Cheese Course: Before or After Dessert?
I catered an 8 person dinner last night in the most fab setting, an underground wine cellar at a private home. The client loves his French wines and we served a 5 course meal for him and his guests. He wanted a cheese course but he wasn't sure if it should go before or after dessert. I thought pre-dessert, since that is the French tradition. But I wasn't sure his guests would appreciate the immediacy of getting cheese after the entree. I ended up having the cheese set in the middle of the table with small clean plates for each guest to use, and dessert was brought out not to late after some guests had begun to dig in to the cheese. I ended up clearing dessert and leaving the cheese there for them, which they nibbled on for the following hour. So even though I served it before dessert, it ended up being the last thing on the table.
It seemed to work, but I wondered if this was the best sequence of events. Anyone think of a better way to approach the timing and serving of the cheese course?
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8 Comments:
If I serve a cheese course, I usually do it *instead of* dessert... I usually serve some sort of fruits and nuts, or a fruit pastry (like a fig tart) with a lovely, creamy "dolce" cheese.
Brownie at 12:47PM on 08/09/09
After the entree, before dessert.
Here's a couple of reference links-
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4865689
http://www.travellady.com/Issues/Issue81/81C-return.htm
CJ McD at 12:50PM on 08/09/09
@ brownie:I prefer the cheese course instead of dessert also.
I don't have much of a sweet tooth and actually enjoy the cheese, fruit, wine and baguette more than any kind of dessert there could be. (At least so far......)
duncan1205 at 12:52PM on 08/09/09
Forgot to add the most important point-- Do what makes your client happy.
Serve the cheese course when and how they want it served.
CJ McD at 12:53PM on 08/09/09
I always serve it after dessert, with the coffee and port or brandy. But you know what? Whatever works. We shouldn't let ourselves get so worked up about these things (and I don't mean that as an insult at all, just a reminder to cooks everywhere).
If it's good cheese on good biscuits, I don't care if you serve it for breakfast.
NotAmerican at 12:59PM on 08/09/09
I you go classic French you would have cheese before dessert, but you would serve a salad after the main course. I am more of a cheese instead of dessert type of person. North-Americans seem to like cheese as an hors-d'œuvre. I guess that's fine. One thing I would never do though is serve cheese after dessert. It's just counter-intuitive. I do, however, enjoy the French tradition of serving a sweet wine with dessert and following it with a course of coffee to end the meal. Anyway there aren't really rules for this. Whatever works and makes sense is fine. Serving both and letting people choose is not a bad idea, but to me cheese after dessert sounds like a terrible idea.
SqueezeBottle at 1:06PM on 08/09/09
I honestly don't know the answer. But, had been at that dinner party, I think I'd have loved the way you chose to serve it.
syd888 at 3:44PM on 08/10/09
when eating out at a restaurant in the UK there's a choice between dessert OR cheese, with a premium being paid for a cheese plate, but one would never have both. in france it's served before dessert.
the cheese plate is really about the opportunity to nibble, chat and digest, so in that respect it sounds as if it went smoothly.
pyrovitae at 4:41AM on 08/11/09