This part cracked me up:

"And Serena Bass, the English caterer, said: “We might be talking about hors d’oeuvres made of quail and moulard duck breast something or other, and the client will clutch her neck and ask, almost sotto voce, whether they could possibly have pigs in blankets. It’s almost embarrassing because it’s all anybody wants. We literally serve them all the time.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/dining/3...amp;oref=slogin

I just read this piece in the Times (getting to the morning paper late today) and it just goes to show ya - hang onto your pigs in blankets, they'll be back in style in 20 years. Or something.

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I'll have you know that while searching for this mouth watering photo of pigs in a blanket, I came across an adult feature, by the same name. LOLOL.



Standrews girl, I can't stand it . . .

My sister-in-law has always said that no matter how elegant or sophisticated the other hors d'oeuvres, if there are pigs in blankets, that's what people will always go for.

You know what, Sandra . . . they're easy to eat. Haven't all of us, at least once or twice, tried to eat an appetizer, and ended up with half of it on the floor, or in our laps? These piggies, are so handy ... a couple of gulps, and they're gone. LOL. I always serve tiny appetizers, or cheese straws . . . none of those huge, gloppy concoctions that grease up people's hands, and ruin women's lipstick.

I'm prepared to respect the party's host, just not all that optimistic that their notions of food will match my own.

The thing I like about pigs in a blanket is that they're so simple. Most people don't get 'creative' with seasonings or drippy sauces, so it's pretty much just a little sausage and some bread.

Other items on the tray are usually more problematic. The mystery lumps in sauce with frilly toothpicks attached? The lumps wrapped in bacon could be chicken liver and water chestnut, but then again, could it be some pineapple? The little things that look like mini-quiche-lorraine but never taste that way and somhow are always too dry and too bland? All far riskier, and harder to discard in a single napkin if it doesn't actually taste like food.

I make cheese straws. They are just right with a cocktail or glass of wine. I used to make tiny gougeres - easy to eat and perfectly delicious - with air in the middle, so people don't fill up on appetizers. I think I'll get that old recipe out next time I have a party.

You are so right. Neatness counts with canapes. Can you tell I'm too tired to check the spelling on hors d'oeurvres?

Right, rococo! Exactly how I feel . . . Standrewsgirl, cheese straws are a great, great way to whet your guests' appetites, during cocktails. I've made mine, but sometimes I cheat . . . a 'nuthouse' we have in town, offers delightful straws in a variety of flavors.

Little cocktail frank pigs in blankets are a tradition on New Years Day around here, along with cheese, crackers, dips, and macaroni salad with shrimp. Mommy doesn't do any cooking on New Years Day, preferring to watch some marathon or other on TV and having a hair of the dog if called for..... People who drop in can help themselves and we never, ever have any pigs in blankets left by the end of the day, no matter how many we make.

Keep It Simple Stupid?

I, too, serve gougeres, which I make myself, or cheese straws if I don't have time. Olives and nuts are good, too. Nothing wet or drippy, although once in a while I'll put out a spread or a bit of pate, but always something fairly compact and solid.

Ice tea squirted out of my nose upon reading the sotto voce comment. I'm a caterer, and the secretive tones are often matched by hand hidden in front of the mouth and failure to make eye contact. They're also asking for those artery killing sausage ###### more frequently. A recipe for that sweet weird sauce in which the mini weiners sometimes drown calls for ahhem; a jar of chili sauce, a bottle of dark barbeque sauce, and (drum roll) one jar of welches grape jam. I swear it! Somebody actually showed me the recipe. It was *in print*. No, I've never put it in my mouth, but customers come from all strata. They know what they want. A few have asked for this.

That sauce was a staple in suburbia 40 years ago, served with mini-meatballs.

Ooooh, forgot about that one! It is DELICIOUS! And it's what people LIKE to eat.

(It's like your hoity toity neighbor, Mr. Pretentios, sniffing, I only watch PBS and sip fine champagne after work, when you know damn well he's home with the blinds closed sucking down a Coors Lite and watching Jerry Springer....)

salinqmind...I just peed in me panties reading that comment!!!

Click to view attachmentSalinq, LOLOL!!

LOL!!! But you forgot to add eating those little frozen pizza rolls along with those piggies in a blanket.

The grape jelly/chili sauce concoction (sans BBQ sauce) is good, although the first time I read the recipe it gave me the willies. I've eaten it with the cocktail sausages (lil smokies) and meatballs. Go figure.

Mr. Diva has been insisting for years that a party isn't a party without pigs in blankets. I always knew he was right, but I had no idea he was so fashionable. ;-)

Well, Mr. Diva is a man, and men know what they like! Mr. Salinqmind is partial to cubes of cheese and pepperoni on toothpicks, with a side of chips and dip. He says that's what he likes to eat, and it's only women trying to outdo one another who think up expensive, exotic creations for parties! I don't see why any party couldn't have both kinds of yummies.

Pigs in a Blanket!!?? Whoa, talk about retro comfort food...

Served, no doubt, by someone wearing a cute little sheer hostess apron with ruffles and a heart-shaped pocket...

Well, I generally don't like my serving boys in ruffles, but, for you ... all right. Let's dress 'em up!