Full course dinner

Not so long ago a full-course meal was a meal with more than 3 dishes. It could be 4, 5, perhaps 7, even 10 or 12. Now it's more like a 21-course meal.
So - what to know about this?

1 course - main dish
2 courses - main dish, dessert
3 courses - starter, main dish, dessert

and after that, it's not so precise - you can choose any dishes you wish to form your courses. It really isn't more specific than that. If you look at 7-course meal suggestions online, you will find many different suggestions for what the courses are.

Here's one, based on adding a course to the previous dinner.

4 courses - hors d'oeuvres, starter, main dish, dessert
5 courses - hors d'oeuvres, starter, fish, main course, dessert
6 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, starter, fish, main course, dessert
7 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, starter, fish, main course, dessert, coffee
8 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, starter, fish, main course, palate cleanser, dessert, coffee
9 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, starter, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, dessert, coffee
10 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, starter, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, 2nd main, dessert, coffee
12 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, starter, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, 2nd main, cheese course, dessert, coffee
18 courses -  hors d'oeuvres, soup, second soup, starter, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, 2nd main, 3rd main, vegetables, cold cuts, cheese course, dessert, savory bite, cheese platter, coffee
21 courses - hors d'oeuvres, soup, second soup, starter, eggs, salad, fish, mushroom, main course, palate cleanser, 2nd main, 2. salad, 3. main, vegetables, cold cuts, cheese course, dessert, ice cream, savory bite, cheese platter, coffee

French Classical 17-course meal: hors d'oeuvres, soup, egg dish, grain, fish, main course, palate cleanser, 2nd main, 3rd main, vegetables, salad, cold cuts, dessert, savory bite, cheese platter, fruits and nuts, coffee

1. Starter
the dinner starts with an appetizer, amuse bouche, aperitif, a spicy, small bite
Then comes a thin soup, bouillon, consommé
A thick soup
starter
salad
All these can be put together into one meal.

An amuse-bouche or amuse-gueule doesn't usually count as a dish.

The difference between an appetizer and a starter is... well... there really isn't any. Some people say an appetizer is finger food and a starter is eaten from a plate. If you look at the different meal suggestions, you will notice the simple 3-course meal starts with a starter. That kind of starter is not finger food or spicy small bites. It could be a salad, it could be a soup, it could be an open sandwich, or something else, but it is eaten on a plate by the table.

Fillers

These could be
- an egg dish, like an omelet or souffle
- a cheese dish, like baked camembert or cheese souffle
- a mushroom dish
- grains - pasta or rice dish, or something similar made of other grains, for example, a risotto made of barley (orzotto), soba noodles or blinis (made of buckwheat), injera, grits or polenta, and so on.
- paté, terrine, quenelles, mince, rillettes, mousses, foie grass
- shellfish dish

2. Main dish
a) Fish
followed by a filler or palate cleanser
b) 1. main (Entrée)
cut meat
followed by a filler or palate cleanser 
c) 2. main (Joint)
carved by the table
followed by a filler or palate cleanser
d) whole roasted fowl
followed by a vegetable dish or salad

3. sweet
a) creamy dessert
b) frozen dessert, like ice cream
c) pudding, dessert, cake...
d) fruits

4. savory
a) cold cuts
c) toast
d) cheese platter 

In a 21-course dinner, the sweet and savory are used to fill up the 6 last spots, in a pleasing and satisfactory order.
On the list, I give there's "savory bite", which is usually a toast, to cut the sweetness of the dessert.

5. Coffee 
Usually served with some small sweet morsels, like chocolate bonbons or petit fours, and digestive drink.

The first thing to think about when creating menus is that THIS DINNER CONSISTS OF 21 COURSES, SO KEEP THE PORTIONS TINY. Every course really is just a mouthful, or perhaps two. Keep the starches to a minimum. Ideally, the whole dinner shouldn't have more than 1000 calories. That gives each course about 50 calories.

1. Serve an aperitif before the dinner
Serve the first course together with the aperitif, the hors d'oeuvres
Now, this doesn't really count as a course in the classic dinner menu, but here it does.

