Gourmet Game Night: Bite-Sized, Mess-Free Eating for Board-Game Parties, Bridge Clubs, Poker Nights, Book Groups, and More

Gourmet Game Night hits dead-center at the cross-section of two of my very favorite things: game-playing and entertaining. My wife and I do a lot of both. We cooked eight recipes out of the book, and they were all, without exception, delicious. Some certainly ranked higher than others, but I think more important is that none were duds. Our least favorite -- the artichoke-stuffed mushrooms -- were still tasty, and we all would have been happy to eat them had nothing else been available. But they held nothing to some of the more outstanding dishes that all had us going back for seconds, thirds, and fourths. Our favorites all offered interesting contrasts in flavors: - A citrusy salmon poke, served in a bitter endive leaf - A sweet/sour cherry chutney & cheddar bruschetta - Grape tomatoes stuffed with a sesame-flavored edamame paste None of the recipes are difficult, but they're also not quick. Many of the dishes involve roasting, or marination, or multiple parts. This is a good thing -- you're serving your guests quality goods. You should expect to spend some time in the apron here. (Though Nims makes special mention at the beginning of the dozen or so recipes that can be made on the quick.) THE COOKBOOK Nims adds a few subtle touches that go a long way toward helping your average cook. Two examples: 1) each recipe has a special instruction for how to double or halve, which is often not as simple as multiplying the ingredients, and 2) she tells you which parts can be made ahead of time without compromising the recipe. This last point is an important one. My one complaint about the book is that if you're making a lot of dishes at once -- which you will be, since each dish is small and going to serve less than a full meal's worth of food -- you'll be flipping back and forth a lot between pages. There's no easy way around this, short of binding the pages in a ringed binder. Thus, the tips about pre-cooking some ingredients should be heeded as much as possible. THE EFFECTIVENESS This is the crux of the issue. Quality cookbooks abound these days -- does Nims fulfill her mission of food that can be eaten tableside? By and large, the dishes we chose to cook suited gameplay very well, as soon as we found room at the table to put the platter (we have a fondness for playing component-heavy games). The shrimp cakes and salmon bites sat in finger-friendly leaves of lettuce. The bruschetta were easy to pick up and eat in one or two bites. One warning: Nims occasionally builds a dish around a particular piece of a party-friendly hardware, like single serving spoons, or shooter glasses for soup. It's often easy to work around these, just be aware. Or, if you're a frequent entertainer, invest in some; there is a list of retailers on the book's website. BOTTOM LINE Without question, Gourmet Game Night achieves what it sets out to do. I recommend the book for anyone who hosts game nights or is looking to start.