Who else has a tiny European kitchen?

[cattledogkisses]

How do you handle cooking for dinner parties and holidays? We're expected to
do quite a bit of entertaining, but with a galley kitchen and tiny oven I'm trying to figure out how to pull this off. 

We're hosting people for Thanksgiving and I'm not even sure I can fit a turkey in my oven.   And I can basically only cook one course at a time. 

[GilliC]

I don't.

Besides the kitchen, I don't have the dining space for a dinner party, so the whole thing is kind of a moot point. Luckily I have friends with bigger places, so I usually convince them to host, and then I go and help out.

[cattledogkisses]

Nov 2, 2016 14:54:53 GMT -5 GilliC said:

I don't.

Besides the kitchen, I don't have the dining space for a dinner party, so the whole thing is kind of a moot point. Luckily I have friends with bigger places, so I usually convince them to host, and then I go and help out.

We're lucky to have a pretty large apartment with a good-sized living room/dining room area, just the typical tiny kitchen! 

I'm definitely missing my big farmhouse kitchen back at home a bit.

[mrsukyankee]

When I had a small kitchen, I hosted gatherings by ordering food. Or I hosted people out at restaurants. Especially Thanksgiving. I didn't do that until I had a 5 burner/large oven and enough room to actually put dishes on a counter.

[origami]

Yup - we order food. I bought the entire thanksgiving meal from a restaurant and had it delivered.

ETA: Without going through a restaurant it's also the next thing to impossible to get thanksgiving ingredients here (legally) even if I wanted to cook it all.

[Cicero]

In Switzerland when we hosted ordering food would have been cost prohibitive. It was a couple days of planning and cooking but it worked. The pies were made the day before. I also prepped as much as possible the day before.

We got the biggest turkey as would fit in the oven and made that first on Thanksgiving. I then made the gravy, carved the turkey, and put it all in a crockpot in the bedroom on warm. You won't have a tableside carving experience or crisp skin but I think it ends up juicer like that and begged can't be choosers.

My kitchen was then freed up to make sides. If you don't have a crockpot you can always stick the turkey and gravy in a big pot on the back burner on super low.

[gigem]

Make it a bit potluck style, which is pretty normal for france, someone at minimum brings dessert. Tiny European turkeys fit in tiny european ovens

[pittpurple]

We hosted for Christmas and Thanksgiving with a galley kitchen and then hosted 20 for Thanksgiving one year in a tiny kitchen. Took plenty of planning so we could use all the space to the best advantage - and had people bring various things. This year we have a slow cooker so can make something in that to add extra cooking space. Just make a list of the must haves, outsource whatever you can and go from there!

I remember sitting on my floor icing Christmas cookies as we didn't have the counter space!

[gigem]

Things that take up fridge space but dont really need to be kept in the fridge, my mil keeps those outside. So if you have either a safe window sill or a terrace it helps to free up some space.... wine bottles and cheese for example.

[doctoranda]

I have hosted several thanksgivings in a tiny kitchen (in various places). A few years we did a potluck and cooked the turkey in a friend's place who had a bigger oven (friend was obviously invited). Another year we ordered the turkey all cooked from the butcher (he delivered it warm at dinner time) and we cooked all the other dishes (some a day in advance). We have cooked the turkey at a friends place and then all the other dishes in our kitchen ( a lot of them the day before and then reheated.

The main thing I found is to plan it well and ahead (I had to also travel to get some ingredients) and to not stress too much over it. Most people get that it is complicated to do a holiday like that in a country where they normally don't; they will appreciate your effort.

[stever]

My kitchen in London was tiny but I hosted Thanksgiving every year I was there. I would just plan really well and do things in stages; pie two days before, prep the day before, turkey(and a regular sized bIrd fit in my tiny oven) the day of.