cooking on the grill - going beyond the burger

If you've recently moved into your first adult housing situation and started your first serious job, you're probably looking forward to engaging in some of the first rites of fully fledged adulthood. If you're like many people in your situation, you like the idea of hosting your very first dinner party but are nonetheless anxious that you may not be able to pull it off. Your parents probably made throwing dinner parties look really easy, but that's only because they learned certain home entertaining strategies through trial and error. 

Following are three plans of action designed to help demystify the art of hosting a fun and memorable dinner party for the first time. 

Stick With Familiar Recipes

Although it may be tempting to try out a fancy gourmet recipe at your first dinner party, it's best to stick with something tried and true instead in order to minimize the chances of unexpected disasters. If you don't have much experience in the kitchen, choose something that's relatively easy to prepare that's nonetheless elegant enough for an adult dinner party. It's hard to ruin roast chicken, pot roast, or pork loin roast, for instance, provided you follow the recipe -- and recipes for these items aren't full of complicated jargon that amateur cooks won't understand, unlike many of their fussy gourmet counterparts. 

Don't Overthink the Wine

If you're offering a light salad and cheese course before serving the entree, simply choose a wine that matches the flavor profile of the cheese. Serve white wine with white cheese and red wine with yellow cheese. For the main course, follow the old rule about serving red wine with red meat and white wine with white meat -- and if you're a vegetarian, stick with white wine. There's a reason the traditional wine pairing rules exist -- it's because they work. For the dessert course, you can't miss with serving a classic Sauternes -- its sweet flavor profile pairs perfectly with almost anything you have on the dessert menu. 

Enlist Help From a Friend

Enlisting the help of a friend can make a big difference when hosting a dinner party. An extra pair of hands can prevent kitchen mishaps from occurring because you're so busy pouring wine for your guests that you can't attend to the roast in the oven.  The most important thing about successfully hosting your first dinner party is to simply relax and enjoy the company of your guests. If you're stiff and nervous, they'll pick up on it, and even the best food and wine won't be able to make up for the uncomfortable ambience this creates. 

For more information on choosing wine for your party, check out the best online wine store today.