The December party that is not a turkey dinner
Not every holiday party wants roast bird and stuffing. A good share of the ones we cater are deliberately not that — a team that had turkey at home, an office with no interest in a formal sit-down, a family that stopped pretending years ago.
Barbecue is the most common answer. Smoked beef brisket and short ribs carry the occasion without the ceremony, and nothing about it needs everyone seated at once, which is what most December parties fail at anyway.
Beef, lamb and chicken, zabiha-sourced throughout — so a mixed office or a mixed family eats from one table.
- Smoked beef brisket and beef short ribs as the centrepiece
- Brisket burnt ends, BBQ chicken, charcoal beef, halal beef sausage
- Cornbread, smoky baked beans, coleslaw and fries
- Pecan pie or brownie bites if the party wants a December dessert
Los Angeles in December is still outdoors, mostly
A pit works here in a way it does not in most of the country at this time of year, and a courtyard or a yard in December is a perfectly good venue most evenings.
What changes is the light. Parties run after dark from late afternoon, so an attended station needs lighting the venue may not have thought about — a carving board in the dark is an expensive tray nobody photographs. We ask about it at booking rather than discovering it at six o'clock.
Heat is the other one. A courtyard that was pleasant at four is cold at eight, and guests drift indoors away from the food. Where the station is outside we will suggest keeping the sides and breads inside so the table does not empty when the temperature does.
Book the pit before you book the date
Attended stations are the first thing to go in December and the thing people ask for last. If the theatre of the carve matters to this party, that is the part to secure early.
Where it is already gone, trays and warmers deliver the same food and we would rather tell you that in October than in December.