2.-5. Now, when the people have been seated, the appetizer, or starter that is going to be served is plated and eaten from the plate with a fork and knife. Don't serve fancy finger food. The appetizer should have a strong taste, but be small.

You can play around a little with the order these starter dishes are served, but the clear soup is served before the thick soup, and the soups shouldn't share ingredients; don't decorate your consommé with vegetables, if you have a vegetable soup as thick soup.
It would also be better if you served the salad between the starter and the fish.

So, practically, you can serve the appetizer as 2nd or 4th course, before or after the soups.
I have put it after the soups because it is very similar to the hors d'oeuvres.

6. Next we have a filler; the egg dish, the mushroom dish, the grain dish, paté or terrine; the shellfish dish
This dish is soft in consistency and taste.
An egg dish is usually either an omelet or a soufflé.
Save one of these after the fish as a palate cleanser. (not the shellfish dish)
Try to follow this logic - don't serve similar ingredients after each other. Don't serve a salad after a vegetable dish, don't serve seafood after seafood, and don't use the same ingredients in dishes following each other.

7.-10. Now, there are basically four different mains on this list; fish, entrée, relevé, and roti.
Fish is always fish and roti a whole roasted bird, but to make some variation with the two dishes in the middle, see that they are different animals. You can choose to serve domestic animal meat and game, for example. (It is also totally fine to serve fish or poultry as one of these dishes. Just see that there are not two meats of the same kind following each other. That is "Fish - Meat - Fish - Fowl" or "Fish - Fowl - Meat - Fowl".

Now, there is another great difference between these two dishes. One is cut meat, and the other is to be carved on the table.

The "cut meat", can be anything, even minced meat. It would be totally fine to serve a Filet Mignon here, Bœuf Bourguignon, cutlets or chops, or even meatballs if you like. This one is to show up the plating and fancy sauces - as said, this is brought to the table plate.

The joint is to be carved on the table, and thus it's not plated. You are to have the potatoes, gravy, and greens to be served with it, and each diner should be able to choose their own here. (It is OK to let the guests serve each other and pass on the platters. See the direction from left to right. The guest who is being served takes first the food they wish to have, and then takes the platter and serve to their right.

In the fin-de-siécle Vienna, the gourmets preferred boiled meat to steak. They ordered their boiled meat weeks beforehand. The steak was for those who didn't know any better. One can add variation to the dinner by serving a boiled dish as one of the mains.

Another piece of meat often ignored is the offal, but a beautifully prepared and served piece of liver is also a very nice meal.

Now, OF COURSE if you are vegetarian, you don't serve meat. There are plenty of vegetarian feast meals that are quite as fine and impressive as whole roasted chicken. Just remember the presentation. Put the vegan loaf in pastry, like in a pie,  or cook it "en croute". Whole roasted rutabaga or cauliflower looks fancier than cauliflower and cheese. Fill a butternut squash or a pumpkin with the vegetables. This IS after all fine dining, so the appearance matters, and it is supposed to be fancy. Now, of course, the taste is still what matters most.

The late Prince Henrik of Denmark was adamant about having 3 vegetables in every dish. But, as this is a 21-course dinner, see that the vegetables are light and portions are tiny.

11.-15. Now, after each "main", there's a vegetable dish, salad, or palate cleanser.
You can choose to serve them as you please, just cut the meat with something between the courses. There should be at least one green salad on the menu, a very simple green salad, basically nothing but some lettuce and vinaigrette.

You can choose to serve the "fillers" at any time during the dinner. Usually, there is one between the starter and the fish and one between the meats and the "finale". 

The cheese course is a dish made with cheese, not the cheese platter, even though nowadays that is what is meant with a cheese course. Examples of cheese courses are cheese soufflé, baked Camembert, and savory cheesecake.
You can replace this with an egg course. Soufflé always works.

16.-20. Then the last part of the dinner; savories and sweets

"Cold cuts" is "buffet froid" - they used to serve things like grilled, cold chicken, aspic, tongue and lobster mayonnaise, paté, terrine, quenelles, mince, rillettes, mousses, foie grass. Meat served cold.
When I was young, there was a chef who specialized in these dishes, and she was usually a woman.

