The best of our canapé recipes (2024)

FAQs

What makes a successful canapé? ›

Balancing colour, flavour, and texture

These three elements are paramount to creating canapés that are memorable and look inviting. Texture is an important one to think about – a successful canapé is one that contrasts several different textures to create an enjoyable eating experience.

A canapé (French: [kanape]) is a type of starter, a small, prepared, and often decorative food, consisting of a small piece of bread (sometimes toasted) or cracker, wrapped or topped with some savoury food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.

Canapés are hors d'oeuvres featuring a base of bread, toast, pastry or crackers with various savory toppings, served either hot or cold. Canapés typically consist of a base, a spread, a primary topping and a garnish. They are traditionally served before dinner along with other appetizers or served at co*cktail parties.

Canapés consist of three parts the base, spread/toppings and garnish. The Base holds the spread and garnish. Like biscuit, bread, toast or puff pastry as the base of the canapes. The biscuit, bread or crackers are firmer and give a pleasing texture and crispness to the canapés.

There are 4 distinctive elements of a canapé – the base, spread, a topping & a garnish. Canape base ingredients are usually bread, puff pastry or crackers, allowing a solid foundation for the rest of the canapé. Then there is spread followed by the topping.

Lunch or dinner event

When catering a meal time event, where finger food will constitute the entire meal, we recommend serving 8-12 savoury canapés per person. Ideally this selection will include 2-4 of the larger finger food options - such as bao buns, roast beef dinner rolls or fish tacos.

For a one-hour drinks reception, order four to six canapés per person. If it's before a grand dinner, four should be plenty. For longer events, add another two to four pieces per hour. Savoury canapés are always more popular; if you're serving savoury and sweet, aim for a ratio of around 4:1.

Canapé as a food originated in France in the mid 1800's when a chef created a new type of hors d'oeuvre by putting a savoury topping on a piece of bread or toast. The topping was thought to sit on the bread like a person sitting on a sofa - hence the snack came to be called a Canapé.

A canapé is a type of hor d'oeuvre (appetizer), usually a small bite served on bread, puff pastry or a cracker. Basically canapés are a specific category of appetizer or hor d'oeuvre.

myz. ɡœl]) is a single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre. Amuse-bouches are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons but are served free and according to the chef's selection alone. These are served both to prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse of the chef's style.

What are canapés called in English? ›

noun. can·​a·​pé ˈka-nə-pē -ˌpā Synonyms of canapé : an appetizer consisting of a piece of bread or toast or a cracker topped with a savory spread (such as caviar or cheese) compare hors d'oeuvre.

All about canapes (pronounced “can-a-PAY”) is word French which means “sofa” a nod to the toppings which “sit” on top of a piece of bread. Canapes were served on stale bread a few years back and now it has grown into a wider term for finger food.

Canapés are typically made with an edible base – crackers, blinis, bread or pastry, and served cold. Hors d'oeuvres are small bites of something tasty and can be both savoury or sweet, and served hot or cold.

The origin of artisan canapés

Most say they were invented by King Alfonso X, the Wise. Legend has it that, in the 13th century, the king ordered all tavern owners in Castile to serve a bit of food with their wine. At that time, this requirement was met with a simple piece of cheese or slice of ham.

Spread something on the bases to protect them from a topping if it is on the 'damp' side. A pretty obvious thing anyway - we all spread butter or marg (or cream cheese, or mayo) on our bread to prevent it getting soggy from a damp filling. So the same approach works just as well with canape-toast bases.

Answer: The spread adds moisture and flavor while also forming a barrier so that the spread underneath doesn't become soggy. It also server as a sort of glue, so that the toppings are less likely to slide off the base...