With 650 guests invited to celebrate the Royal Wedding tomorrow, and the Buckingham Palace kitchens only equipped for formal dinner service for around 150, the menu will apparently not exactly be a five-course meal. It will consist only of canapés and wedding cake due to the fact that the Buckingham Palace kitchens are only equipped to do a formal dinner service for 150 guests. The 21 Palace chefs will therefore have to prepare 10 000 canapés – about 15 canapés per guest.
The French started offering canapés to their guests in the 18th century, and the English adopted the practice at the end of the 19th century. A canapé is a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. A canapé may also be referred to as finger food, although not all finger foods are canapés. Crackers, puff pastry, thin slices of bread or toast cut into various shapes, e.g. circles, rings, squares, strips or triangles, serve as the base for savory butters or pastes, often topped with a “canopy” of savoury food such as meat, cheese, fish, purees or relish. Decorative garnishes are then applied and can range from finely chopped vegetables, herbs and caviar. The canapés are usually served on a canapé tray and eaten from small canapé plates.
Because they are often served during cocktail hours, canapés are often either salty or spicy in order to encourage guests to drink more.
One of the most well-known canapés, is Vol-au-vent, which is a small, hollow case of puff pastry. A round opening is cut in the top and the pastry cut out for the opening is replaced as a lid after the case is filled. Vol-au-vents can accommodate various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit or cheese. The French name translates to “fly with the wind” which alludes to their light and airy nature. Very small versions of vol au vent which are served as canapés are called Bouchées. See the recipe below.