The "savory" is something savory to cut the sweetness of the dessert, so it should be something small, like a cheese toast. You could serve a pasty or pirog of some sort here. Nowadays this dish is replaced with the cheese platter as well.
I have put it after the ice cream because I like to eat something savory after sweet. You do as you please.

I would like to point out that some people think it's very important that the savory dishes are served before the sweet dishes, and the only exception to the rule is the sorbet palate cleanser in the middle of the dinner. This goes for the cheese platter as well. So if you are hosting people like this, be a good host and give them a sweet finish.

"‘It is in a sense monstrous to indulge in a savoury,’ fumed George Augustus Sala in The Thorough Good Cook, ‘the very taste of which must necessarily spoil your appetite for dessert.

How an earth can you enjoy the exquisite flavour of peaches and grapes and pineapples when your tongue has only a minute or two previously been excited by cayenne pepper or curry powder or some other condiment used in confecting these confounded savouries?’"

There can be up to 5 different sweet courses at the end of a many-course dinner.
Fruits and nuts
dessert - entremet de douceur - some sort of pudding, usually baked.
creamed sweet
frozen sweet
ice cream

Now, ice cream and frozen sweets can be the same thing, as it is on my menu, which means, that "ice cream" could be parfait or some other frozen dessert, not ice cream.
On a classic menu "dessert" doesn't mean the dessert, but fruits and nuts.
If you serve two desserts, one should be cold and the other warm.

(I also just read about pre-dessert and post-dessert - a mini dessert before and after the "real thing":-D)

21. After the last pudding, it's coffee with the digestif.
I would serve the cheese platter now because I love cheese and I like to take my time and enjoy the cheeses.
Coffee (or some other beverage) is served off the table, you see, and one can mingle and eat the chocolates, fruits, and nuts or cheeses to one's heart's content, which to me is as it should be.

When you plan a dinner, pick a theme. Try to serve variation.
Unless your theme is "white dinner", don't serve several white dishes.
Unless your theme is "fowl", don't serve several dishes made of fowl.
You get the idea.
Variate ingredients, cooking methods, colors, forms, shapes, sizes.

People are most likely able to taste more than sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami, so try to satisfy this.
(They are counting
*sweet and
*salty, which is pretty obvious,
*sour (citrus fruits, soured dairy products, vinegar),
*bitter (dark green leafy vegetables, most cruciferous plants, dark chocolate, grapefruit, most herbs),
*pungent, piquant, spicy, hot (also obvious; peppers, chili, onions, radishes),
*cold [Camphor (camphor laurel, kapur tree, rosemary, camphorweed, African blue basil), Cubebol (Cubeb pepper, basil), Eucalyptol (Eucalyptus, camphor laurel, bay laurel, galangal, ginger), Menthol (mints, peppermint - also catnip, pennyroyal and lavender)]
*astringent or dry (dry wine, black tea, beans, most cruciferous plants, cranberries, walnuts, unripe persimmons),
*umami or savory (MSG, broths and cooked meals, cheese, mushrooms, soy sauce) and
*kokumi or hearty (milk, onions, beer, cheese, braised, slow-cooked meals)

Also, remember that smell and vision influence your taste experience.

Don't overdo it, though. Molecular gastronomy is... boring. It makes eating a gimmick, it makes the gimmick the point, not the food. Dinner should be a social event that is enjoyable because there is lots of good food, satisfying both the taste buds and hunger, a sense of beauty and delight, and leave you happy and content, not stuffed and confounded. Keep it simple.

And that's not all, the more senses you appease to, the better experience the dinner is.

"Is there a rich component, a lean component, a crunchy component, and a cleansing component? Are all the taste sensors activated so that you want to go back for a second bite? Cod works better over a richer preparation like chowder. I would also make sure to choose the right technique for the cod: I would not poach it, because if it is poached it would be silky on silky. If it is seared, it is crunchy on silky—which is more appealing because of the contrast."

