Canape is a type of snack that is miniature in size. The name comes from the French word "canape", which means tiny. Most often, this dish consists of several layers of a wide variety of products, strung on skewers. Canapes are perfect for a children's party and friendly gatherings, a gala buffet and a dinner party.
Types of canapes
There are many types of canapes, they all have one thing in common: each portion is designed for exactly one bite and should fit freely in your mouth.
Canapes on skewers
The most famous and popular type of canapé. There are many types of reusable skewers on sale, plastic and metal. At home, they can be easily replaced with ordinary wooden toothpicks. The skewers in the appetizer serve for convenience and, of course, for holding food together.
Rolls and envelopes
Everything is simple here: some ingredients are wrapped in others. Thinly sliced cheeses and meat delicacies, lavash, pre-fried zucchini or eggplant can act as a "wrapper". For greater strength, you can pierce the rolls with skewers. Or you can tie the envelopes with some edible herbs, parsley or onions. Traditional Japanese rolls can also be attributed to this type of appetizer. Served with special tongs on a serving platter.
Canapé sandwiches
This type of snack is also called tartinki. The ingredients are laid out in layers; they are not held together with skewers. A prerequisite is a solid base so that the canapes are easy to take. Most often, slices of bread are taken as a basis. There are options with a base of vegetables and fruits.
Canapes-tartlets
Tartlets are special baskets or cups made of dough that can be filled with a variety of fillings. Ready-made tartlets can be bought at the store, or you can make yourself. Edible plates of puff pastry or shortcrust pastry are baked. Small tartlets can be filled with a 2-3-ingredient snack. Large ones are used for serving salads at buffets.
Canapes on spoons
A new, trendy way of serving snacks. Portions are also formed on the "one bite" principle and laid out in serving spoons. This type of serving is convenient in that there is no need to choose only products that are hard and dense in texture, fix them with skewers or lay them on a solid base. Spoons serve snacks with sauces, caviar and pate.
Most popular canapé products
You can make canapes from almost any ingredient. In this case, the main thing is to understand which products are combined with each other and which are not. There are hundreds of varieties of canapés, from the simplest with just two ingredients to true culinary delights.
Most often, in the preparation of such dishes, cheeses, meat delicacies, fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables are used. By combining different ingredients, you can get amazing flavor combinations and interesting shapes of this seemingly ordinary snack.
From fish delicacies, you can use any caviar for making canapes, both premium sturgeon and regular pollock roe. Most often, red fish is used for canapes, and for any appetizers, in principle, but by showing imagination, you can prepare excellent miniature snacks from any fish, usually smoked or salted. And even canned fish, like sprat and sprat, will find their place in many variations of this dish.
Other seafood provides a simply limitless scale for the imaginations of culinary experts. Shrimps, mussels, scallops, due to their size, can be used whole when making canapes. Octopus, squid, crabs - in parts.
From meat products, you can use ham, various sausages, both boiled and smoked. A variety of delicacies are suitable: carbonate, boiled pork, brisket, jamon.
Of vegetables, cucumber and bell pepper are good friends with canapes: they are dense and can be used as a base. Tomatoes are only suitable for cherry. Zucchini and eggplant are ideal for canapes in rolls and rolls.
Many fruits go well with cheeses and deli meats. These are melon, pear, apple, kiwi. Citrus fruits are used for serving most often in the form of slices with peels. The main fruit of canapes is grapes. It is he who often turns out to be the final elements of canapes on skewers.
Bread for the backing of canapes is mainly taken white, for some sandwiches, with sprat or boiled pork, for example, you can take rye. The bread should be lightly dried in a dry skillet, oven or toaster. For envelopes and rolls, you will naturally need pita bread.
Recommendations for serving and serving canapes
The basic rule of serving canapés is a one-time snack, it must be placed in the mouth as a whole, that is, the dish can be eaten immediately without biting off a piece.
The quickest and easiest way to cut canapé ingredients into cubes. The cubes must be of the same size. There are also more intricate design methods: cutting with special curly molds, in the form of stars, flowers, hearts, etc. It is important to observe the proportions of the ingredients so that the original snack does not consist of 80% of any one product.
The easiest way to serve canapes on skewers is to simply alternate between different ingredients. But you can think of a more creative presentation, for example, in the form of mini-burgers or a stack of pancakes.
Canape goes into the mouth whole, without biting off a piece. Therefore, the task of a culinary specialist is not only to choose a successful combination of products and beautifully arrange an appetizer, but also to present their culinary "structure" so that guests can taste the appetizer without losing some of the ingredients during the tasting and not getting their hands dirty. On the table, canapes are traditionally served on a large flat platter or on a platter with legs. And to make the design elegant, canapes with the same filling are laid out in strips diagonally.
It is customary to serve several varieties of canapes with different fillings on the table. It is advisable to calculate in advance the total number of snacks so that there are at least 8 mini-sandwiches for each guest. One piece should not be more than 50-70 grams. Considering that canapés are a “one bite” treat, they can fly off the dish in a few minutes, and the hostess must plan this light meal so that none of the guests is left out.
