Seven Wedding Meals With A Difference
The main objective of any wedding – apart from getting married – has to be to smash the ball out of the park in terms of the event you put on. With the average 25 to 35 year old attending approximately 1.6 weddings a week (source: Staggered’s 2008 and 2009 diaries), you want your wedding to stand out. And the fact is that while most wedding food is beautifully presented, it can be boring as all hell and most people would probably prefer a nice curry. In an attempt to find some good alternatives Staggered spoke to some caterers who don’t do the usual wedding breakfast.
1. Hog roast
A favourite of celebrities such as Rod Stewart and Norman Cook is The Hog Roast Company, set up by Peter Stuart about 10 years ago when he realised that a lot of amateurs were trying to do them in wheelbarrows/holes in the ground and serving up raw meat.
“We shift about 1,000kg of pork a week,” says Peter. The Hog Roast Company uses plantation pigs from Guildford. “They are probably the most expensive in the UK – because they’re truly free-range. But that makes them tastier. If you skimp on the ingredients you make a better profit but the food is crap.” Quite.
The happy pig is prepared and refrigerated beforehand and then cooked at your venue in a purpose-built machine (apparently only 2m by 1m, so it doesn’t need to be a mansion). At least one assistant, usually two for a wedding, will be there to set up, carve and serve. There is an automatic quote system at www.the-hog-roast-company.co.uk, but for a main course and cake dessert only the entire cost could be as low as £10/head.
2. Food stations
Popularised in the Land O’ Plenty, these are a bit like supermarket food halls only fewer teenagers. Thank God. You can choose your favourite types of foods – for example wok stations, sushi stations – and your guests can help themselves to whatever they fancy as and when they feel like it. Ask your caterer if this is something they can offer – it’s much lighter than a meaty, boozy sit-down meal.
3. Foraged food
Another trend that is massive right now is foraged food. “We have teams of foragers who pick whatever’s growing at the time, and we can do really seasonal menus,” explains Kate Denston of Rare Food. Rare’s summer wedding menu is wild both literally and figuratively, including as it does canapés like “tree trunk filled with root vegetable chips” and mains like “Wild mesclun salad of fat hen, chickweed, ox-eyed daisy, poppy & mallow-flower with a walnut & xeres vinegar dressing” (small dictionaries might be useful table gifts to leave your guests if you do decide to book Rare).
“It’s as organic as you can get, and obviously there are more nutrients,” says Kate, who mentions that the company can also include really personal touches such as using jams from your mum’s garden or your granny’s favourite recipe.
Prices depend on the bespoke package you agree, but expect to pay upwards of £30/head.
4. Fish and chips
There are stories of grooms who ordered in pizza because they weren’t keen on the wedding breakfast; this takeaway-style menu cuts out the delivery boy.
“There’s absolutely no way of doing fish and chips unless you do it fresh onsite,” explain Christian Faversham Catering, who will not tolerate a soggy chip. “We go out onsite in a Mercedes van with three fryers on board, then we set up catering tent, field kitchen.” That one will certainly get your guests talking.
5. Dinner in a bowl
Bowls of noodles or pasta are a great way to fill your guests up and cut costs. They can either be an appetiser (in quite small bowls this has worked at parties Staggered has attended) or a main course (this has also worked well at a wedding Staggered has attended, although we should probably overlook that Staggered’s octogenarian Geordie grandad refused to eat it). It could even be dinner in a cocktail glass if you want to be flashy about it.
6. Caribbean
The Caribbean Cook Pot in Kent offers a range of dishes as a formal, seated meal or for a buffet. Options include canapés of starters of coconut spiced prawns, jerk chicken tartlets and plantain with dip, starters of Caribbean chicken chowder, calamari creole or roast beef crosti, and main dishes could be anything from baked lobster to curried goat. They’ll even send out a steel band.
7. Barbecues/table-top grills
Nothing asserts manly prowess like a barbecue, so why not bring your male guests together by getting Blistering Barbecues to bring their charcoal barbecues or wood-fired ovens to your wedding reception. A chef will be present to ensure that your seasonal produce is evenly cooked, but we’re sure they won’t mind if the guests come over for an occasional consult on the colour of the chicken, poke of the coals etc.
An even more hands-on option is table-top grills (see below), offered by Rare Food who have shipped them over from Bali. “They’re a bit bigger than a house brick,” explains Kate Denston. “You grill your own little things at your table, like a one-man barbecue.”
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