Show notes - Dinner party episode

Small ceremonies, a fancy (but easy) menu, on repertoires and our favourite dinner party scenes in books

This gorgeous dinner party is from a chapter in Sophie’s book In Good Company and photographed at the even more gorgeous The Repose in Dubbo

Why are dinner parties in fiction (and IRL sometimes), such a source of stress and drama! And why has the concept of a formal dinner party gone so out of fashion? We don’t really entertain like that anymore, or at least not in our worlds. Even Nigella said just this week that she’s out of the habit of hosting them.

Maybe this is all because the idea of a full-scale dinner party feels like a bit of an ordeal. Like too much hard work when we’re all working hard already. But actually, they don’t have to be, and magic can and does happen around the dinner table, so let’s get excited about shared meals of good simple food with good company, and dedicate a whole episode to them.

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And let’s also spare a thought for the disastrous dinner parties, even the ones with fatal consequences - as per the Nicci French novel, The Lying Room, that offers us a “catastrophic dinner party at which secrets are revealed, resentments unmasked and blood spilt”.

In an article for The Guardian, Nicci French also list their Top 10 Dinner Parties in Fiction… so many books about dinner! Below are the ones we talk about in this episode plus a menu you might like to try for a dinner party one evening soon?

MENU (recipes below)

As per above…a bowl of nuts, maybe some soft cheese, honeycomb, focaccia and thinly sliced pear with a spritz or bitter amaro perhaps?

Good bread and salted butter

Roasted eye fillet with quince glaze and parsnip and onion purée

Winter greens with garlic and almonds

For dessert; maybe buy some good chocolates and amaretti biscuits and plate up with sliced and dried oranges? Or an affogato?