Preferred first course

Runny egg with shaved truffles
Runny egg with asparagus
Runny egg with mushrooms

Lots of options in the runny egg family, and easy to prep because you can just dump the eggs in a pot of water and use an immersion circulator to your desired temperature/consistency. I go with 145F or 146F.
 
If it's plated and served at the table (rather than passed apps), I take the opposite approach. The first course often involves last minute preparation and complicated plating. Doing that with later courses means lots of getting up and down from the table by the cook between courses, and more timing issues. Whereas it's easy to leave the *********** conversation to cook the first course, and any lagging is usually not noticeable.

So for a 3-4 course meal, usually two of the later courses are make-ahead and reheat, or throw-in-the-oven-and-leave-it dishes.
 
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