silky-smooth purées; a Japanese mandolin will take seconds to make wafer-thin slices that would take an age – and probably look terrible - if you tried to do them with a knife; and a digital temperature probe takes the guesswork out of meat, letting you achieve that medium-rare finish you're after.
Prepare as much as you can as early as you can
There is nothing worse than a guest arriving and you still have 100 things left to do in the kitchen. Preparing things the day before is always a good way to avoid stress, whether it is a dauphinoise potato gratin that needs to be set and pressed to achieve neat perfect squares or even par-boiling and fluffing your potatoes for a crisp roast potato. Even the smallest jobs will save you time on the day.
Engineer the atmosphere by baking
Good ambience is something else which will help lower the stress levels and keep things going smoothly. I always play with different senses to create ambience: music is always great and can fill any breaks in conversation, but one of the most powerful tricks is with scent.
I aways bake some fresh bread before guests arrive. Something like focaccia or soda bread will only take 20 minutes to make but will fill the house with such homely senses, which really relaxes guests.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Don't forget to join in the fun yourself
Many people who throw dinner parties get overly fixated on the cooking, so much so that they end up in the evening most of the night rather than spending time with their guests. The best way to get around this is to hire a caterer to take care of things for you, but if you feel the need to cook yourself then always be conscious of how much time you’re spending away from the table.
For more information on George’s Kitchen, please visit www.georgeskitchen.co.uk.
How to design a truly sociable kitchen: ‘It’s hard to believe that there was a time when a kitchen was simply a room for cooking and washing-up’
Kitchens have long been the hub of family life, but designs don’t always reflect that. Amelia Thorpe spoke to kitchen
Credit: Colony Grill at The Beaumont
How to make perfect macaroni cheese, creating your own béchamel from scratch
This comfort food classic needs a big jug of cheese sauce – but don't be tempted to get it out of
Credit: PR Pics from Clarence Court eggs - Yes to re-use
Curious Questions: How do you make perfect – absolutely perfect – scrambled eggs?
For such a simple dish, there's a dizzying lack of agreement about how to make scrambled eggs properly. But after
Take the Gentleman Test
Find out what makes a gentleman in this modern age, and take our quiz to find out whether you qualify...
Recipe: Langoustines with garlic-and-herb butter and Dijon mayonnaise
Patricia Martin shows us how to make this showstopping dish with a Scottish favourite. Introduction by Mike Warner.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
An eight-bedroom wonder in East Sussex where the outdoors are an adventure
The interiors of Old Middleton are pretty good too.
By Arabella Youens Published
-
Seeing you seeing me: How did British artists portray eachother in the 20th and 21st centuries?
The 'Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists' exhibitions comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photography, sculpture and installation spanning 125 years.
By Annunciata Elwes Published