This is a simple, but really useful tip. I think I first saw Mary Berry do this on one of her cooking programs, and it works a treat.
Whenever I’m having a gathering, whether it’s a house party, garden party or even just some friends round for lunch, I always try to get organised beforehand, and get as much of the food prepped as possible that morning, or even the day before. But how do you keep things like sandwiches, fruit and salad platters fresh? These items can take the longest to prepare, and you don’t want to be missing out on the fun making loads of sandwiches during the gathering. This is what I do:
- Create your platters, lay them out however you want to present them.
- Take a few pieces of clean kitchen roll and run them under the cold tap until completely soaked.
- Squeeze out the excess water.
- Open the kitchen roll back out and lay it over the platter. Use a few pieces if need be to cover the food completely.
- If you will be serving them in a few hours, put them in the fridge as they are.
- If they wont be served until the next day, wrap some cling film over the platters as well, and then place in the fridge.
- Then, once your guests are there, just take the platters out of the fridge, remove the clingfilm if used, and the kitchen roll and allow to warm up for a couple of mins then serve.
I promise you, if you squeeze the excess water out of the kitchen roll before laying it over sandwiches, the bread will not go soggy. I was sceptical too, but it really does work.
Next time you have guests coming round, get prepped early and use this hack to keep your cold food fresh. Then join your friends and enjoy yourself.
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