Canapes[French canape] 1) A small sofa with a raised headboard.
2) Snack sandwiches, reminiscent in appearance of small cakes, prepared on toasted bread (black or white) with a ruddy, hard crust, on which is not butter (as usual), but a thick layer of some product - sprat, sardines, pate , boiled chicken, hot smoked fish, supplemented with fresh vegetables - a slice or slice of cucumber, tomato, celery leaf, dill sprig, onion.
Sometimes a spoonful of some sauce - mayonnaise, bechamel, sour cream - is added to the canapes to add viscosity or increase softness. Canapés are prepared in advance, several dozen or hundreds of pieces at once. They are made in the shape of squares and small skewers are stuck into them vertically so that you can take the canapés without deforming the soft lining.
Canapes for a buffet table: a light snack for one bite.
Tiny sandwiches with anything, colorfully decorated, with appetizing sprigs of greenery or half a bright vegetable can be found at official receptions a la buffet. A real snack cake. It’s not difficult to prepare them; any product can be used – from meat to seafood delicacies; you can decorate the dish to suit every taste, turning on your creativity. Canapé is also a type of reception where only these mini toasts, fruits and tea are served as appetizers.
What is a canapé?
Canapés, from the French word “canape”, are small sandwiches weighing no more than 50-80 grams. These are thin croutons spread with a variety of pastes, or pieces of bread with small pieces of meat, fish, cheese, vegetables, or salad dressing. Usually canapés are decorated with bright serving skewers or thin forks. They are served on large dishes, laid out in even rows according to variety: separate canapés with cold cuts, separate sweet ones, with seafood, cheese, and so on.
These tiny forms of mini-sandwiches are prepared for one purpose: the canapé goes into your mouth immediately, whole, without biting off a piece of a large whole snack. This is convenient for holding a reception similar to a European buffet, when it is not possible to use a knife and fork. Canapés first appeared in Italy for official receptions at the end of the 19th century.
Skewers, or cocktail sticks, are inserted into canapés for the convenience of guests so that they do not get their hands dirty when taking a sandwich. Later, in the restaurant ethics of decorating banquets and buffets, skewers began to play the role of decoration, since their shape and color can be the most bizarre. If there are no skewers in the canapés, they are picked up by hand, placed on their own serving plate or immediately put into the mouth.
How to prepare canapés?
Making mini sandwiches is a creative and fun process. Cooking in itself is a high art, and preparing for a festive buffet helps to reveal a cook’s talent in a wide range. Canapes are decorated according to the theme of the reception, prepared from any products that the budget and market supply allow. However, there are several mandatory components in the technology for preparing mini-toasts, without which classic canapés are unthinkable: olives, grapes, cheese and crackers.
It is best to take olives without seeds, grapes with whole, undeformed berries, unsalted crackers, and hard, non-crumbly cheese. All these products complete the main composition of canapés; they “sound” like the bright last chord in the final “oratorio”. It is through them that the sharp sting of the skewer passes, connecting the entire ensemble of canapés together.
For classic canapés, take a long French loaf as a base and cut it into thin, even pieces, or cut out identical bases for future sandwiches from a regular sliced loaf using a sharp round or oval metal cookie cutter.
Drizzle a few drops of olive oil onto each piece of bread and place them on a greased baking sheet in one row. Dry in the oven for ten minutes at a temperature of two hundred degrees. The main condition is not to dry out the pieces of loaf. Once the base for the canapés is golden brown, you can turn off the oven, cool the crispy pieces of bread and begin the creative process of forming mini toasts.
Spreads and fillings for canapés
It is impossible to list all the options for canapé recipes, their diversity is so great. The most common spreads and fillings can be:
Butter, a piece of boiled egg, a spoonful of black or red caviar; slices of tomatoes, a mixture of grated cheese, garlic and mayonnaise, garnished with olives and a sprig of herbs;
butter, a mixture of fried mushrooms, boiled eggs and herbs, garnished with a piece of protein, a whole mushroom and a sprig of parsley;
meat or fish pate, a slice of lemon, herbs;
chopped herring with herbs, olive, dill;
butter, a slice of salted salmon, trout or other fish, grapes, cracker.
