10 Reasons to Choose Savory for Your Caterer... part 1

10. Every dish is presented beautifully

 One of the three "P"'s of cooking is Presentation. How the food looks is just as important as how it tastes. At Savory, we plate and display our food so it looks appetizing. It also provides an entertainment factor for the guests- they are excited to try new things because it looks good.

Guava and Coconut parfaits. These single serving parfaits are always a hit at our events.

Even something as basic as fruit is artistically arranged

We love to stack our salads vertically- It makes it much more fun!

This fancy mocktail is served in a crystal martini glass with an edible glitter sugar rimmer

9. No regrets

One of the worst feelings is regret. We're here to help you never feel that after your event! That's why you hire professionals. Our Chef has been catering for 13 years, two of which have been at Savory. She knows the ins and outs of catering and how to make a wonderful event so you won't have any regrets afterwards.

8. Respectful and knowledgeable staff 

Our Savory catering "family" of employees is a great group. We strive to make every event a wonderful occasion for all- host, guests, and crew members. They are very friendly, willing to help and know how to enjoy the moment. We had a customer once remark to us that our "service [was] a 10+!"

7. Decorated buffet table, for free

Remember back on #10 what I said about the presentation of the food being important? Well, the table decorations is just as important. It's doing beautiful food a disservice when it's displayed on a drab and uninviting table. We bring all the necessary platters, risers, and cake stands to fit the style of your event. Best of all, it's included in our service!

This buffet's theme was rustic refined. We had a lot of natural details like tree leaves, burlap and many different kinds of seeds.

This was a silver winter themed table scape. The overriding motif was mirror and glitter. See how the candlelight reflects against the mirror? Beautiful

One of our favorite additions to a buffet is our light box. We have this semi-transparent tray on which we display all kinds of food and let soft lighting shine through. Light on the buffet is very important.

Our displays also include signage. It lets the guests know what we're serving and it helps tie in the theme. For this event it was a traditional rural-Irish theme.

6. Customized menus and flavors to fit your personality

 Our Chef loves to make new dishes that reflect your personality, especially for our brides. This makes the event special and a true celebration of that couple. One couple loves breakfast food so for their luncheon we served all their favorite breakfast foods. 

For this event the couple met in a music class. We incorporated that detail in the garnish for the chocolate creme brulee.

The second part to "10 Reasons to Choose Savory for Your Caterer" is coming soon!

Accessories: adding style and flair

In fashion, accessories play a very important role in your outfit. It can add flair, a pop of color or even complete the entire ensemble. Besides it's fun to see a striking necklace or a vibrant handbag.

For culinary presentation it is no different. Making your food look good is just as important as making it taste delicious. When the food is exciting to look at it provides a better entertainment factor. Take, for example the next two pictures. (both of these are taken off the web, but you get the idea)

                      VS.                   

Boring butternut squash soup. Looks more like baby food.                         Same kind of soup but gussied up a little. Yum!

We love to dress up our food; it look more appetizing AND we enjoy doing it! Recently we did a mocktail tasting for a couple and we had so much fun putting this non-alcoholic drinks together.

Martini glasses rimmed and ready to be filled.

 A lot of things can be used to rim the edge of the glass. In the past we've used red hots, lemon heads, chocolate, citric acid (like in sour patch kids), edible glitter, koolaid punch packets, sugar, cinnamon, sprinkles and so much more.

                            

Cherry Pina Colada

Mimosa and a Brazillian Mojito

 For the rimmers, we like to incorporate the flavor of the dish. This Brazillian Mojito is like a creamy limeade with a hint of mint. For the rimmer we chopped up mint leaves and combined it with a sugar concoction.

We also like to add flair to our drinks. The mimosa has an orange skewer. Sometimes we'll put on a candied lime or tangerine slice, or a fresh watermelon or pineapple wedge. We also like to put our drinks in fun cups too. At this tasting we served Root beer in a coca-cola glass, milky mint in a milk bottle topped with a grasshopper cookie.

 

Dress up your event with our wide selection of mocktails!

Mango Salsa

Not many people like to mention their obsessions, but we proudly declare that we are

 addicted to Mango Salsa.

