Want to help plan a tempura/sushi party for my dad?!
Want to help plan a tempura/sushi party for my dad?
Hi there, I am throwing my father a birthday party in January and want to have a tempura-making party with a few sushi trays made by his favorite sushi chef. Does anyone have any suggestions for the logistics of the tempura-making? We're looking at a guest list of approximately 30'ish people. Also, please feel free to share your stories of how similar parties have gone and/or recipes. Thanks so much!
Answers:
Sounds like a fun idea.
The sushi part shouldn't be too difficult - just bring home an assortment of sushi. If he likes sashimi, that would look nice on the table, too.
The tempura station is something I never thought of. What a great idea! I assume the idea is to let the guests pick what they want for the tempura. Most people probably want shrimp, onions, mushrooms, slices of sweet potato, broccoli, and whatever else you like with tempura.
Since you're dealing with a deep fryer here, I think you need one person to man the cooking station the whole time. I don't know your budget, but you might want to consider hiring someone like a caterer or someone from the sushi chef's restaurant to do this. Also, it takes some finesse to make tempura correctly, without getting it too soggy or too burned. I like to make tempura better with a thin yeasted batter. The yeast in the batter gives you an even and crispy coating.
It sounds like a fun party theme. It might be fun to decorate with those paper Japanese lanterns.
You should have someone man the "Tempura station" This way... you can have guests just go to the Tempura person and say I want this and this and they fry it up right there! Tempura is way better if its cooked immediately. You could ask the sushi chef to pre make the sushi and then you dont have guests waiting for both items