All types of fish and meat delicacies can be used as fillings and spreads: balyki, boiled pork, carbonate, ham, ham; pieces of any fruit combined with the main component, say, apples with herring or pineapples with cheese. Canapés of just fruits look great - a pile of a piece of banana, peach, plum, mango, or grape will be a wonderful addition to the champagne served at the buffet table.
The higher the pile of their products on one small bread base, the more interesting the canapés are. To prevent the entire intricate pyramid from falling apart, it is attached to a skewer, carefully piercing it through the entire tall composition. The main task of the chef is to ensure that the culinary “construction” is safely sent into the guest’s mouth, without losing ingredients during the operation.
Interesting Facts
The word “canape” has another unexpected meaning - it is a piece of furniture, a small sofa made of valuable wood. The style was created in France during the reign of Louis XV, a century later it became widespread in the USA and Europe; in Russia this type of furniture became especially popular during the reign of Elizabeth II.
Recently, one American print publication conducted a survey among its readers to find out which products scare people with their appearance. It turned out that, among others, canapés based on black bread and a spread of chopped eggs and ham evoke associations and memories of international terrorism.
It’s better to prepare canapés and snacks that would not fall into the “very scary food” category, but would only evoke positive holiday emotions.
Zhanna Pyatirikova
To prepare 7 of the simplest and most delicious canapés, you will need very few ingredients. Such an appetizer will take more time than simply chopping gastronomic delicacies or preparing a salad for a party. But the spectacular visual result is worth it!
The history of canapés
Canapés are the French version of improved sandwiches. The sandwiches themselves are the invention of Nicolaus Copernicus, who in his youth showed ingenuity by stopping an epidemic in the besieged Olsztyn Castle. In this place, the famous astronomer served as commandant, at the insistence of his uncle, who was a bishop at that time. Copernicus noticed that people eat bread that ends up on the floor only after lightly brushing off the dirt. The scientist suggested spreading butter on the bread so that the dirt would be more clearly visible. Such a simple method was able to stop the infection in the territory closed by enemies, later defeated by the Teutons, and continued its triumphant march into the kitchens of different nations.
The tables of the French nobility were replenished with canapés, small pieces of dried bread, buttered and supplemented with layers of different products:
- cold pate;
- ham;
- meat;
- various cheeses;
- spreads;
- pieces of vegetables;
- fruits;
- fish;
- seafood, etc.
In order for these products to hold better, canapes were prepared on skewers, which were called antle. Such mini-sandwiches are very popular these days, appearing on tables during family celebrations and corporate buffets.
By the way, the reception with serving, which we now more often call a buffet, is called a canapé.
We prepare 7 favorite canapés from simple products
We could prepare 7 of the simplest and most delicious canapés on skewers, but in the recipe with a photo of serving each type of canapé you won’t see any skewers, because we chose restaurant serving rather than buffet style. We use the chefs' secret, which allows us to preserve the design of the canapé - add a piece of butter to the top product of the next layer or to the underside of the bread, crispbread or crouton. This butter will be the glue for our canapés, further enhancing their taste.
Let's prepare canapés from white butter homemade bread with trimmed crusts and the following products:
1. butter, fresh cucumber, boiled chicken egg, finely ground salt and canned tuna in its own juice;
2. butter, nori sheet, crab sticks, boiled egg and green onions;
3. butter, pickled cucumber, boiled egg and green onions;
4. butter, cheese, fresh apple, lemon, green onions;
5. butter, curd spread, fresh cucumber, finely ground salt, purple onion;
6. butter, curd spread, rye bread, baked beets, capers;
7. butter, cheese, olives and green onions;
Try making these canapes - they will always be an elegant accent on the festive table. And it's very tasty! Have a pleasant gastronomic experience!