—SHARON HAGE, YORK STREET (DALLAS)

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I am writing this as a sort of a note for me, preparing a grand Independence Day dinner.

The theme is Finland, of course. The basic idea is to use as many Finnish ingredients as possible and celebrate the typically Finnish flavors and foods.
Finland's Independence Day is the 6th of December, so it's in the winter, and there aren't any fruits around (except apples, dried fruits, preserved fruits... or exotic non-Finnish fruits)

I want it also to be Blue-and-White, like the Finnish flag. There aren't that many blue foods, so it will be mostly white, with some blue, purple, and green inserts.

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1. As an aperitif, blueberry mimosa will work well.
 Champagne might do well as well, because, after all, what's a more worthy celebration than independence?

You need 3-5 bite-size appetizers per person. I think 3 is fine because this is a HUGE dinner. 

As an amuse-bouche, I would serve something white, like cheese. Now, don't serve fruits as hors d'oeuvre, because sweetness dulls the tastebuds. It should be something sharp and spicy. Maybe Finnish rye bread crisps with Finnish cheese and something spicy and hot...Chili?
Some sort of deviled eggs might also be nice, with the yolk replaced with something blue and spicy...
I wonder if one could get radishes in the middle of the winter... hmm...

2. Then the soup. First clear consommé, which could be dyed blue with algae, or pea flowers

3. and then a thick soup, for example, cauliflower purée soup. It could also be blue potato soup or red cabbage soup. Red cabbage turns blue when alkaline is added. Spinach and celery are alkaline, but if not enough, add a little baking soda. Not so much that it starts to taste because it doesn't taste good.

4. As a starter I think I'd like a pork terrine.

5. Now, next would be eggs, but I have already served eggs as an appetizer, and I don't want to serve eggs again. I have also served terrine, so it will be risotto. ("barleyotto")

6. Here there will be a little salad, for example, blueberry-spinach salad.

7. The fish course will be Zander Walewska (President Mannerheim's favorite.)

8. Then there will be a mushroom dish. I suggest chanterelles on toast. Now, they are not white, but they are Finnish and delicious.

9.  As the bird I would serve black grouse or capercaille, with some rowanberry jelly, potatoes, and gravy. Beetroot, they say, goes well with grouse.

10. The palate cleanser will be a white currant sorbet.

11. The 2nd main will be Karelian stew with boiled potatoes and traditional Finnish casseroles.

12. The 2nd salad is an apple salad, like Waldorf

13. Then comes the roast, which will be reindeer, served with black salsify and cauliflower

14. As a vegetable dish I think I'll serve a whole roasted rutabaga or celeriac with sauce, barley and creamed kale.

15. Then comes smoked lamb leg

16. Tavastian egg cheese

17. As a dessert, there's only one possibility for me - puff swans on a blue lake

18. as ice cream, vanilla ice cream, pure, clean, and simple. Or maybe tar ice cream, or spruce sprout syrup ice cream, or something else exotic and Finnish :-D

Now, this is butter, not ice cream, but fits as an illustration for my thoughts of plating ice cream :-D

Besides, if I'm planning on serving tar and spruce sprout syrup ice cream, this is kind of the perfect way of serving it... maybe change the herb to a spruce sprout. I think they can be easily frozen and saved for December.

19. Savory bite - traditionally a toast, but I think a piirakka or pasteija would be good here like cabbage slab pie, or karjalanpiirakat.

20. cheese platter

21. coffee avec with mignardise

the Youssopovs's 25th Wedding Anniversary 1907

So - how to cook and serve this, then?

1. where, when, and how is this supposed to be served? 21-course dinner isn't for people who cook and serve themselves, but it is doable.

This dinner is supposed to be served at home for the closest family. There are 19 persons in my family, maybe 20. I don't think most of them will come, but let's take 21 courses, 20 people.