We hand-make our mango salsa and sometimes we can't get enough of it! It looks beautiful on the plate with bright yellows, reds, and greens. Our favorite ways to eat it is also the easiest- serving it with salty tortilla chips. The salt of the tortilla chips pairs well with the sweet taste of the salsa.  It's also a nice topping for meats, including fish, chicken, and duck.

 Big, juicy chunks of mango are complimented by smaller, crunchy red bell pepper chunks.

 Including different colored chips with the mango salsa is a fun way to add color and flavor.

 Mango salsa is great for cocktail hour, buffets, and appetizers

 The mango salsa goes well with fish! This is a breaded tilapia with a serving of 

brightly colored mango salsa.

One of the great things about our mango salsa is that it is great all year and for many different occasions: it works great with casual parties or as a topping for a fancy dinner. Whatever the occasion, make sure you add our Mango Salsa!

Check back tomorrow for the coveted recipe!

DIY Recipe: Panna Cotta

Chef Lou has been trying new things lately. Her newest is Panna Cotta.

Literally "cooked cream" in Italian, this dessert is very simple and extremely pleasing to the taste buds. There are many varieties of flavors out there but we've 

decided to share our Mint Panna Cotta Recipe with you.

Mint Panna Cotta

Lou Crandall, Savory Catering

makes approx 9 4oz servings.

Ingredients 

1 cup (8oz) whole milk

1 packet Knox unflavored gelatin

3 cups (24oz) heavy cream

2/3 cup (4.7oz) sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 drops mint flavoring oil

3 drops green food coloring

Directions

Pour milk into metal saucepan, and then sprinkle dry gelatin on top. Stir to make sure all the gelatin gets wet. Let this sit for 10 minutes to "bloom" the gelatin.

Next, add the heavy crea, sugar, and salt to the saucepan. Heat this mixture up to 120 degrees F, about 2 minutes or stirring longer if the sugar is still grainy.

Next, add the mint flavoring oil and green food coloring. Stir until incorporated.

Pour into glasses, ramekins or dessert bowls and chill about 4 hours.

Presentation
Top with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, chocolate drizzles, or an Andes Mint.   

The Art of Plating

At Savory we abide by the 3 P's of culinary arts:

Preparation

Palatte

Presentation

Of course, the preparation and palatte are important but mostly it's the presentation that entices the taste buds.

Here are some pictures of a recent event we did with 7 courses of food!

 

As the guests were arriving and miling about we served them an original specialty drink: a Sparkling Blood Orange Pomtini with a glitter sugar rimmer. The perfect fancy drink for a fancy party!

 

The table setting is also very important. We brought out our best china, silverware and water goblets for this elegant dinner.  We reused old Perrier sparkling water bottles as candle holders, and had a color scheme of whites, light browns and varying shades of green.

One of our Amuse Bouche (literally "mouth amuser" in French) was a Watermelon Gazpacho- a Spanish soup traditionally served cold. These were served in 

white ramekins with a cucumber star cutout.

 Our second amuse bouche was a Prickly Pear sorbet garnished with a sugar shard and a wedge of dragon fruit.

 One of our biggest hits of the night was our newest Buttery Pinyon appetizer: Sauteed pine nuts, spinach and golden raisins atop toasted herbed bread rounds and garnished with Asiago cheese.

 Each salad was arranged by one our employees and served in a coconut shell. The salad was tossed with our original coconut dressing with persimmons, blackberries, and pineapple.

We had a choice of four desserts! A salted caramel gelato in a chocolate cup, fresh berries and cream with a florentine shard, mini killer chocolate cake rounds, and a festive mint panna cotta

Refined Rustic Details

When a bride asks for rustic, we like to think of it as rustic refined.

We love rustic because it reminds us of home. We don't particularly like country kitsch. 

Here's how Savory does Rustic without boring :)

TEXTURES! Rustic to us means bringing in lots of varied textures.

Burlap, fresh maple leaves, moss, florals, coffee beans (plus it makes it smell so delicious), flax seeds, pumpkin seeds in apothecary jars.

 We hollowed out artichokes to use as candle-holders. Stay tuned this week for this super easy DIY!

Whenever possible we love to use fruit as accent to the buffet decor. Recall this wedding, with lemons as decorations?

Bark tree vases with dried florals.

Rustic herb flavored water: just a little bit of flavoring so it is not too overpowering :). Delicious and refreshing.

Chalkboard labels with twine.