Category -Today it is difficult to imagine a feast, buffet or coffee break without mini-sandwiches made from vegetables, meat, ham, cheeses and other ingredients, original, sometimes unusually combined with each other and fastened together with skewers.
Canapes are not only a light appetizer served before main courses, with wine or as a main treat. Knowledge in the field of serving a buffet table sometimes helps to create real works of art based on miniature, attractive and fragrant mini-sandwiches.
The history of the dish, which is now gaining popularity all over the world, officially began in France. In fact, translated from French, the word “canapé” means “tiny”, “miniature”.
By the 17th century, table setting standards had developed in France, according to which the main courses were preceded by mini-appetizers that awakened the appetite.
It would seem that this is where the history of the development of such an original and inherently practical dish as canapés should begin. However, according to linguists, the word “canape” has more ancient roots than it seems at first glance.
It turns out that in Ancient Hellas the word konopeion meant a bed with a mosquito canopy. Then the word came into use among the Romans, modified to “conoreum”. Even later, in a truncated version, it migrated to the French language, where it became a homonym, denoting both a type of upholstered furniture and a dish for a wedding, holiday buffet and business feast.
It is not surprising that it was the French, who have accumulated extensive knowledge and experience in the culinary field and are known for their creative approach to preparing dishes, who were the first to come up with the idea of putting pieces of various delicacies on skewers, thereby creating mouth-watering puff snacks with an unforgettable, multi-faceted taste.
An important detail when preparing canapes is the use of slightly stale bread, crispbread, croutons. Firstly, this allows you to create durable “structures”, whereas if you used bread crumbs, the canapés would most likely become an unappetizing mess at the table setting stage. Secondly, adding toast, croutons, and bread allows you to achieve another important effect: such snacks become especially piquant and crispy.
It doesn’t hurt to place the finished canapés in the refrigerator before serving: the cold holds the pieces of mini-sandwiches together, making them even more appetizing. When setting the table, it is recommended to arrange canapés in accordance with their color scheme; sandwiches of the same color are placed in rows. You can make your own mini sandwiches at home or order ready-made ones.
Weighing 60-80 g, thickness ~0.5 cm - 7 cm. Sandwiches made from croutons, sliced with various edible bases (fish, meat, cheese), placed on skewers (atle), which can be put into the mouth whole without biting off a piece. Initially, skewers began to be used not because of the desire to decorate the dish, but because of the convenience of serving. Since pieces of toasted bread were most often covered with a layer of pate, a skewer made it possible to eat the treat without getting your fingers dirty. Canapes are a festive treat, most often served at a buffet table. If canapés are served with cocktails or at a buffet table, they are taken with your hands.
There are a great many options for preparing canapés, but they can all be divided into two types.
In the first, toasted bread toasted in olive oil or dried is used as a base, on which the rest of the ingredients are already laid out. This allows the canapé to keep its shape, not quickly absorb moisture and retain its taste and aesthetic properties.
Sometimes the word “canapé” is also used to describe a type of reception, the simplest version of a buffet table: canapé sandwiches, a couple of light snacks, tea and fruit.
see also
Write a review about the article "Canapés (cooking)"
Notes
To improve this article it is desirable:
|
An excerpt characterizing Canapés (cooking)
This was my complex and sometimes funny childhood reality in which I lived at that time. And since I had no other choice, I had to find my “bright and beautiful” even in what others, I think, would never find it. I remember once after my next unusual “incident”, I sadly asked my grandmother:– Why is my life so different from everyone else’s?
Grandmother shook her head, hugged me and quietly answered:
– Life, my dear, consists of a tenth of what happens to us and nine-tenths of how we react to it. React cheerfully, baby! Otherwise, at times it can be very difficult to exist... And what is different is that at the beginning we are all different in one way or another. You will just grow and life will begin to “tailor” you more and more to general standards, and it will depend only on you whether you want to be the same as everyone else.