The plates and cutlery are the biggest problem.
For my Finnish dinner, one would need 17 plates, 3 bowls, 14 forks, 11 knives, 5 spoons a coffee spoon, and glasses as many as there are wine options, plus the aperitif, and one for water, coffee cup, and a saucer...for each guest.
Now... there is no normal person who has this amount of stuff, but it is possible to hire dishes. You need to know how many dishes you will need to do that and do it in good time beforehand so that you have everything there when you need it.

There is also the possibility of hiring someone to do the dishes while we eat, so there's basically only a need for four sets of plates; two deep and two flat plates - if you place a dish that is eaten from a flat plate between the soups, the soup bowl can be washed while this is eaten on a flat plate, and ready to be used for the next soup.

Something to think about is if you are going to do it à la russe (dishes plated by you), à la anglaise (the guests take food that is being served), or à la française (all the food is on the table and the guests help themselves. The way normal family dinners go.)

The French way would be easiest, but I kind of like the idea of plating the food my way. :-D

If one is to do this alone (or with minimal help), one has to leave the guests to entertain themselves for long moments during the dinner, and the guests might not think this is nice. After all, they are your guests, not guests at your restaurant. Plating by the table might be a solution to this problem. Carving the turkey at Thanksgiving is a show number by itself.

Otherwise one could arrange some distraction in the form of pause entertainment while the dishes are being plated and served. I had thought of creating a video show about the history of Finland with some soft, classical music (we do have quite a lot of that in Finland) during eating, and a short documentary during the time the hostess is absent.

Cook as much as you can beforehand, and do all the cutting and portioning beforehand.
For example, if you plan on cutting vegetables for decoration, do that the day before.
You won't be able to do the soufflé earlier, but you can make the cheese sauce, and egg whites don't suffer from waiting to be whipped for the next day.
You can set the tables beforehand, set the mignardise table beforehand, and bake everything earlier. Most candy and cakes are fine standing on the table overnight, you just need to cover the baked goods with plastic to keep them from drying up. Also, cream-filled goodies need to be in the fridge, and some goodies, like meringue and choux pastry, can't be filled a lot earlier than just before serving so that they won't get soggy.
(Consider all this while planning the dishes! Pick as many "can be made earlier" dishes as you possibly can, where only the minutest amount of assembly is required on the actual day of the dinner party.
Also, consider what can be done with the leftovers. Try to pick dishes that can be frozen for the future, and as little as possible foods that cannot be stored for a long time and have to be thrown away.)

Have a couple of practice rounds before the dinner, so that you know what will go wrong and are prepared for it.

If you need to do everything yourself, you need to streamline it and make it as perfect, effective, and swift as possible.

It is not sensible to make 21 courses for 20 people as "dress rehearsal", but you can test making 20 dishes at the same time, and prepare "freezer meals", something that takes about as long, but that you can freeze as it is and then eat later yourself. It is necessary to test how long time it takes for you to plate 20 meals and how much room you need to do it.

You need to also know how much extra time to prepare the food when it's this much, and how heavy dishes are full of food. How big a kettle do you need to make soup for 20 people?
(Here's a handy list of the amounts of food you need to prepare for each guest - now, remember that with 21 dishes, the portions are at least 1/2 of the ordinary ones, or even 1/4, or less.)

Do you need to measure and bag the spices and herbs needed for each meal so that you know you have enough of everything and don't need to waste time opening and closing spice containers and measuring them?

Now, most of this menu can be prepared beforehand and just warmed up or assembled for this dinner.

To create the timetable:
find out how long time it takes to make and plate every dish,
find out how long time it takes to COMFORTABLY eat the dish, find out when each dish is to be served,
count the first time from the second time and you have your timetable. Yes, it really is that easy.

The difficult part is to make it happen within the time table .-D

To do this, you really need to practice and MEASURE TIME.
Do this with a helper, so that you can focus on plating, and don't need to think about time - the helper will time you.

MY SAMPLE TIMETABLE IS JUST THAT. I BELIEVE IT IS TOO OPTIMISTIC BECAUSE I'M SURE IT TAKES MUCH LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES TO PLATE ANYTHING FOR 20 PEOPLE. It takes time to juggle the plates, food storage boxes, and things in a private home kitchen.

