Q&A for How to Serve a Full Course Meal

The course is finished when the last guest has finished eating it. Therefore, it can vary based on how long your guests take to eat. Usually, each course lasts about ten minutes.

Serve a healthy salad first. For the main course, serve a low calorie, protein-rich dish such as grilled chicken and seasonal vegetables.

You could take your diners on a culinary world tour with a dish inspired by each of the seven continents of the planet, or stick to the cuisine of one area or region. You could choose a movie theme. Serve dishes from one time period, the 80s, the 40s - whatever, or, journey through time as your meal progresses. You can have a silly, tacky theme, or be classy and sophisticated. Ensure your theme can provide a good main course and work the rest of the courses and other theme elements around that; apples could be a good theme, pork with apple sauce could be your main dish, but chocolate, while a great theme, is harder in a main course. Remember to consider your guests' dietary requirements.

It depends on how many courses you serve and what you plan to cook. If you only serve three courses with three easy to prepare dishes, you won't spend much time in the kitchen. However, if you serve seven extravagant courses, you will spend a lot of time cooking.

It is good except the drinks should be served before anything. And maybe soup and salad can be served together depending on your plan.

It depends on how many courses you serve. Dessert is usually last if there are less than four courses, but cheese and mignardises can follow dessert if there are five or more courses.

In general, your portions are going to be small, but your portions will vary with the course and may depend in part on the flatware you possess and your guests' appetites. The amuse-bouche is only a couple bites by definition. The soup course should be 6-8 ounces. Think about grabbing your appetizer with one hand; it should be doable but not easy. The salad should be similar to the appetizer if it is fluffy (lettuce-based) and slightly less if it is more solid. The entree should be served with a side or a starch and a side, and this should take up half or so of an 8" dinner plate. The dessert can be small if it is rich, maybe a 1.5" slice of a cake that starts at an 8" diameter.

Not usually. Sugar can dampen a person's appetite, and they won't enjoy the following courses as much as they might.

These should be served in the final course of your seven-course meal. If you are serving fewer courses, they can take the place of your dessert course.

Of course! Just make sure your guests don't have dietary restrictions.

Before your main course, it's used to clean your pallet (tongue) so you can better taste the main course.

You could serve fruits in a salad at the beginning of the meal or as a dessert at the end. If you're really creative, you might be able to come up with some fruit-based appetizers.

An appropriately-paired wine should be offered with each course, and served immediately before the food.

No. You should take out a new glass for each type of wine as it comes. Otherwise, the table will get cluttered.

It's varies depending on your menu, honestly. I would suggest having some wine and water at least, but the specific type of wine will depend on the food you're serving.

Soup sometimes will be served as a substitute for an appetizer or salad. It would be served when the salad would normally be served.

You should refill cold beverages when you serve the food and when you take plates away when the person eating is finished. Hot beverages should only be offered after the dessert course unless they are specifically requested by the consumer.

Yes, it is okay to make the second course (which is a soup when 6-7 courses) of seafood. If the second course is an appetiser, it is also fine.

"Full course" simply means that the meal consists of multiple dishes. There can be anywhere from three courses at its simplest (first course, main course and dessert, for example) to an elaborate twelve course (or even more!) endeavor.

A three-course would probably be appetizer, main and dessert. A five-course would be soup, appetizer, salad, main and dessert.

A soup usually comes first, then an appetizer, then a salad. Sometimes you can combine the soup and salad course, or do one or the other. In some cultures, salad is given after the main meal as a way of refreshing the palate.

The meal at 5 star hotel can be a full course meal, which means anything from a minimum of 3 up to 20 courses, according to the employee of the hotel and the time of preparation.

It will probably be around 200 grams for each person, though it depends on the food you make and your portion sizes.

It depends on the meal. However, wearing formal clothing shows respect if it's a formal event. If there are children involved, then let them wear what they want, as you want them to be comfortable and this encourages them to eat. Remember too that meals vary from culture to culture.