And I didn’t want to... I loved my unusual colorful world and would never trade it for anything. But, unfortunately, every beautiful thing in our life is very expensive and we need to really love it very much so that it doesn’t hurt to pay for it. And, as we all know very well, unfortunately, you always have to pay for everything... It’s just that when you do it consciously, you remain satisfied with free choice, when your choice and free will depend only on you. But for this, in my personal opinion, it is truly worth paying any price, even if it is sometimes very expensive for oneself. But let's get back to my fasting.
What are canapés, how to prepare and serve them. Sweet canapé recipes. Canapes for New Year and birthday.
The word "canapé" is of French origin (canap?). A miniature snack is a more refined and festive version of sandwiches. It is difficult to do without them at a buffet table or a festive feast.
It would seem that what could be simpler than sandwiches? But knowledge of recipes and imagination will help turn a snack dish into an appetizer that will decorate the table and delight everyone who is at it with its original taste.
What is a canapé?
Sandwiches are a whole group of dishes. It also includes canapes - bread croutons with filling, usually with a beautiful presentation or on a skewer.
IMPORTANT: A skewer (atle) is both a decorative and functional element of a canape.
Firstly, it decorates the dish (skewers can be wooden, bamboo, metal, shaped, colored plastic, etc.).
Secondly, by holding a skewer, you can put the mini-sandwich directly into your mouth without getting your hands dirty with the filling.
The size of the canape is small. It is supposed to be eaten at one time, whole, without cutting or biting
- The weight of a small crouton with filling ranges from 60 g to 80 g
- Canapés can be filled with anything: meat, fish, pate, cheese, vegetables. There are also sweet versions of the dish
- If canapés are served at a buffet table, there may not be skewers on them. Sandwiches are then eaten with your hands
- Croutons for appetizers should be very thin, 5 - 7 mm. They are fried in olive oil or dried in the oven.
- The shape of the croutons, acting as a substrate, can be very different - rectangular, triangular, round, figured
In addition to bread, the base for canapés can be vegetables or fruits, crackers, chips, cheese, sweet cookies, and other products - Sandwiches for a buffet table can have several layers of filling. The most convenient and “combinable” to taste are three-layer canapés.
- Some experimenters manage to build real “high-rise buildings”, which, unfortunately, cannot always fit into the mouth. And choosing five or six products whose flavors would combine harmoniously is also very difficult
IMPORTANT: The fact that the canapé should be based on crouton, and not a piece of fresh bread, has practical significance. Toasted or dried bread does not get soggy from the filling, the sandwich retains its presentable appearance throughout the entire event
There are several rules for serving canapés:
- Mini sandwiches are served cold. It is even recommended to keep them in the refrigerator for some time in order to harmonize the tastes of the products mixed in the filling.
- Canapés are served on wide platters. You can also use special shelves. They are laid out in large quantities and, as a rule, in one layer. But some creative chefs manage to make real sculptures out of canapés
- There must be napkins next to the canapés.
- Skewers can be inserted into sandwiches right away or cups with them can be placed near the dishes so that the guest can self-serve
- At the moment when the guests sit down at the table, the buffet version of the sandwiches should already be served
- They eat canapes with alcoholic, low-alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks, including tea
VIDEO: How to prepare canapés?
Simple canapés: recipes
The situation when guests unexpectedly arrive, and the house is a mess, and there is nowhere to get money to order ready-made food, is painfully familiar to everyone. Canapés will help! They can be made quickly and easily from almost anything you have at home.
You will need:
- bread (any, white or black, and ideally, French baguette)
- fish, cheese, sausage, caviar, any vegetables and fruits
- toothpicks or sandwich skewers
First of all, you need to prepare the bread.