This is why you NEED to practice and check and test everything. You can't expect to be able to function as well as a well-trained professional staff, whether in a modern commercial restaurant or in a Victorian upper-class household. (Unless you are a well-trained professional:-D)

Let's say, it takes 10 minutes to mix the welcome drink and appetizers, 10 minutes to warm the bouillon, and 5 to plate it. The same with the thick soup.
Barleyotto takes 30 minutes to cook and has to be served immediately. It takes 5 minutes to plate.

let's say the guests arrive at 16.00 and are to be served the drinks and appetizers. 15.50 you prepare the drinks and plate the appetizers.

16.15 is time for the thin soup, so after you have prepared the appetizers, you put the thin soup in to warm up, and go serve the appetizers.

When appetizers are eaten, you go to the kitchen, plate the thin soup, and put the thick soup in to warm up, so that at 16.30, when the thin soup has been eaten, you can go to the kitchen and serve the thick soup.

16.45 - pork terrine is served cold, so you can plate it beforehand as well. Now, maybe storing the plates covered with plastic takes longer than actually slicing and plating the terrine and adding the decorations, but that is something you need to test. Anyway, it takes just 5 minutes to get this done, so you can sit by the table and enjoy your barleyotto with the guests.

17.00 is the time for the barleyotto. That takes 30 minutes to cook, so you have to start cooking at 16.30. Now, classic risotto has to be tended all the time, but you can make fine risotto in the oven. So, when you plate the thick soup, you put the barleyotto in the oven, and when you plate the terrine, you check up on the barleyotto.

17.15 a little salad - everything is prepared, it just needs to be plated, and that doesn't take long.

17.30 Zander Walewska - can be prepared beforehand and just gratinated before serving. Put the dish in the oven when you plate the salad.

17.45 Now... chanterelles on toast... you need to toast the bread and cook the chanterelles. That will take about 20 minutes, which means that you basically need to hop over the fish and be in the kitchen cooking the mushroom.

18.00 black grouse with gravy - believe it or not, this too can be done ahead of time, and just popped under the grill for 5 minutes before serving. So, when your toast is ready, put the bird in the oven, eat your toast, and go fetch the bird.
Take the sorbet from the freezer to soften.

18.15 white currant sorbet is done beforehand and takes just minutes to plate.
(Roll it into balls beforehand and refreeze, so that you can just plate the balls. Or form quenelles... looks fancier :-D)

18.30 Karelian stew and side dishes are made beforehand and just need to warm up before serving, so while you plate the sorbet, you put this in to warm up.

18.45 2nd salad is also a quickie.

19.00 whole roasted rutabaga with sidedish might take the longest :-D You cook it beforehand and just grill it before serving. It takes half an hour, so you need to put it in the oven when you serve the Karelian stew. Creamed kale can be made beforehand also, and just warmed up before serving. You can do that when you are finished with your salad. Let your guests have a couple more minutes with it.

19.15 The lamb leg is also served cold, so it's just plating there. But carve it beforehand.

19.30 Tavastian egg cheese needs to be grilled in the oven, and that takes about 15 minutes, so when you plate the lamb, you put the cheese in the oven.

19.45 The puff swans are made beforehand and so is the dessert sauce, so it just needs to be plated.

20.00 Ice cream just needs to be plated, but it needs to soften a little first, so when you serve the swans, you take the ice cream out of the freezer. (Again, make the balls or quenelles, or whichever shape you wish to serve the ice cream in beforehand, and refreeze it. For Finnish Independence Day dinner, it would be wonderful to serve ice cream shaped like a rose.)

20.15 The slab pie needs to be warmed up a little, so when you plate the ice cream, you warm up the pie.

20.30 Cheese has been plattered beforehand, the mignardise is already set out, and the only thing that needs to be done is to make the coffee and tea or whatever else people wish to have.

So - are you OK with the dinner ending at 9 P.M.? If not, you need to move the start of the dinner. As simple as that.

You create a plan with every dish, every plating, and every moment carefully noted so that food is done at the right moment and can be plated quickly and transferred to the table without delay.