- If it's a French baguette, you should just cut it. You will get a suitable round base for the canapé, which will only need to be dried. If it is an ordinary loaf or bread of any other shape, it is cut as is, dried, stuffed, and then cut into pieces of the desired shape and size
- The bread base can be dried in the oven. A faster option is fried croutons. You will need olive oil. Pieces of bread are dried on it, but not gilded to the crust. Afterwards you will need to blot the croutons on a paper napkin.
You need to decide on the filling for the canapés and their decoration.
The filling can be:
- meat (pork pork, lard, bacon, chicken pieces, pate)
- fish (red fish, herring, caviar)
- cheese (all types of cheese are suitable for canapés, but not processed “cheese product”)
- vegetable (tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, sweet peppers, olives),
- fruit (bananas, strawberries, apples, pears, grapes)
The following are used as decorative but very tasty elements:
- olives and olives
- grape
- Cherry tomatoes
- capers
- pickles and gherkins
- quail eggs
- lemon
- hard cheese
- berries like cranberries
- greenery
IMPORTANT: To ensure that guests are full, canapes are prepared at the rate of 7-10 pieces. for each of them
Here are three very simple canapé recipes that can be prepared in just 10 minutes.
RECIPE: Fish buffet sandwiches with herring
- The basis for these fish canapés is black bread croutons
- They need to be coated with a layer of butter, which, when heated, is combined with finely chopped green onions and dill.
- Thin pieces of lightly salted herring are laid out on top
- A slice of lemon can be used as decoration
RECIPE: Cheese canapés with suluguni and olives (on a skewer)
- These canapés are made without bread.
- You need two types of cheese - hard and suluguni. A hard one, such as Swiss or Russian, will be the basis of the sandwich. It is cut into small cubes
- The second layer is for juiciness and beauty. This is a green olive, which is pricked on a skewer after a piece of cheese.
- The third layer is suluguni cheese (you can use Adyghe or feta cheese), also cut into cubes
RECIPE: Canapés with pate on crackers
- The basis of pate mini-buerbrods is a regular salted cracker.
- Any pate can be spread on it - homemade or store-bought, from a jar
- Decorate canapes with olives, gherkins, sprigs of herbs
Meat canapes
RECIPE: Sandwiches for a buffet with meat and pickles
- White bread is prepared for portioned croutons
- Thinly slice any smoked meat
- I cut the pickled cucumbers into quarters. You can also take pickles
- Cucumbers are wrapped in meat slices and attached to the crouton with a skewer
- Decorate canapes with green leaves
RECIPE: Canapes with chicken and vegetables
Canapes with chicken.
- Make toast from any type of wheat bread
- If desired, you can spread the toast with cream cheese.
- Chicken fillet pieces are marinated and then fried in sesame seeds and olive oil.
- Decorate the canapes with sesame chicken with olives and sprigs of herbs
RECIPE for canapes with red fish on skewers with salmon and cucumber
- The basis of these canapés will be cucumber rings. You need to check that it is not bitter
- As a second layer, you can put thin slices of boiled chicken egg.
- The third layer is the “highlight” of the sandwich – salmon fillet
- The pyramid is crowned with a cube of hard cheese with a creamy taste.
RECIPE: canapés with olives on skewers
- Canapés with olives are light and don’t need a bread base.
- Olives go well with cheeses. You can simply put several types of cheese, olives and black olives on a skewer in any order, it will turn out beautiful and tasty
- An original way is to make an appetizer on skewers of olives with Philadelphia cheese in the shape of penguins
- Pick half the olives from the jar, the larger ones. Cut out slices and put Philadelphia cheese inside. These will be the “torsos” of penguins
- The smaller olives will be the “heads”
- Carrots are cut into rings. Cut out a small segment from them. The rings with a slot will be the penguin’s “legs”, and the segment will be the “beak”
- Assembling the “penguin” using a skewer
Canapes with olives “Penguins”.
VIDEO: Canapes with mozzarella cheese “To go with champagne”
RECIPE: canapés with champignons on skewers
Canapes with champignons.
- The basis of mushroom canapes is cucumber slices
- To make sandwiches for a buffet table juicy, it is suggested to prepare a special paste from grated processed cheese, eggs, mayonnaise and herbs. The paste ball is placed on top of the cucumber.
- The third layer of canapes is marinated champignons. They are attached with skewers
RECIPE: boiled sausage canapes
- To some, sandwiches with boiled sausage seem like a dish that should not be placed on the holiday table? These elegant canapés will change your mind!
- The basis of mini-sandwiches is rye or rye-wheat bread
- Second layer - fresh lettuce leaves
- The third layer is a thin ring of boiled sausage folded with a spoon
- Grapes complement the snack
RECIPE: smoked sausage canapes
- Place a slice of canned pineapple on Borodino bread toast
- An olive, an olive or a grape is pierced onto a long skewer, almost to its base.
- Next, having pierced two opposite ends, place a thin ring of smoked sausage on a skewer (it is better to cut it at an angle)
- Place a skewer on a sofa made of bread and pineapple
RECIPE: Canapés with ham
- The highlight of a stuffed sandwich can be made from a roll of ham and cheese paste
- A thin ring of ham (preferably chicken) is stuffed with cream cheese; paste made from processed cheese, eggs and mayonnaise; processed cheese paste with crab sticks and cucumber, etc.
- Such rolls are simply pierced on a skewer and served on the table or attached to toast, a vegetable base, and decorated as desired.
VIDEO: How to make canapes with ham and fried cherry tomatoes?
RECIPE: Vegetable canapés
Vegetable canapes are like nothing else suitable for those who follow proper nutrition.
Variani 1: Alternately thread a cherry tomato, an olive, a cucumber ring and a cube of cheese onto a skewer.
Option 2: Use a skewer to connect a slice of sweet pepper, a cucumber ring and a cherry tomato
Sweet canapes. Fruit canapes
Sweet canapés can be made from:
- cookies and marmalade
- biscuit
- marshmallows
- jelly and soufflé
- berries and fruits
A mini-snack on skewers is an original way to serve sliced fruit. You can experiment endlessly. Just look at the photo to understand how ideal a combination of fruits and berries, a colorful and appetizing dish can be.
Fruits on skewers.
Canapes with banana and berries.
Canapes with pineapples on skewers.
A dish with sweet canapes of berries and fruits.
Canapes on skewers with grapes
Grapes go well with various types of cheese. This can be played around while preparing canapés.
Four-layer canapés with grapes.
Ideal combination: cheese and grapes, ham and olives
Canapé options for a buffet table: recipes with photos
RECIPE: Canapes with shrimps
- Boil shrimp in water with the addition of 1 tbsp. spoons of oil, 1 tbsp. tablespoons apple cider vinegar, juice from 3 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and 0.5 teaspoon pepper
- Prepare pasta from butter and herbs
- Spread butter paste, black olives and/or olives, and boiled shrimp on wheat croutons.
- Decorate the canapes with a skewer and sprigs of herbs
RECIPE: Canapes with avocado paste and salmon caviar
- Making croutons from wheat bread
- In a blender, beat peeled avocado, boiled egg, a couple of tablespoons of sour cream, salt and herbs.
- Spread avocado paste onto croutons and place caviar on top
VIDEO: Canapes with shrimp, cheese and cherry tomatoes
Festive birthday canapés: options
Canapés are great dishes for birthdays celebrated with colleagues at work. Mini sandwiches can also be placed on the holiday table. Here are some delicious appetizer options.
Canapes with pickles, beet paste and meat.
New Year's presentation of canapés.
Canapes with figuratively sliced cheese and vegetables.
VIDEO: Top – 5 New Year Canapés
Canapes for a children's party
For a children's party, you can make canapés not only from fruits, but also with cheese, sausage, chicken fillet and vegetables. It is important to remember that children love an original and bright presentation.
