Keep the garnish on dishes to a minimum; many dishes don’t need any at all if there are pretty accompaniments.

Cold roast meats sliced wafer thin will look more appetizing if rolled, folded or curled in cones. Include a selection of delicatessen meats for a variety of textures and colours.

Mix vegetables after cooking but before serving. Diced carrots with peas, Brussels sprouts with small onions, and peas with sliced mushrooms are pretty combinations that taste delicious too.

Lemon wedges with the thin length of the wedge dipped in chopped parsley or slices of lemon sprinkled with chopped parsley are a nice garnish for fish.

di Arrange clusters of sugared grapes round cold ham or cold roast turkey €” they look mouth watering. If you place the clusters on crisp lettuce they stand out more.

Cut delicate cheesecakes, meringue layers or gateaux into serving portions before taking to the table €” it’s easy if you know how.

Spotless, shining dishes are important. If ovento-table ware develops any cooking stains, rub them away before taking to the table. Use salt, which acts as an abrasive, and the damp corner of a tea towel.

Develop your own theme for serving meals. For me, it’s white porcelain serving dishes. I have built up a collection of all shapes and sizes and the white allows food colours to show off dramatically.

Separate the pieces a little but leave the cheese in position. This is wonderful to serve at a buffet and ensures that the cheese will remain looking attractive as guests help themselves. Those peppercorn studded Bries are really impressive and this technique works equally well with any similar-shaped cheese.

A cooked main dish that is cold from the refrigerator will take 20-30 minutes longer to heat up than one at room temperature. Take it out at least 1 hour beforehand and you’ll find it easier to judge the reheating time.

Reheating times required will depend on the size of the dish and the number of dishes. Several dishes absorb a lot of oven heat and time required will be about half as much again. Deep dishes take longer to heat through than shallow ones.

Starting from room temperature, an average- sized casserole will take 40 minutes to become bubbling hot. More closely packed dishes like lasagne take 1-11/2 hours. Best oven temperature for reheating is 350°F (180°C) or Gas no. 4.

Cover meat dishes that arc to be kept hot with a lid or kitchen foil to reduce drying out. Best oven temperature for keeping foods hot is 250°F (120°C) or Gas no. 1/2.

A double boiler is useful for keeping food hot,, but if you have more than one pan to keep hot, pour boiling water into a large shallow roasting tin and arrange pans of food in the tin.

Salads and cold puddings should be taken from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving; cheeses must be allowed to stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

Don’t get caught out with cold serving plates for hot food. If there’s no space left to warm them, pop the whole lot into a washing up bowl of piping hot clean water; it takes only a moment to dry them again.

Any fruit compote or cooked fruit mixture will taste better after 24 hours. No need to refrigerate.

A dessert cake soaked in a flavoured syrup becomes moister and more delectable the longer it stands. Make it in advance and leave overnight in the refrigerator.

Meringue layers can be baked days ahead and kept in an airtight tin. Fill with whipped cream and fruit about 2 hours before serving.

Make a spectacular ice cream and transfer from freezer to refrigerator just before the meal.

A ragout of vegetables, which requires slow cooking, such as a mixture of aubergines and tomatoes or red cabbage with apple is a good idea.

Bake or braise vegetables in oven-to-table ware. Try braised celery, stuffed tomatoes, peas cooked in the French style with lettuce and spring onions or scalloped potato slices.

Cook green vegetables until just tender, then drain and plunge into cold water to arrest cooking and retain colour. Just before serving plunge them into boiling water and bring back to the boil. Toss in hot butter and serve.

Cook rice 24 hours ahead and refrigerate. To reheat, spread rice in a thin layer in a buttered dish. Add a few flakes of butter, cover with kitchen foil and place in an oven heated to 350°F (180°C) or Gas no. 4 for 20 minutes. Stir with a fork before serving.

Cook noodles or spaghetti ahead, drain and plunge into cold water. just before serving, plunge into boiling water for 1 minute. Then drain and toss with a lump of butter.

Don’t hesitate to buy in a first course if that helps. Smoked fish is always a good choice.

Any meat or fish puree will actually taste better after 24 hours. A surface covering of melted butter or cling film will help retain the moisture.

A savoury mousse will improve in texture with overnight refrigeration. They have lovely colours and there’s a variety to choose from.

Prepare a home-made soup that just needs reheating and if cream is to be added, stir it in just before serving.

Go for a salad mixture in an oil and vinegar dressing that doesn’t include lettuce. You get a lovely blend of flavours if the mixture has time to marinate and there’s no risk of lettuce wilting.

I find it easier to choose the main course first it’s usually a tricky one then it’s not too difficult to add on a first and last course. Sometimes it’s reassuring to go for a dish that will keep hot without spoiling, and by using attractive oven-to-table ware you can avoid last minute dishing up.

Try a meat dish in a sauce or gravy, such as oriental beef, chicken paprika, or a beef curry. Or try a chicken Provencal, which stays moist and succulent; flavours will develop if made in advance.

An exotic casserole such as beef in beer, a spicy goulash or a casserole of game makes a good main course. Casseroles can often be made in advance and reheated.

Moussaka and lasagne can be made in advance and just reheated.

If you are serving a dish that needs last minute attention (and there’s no need to rule out a particular favourite), have everything ready right down to the chopped garnish, then all you have to do is assemble it.

- Plan a party menu based on dishes you know the ones you cook well are the ones to choose.

- Consider dishes in relation to each other so you avoid a sequence of rich sauces, or worse still, cream in every course.

- Balance heavier courses with others of a lighter nature so that the menu as a whole is not too filling.

- Make use of seasonal foods, then your menus will vary with the time of the year.

- Work out what you can cook beforehand. It’s suprising how many dishes actually benefit from being made in advance. At least one, if not two, courses can be made in advance.

- The index of ideas on the following pages is not a list of all the recipes in the book. It is intended to serve as suggestions to prompt your own thoughts and help plan your menus.

- Savoury recipes are very ‘versatile: for instance, some first courses would also make a light main dish; but as a main dish they may not go so far so you might have to increase the quantities.

- When serving numbers that require a recipe to be doubled (a buffet is a good example), bear in mind that, in some cases, it is better to cook a recipe twice, rather than double the ingredients when the volume of mixture can become difficult to handle.

- Never feel obliged to offer an enormous choice of foods; plenty of a few dishes is often more appealing than an overwhelming variety.

- Do try out new recipes on the family please! A recipe is only new the first time you make it; if it’s a success you have another addition to your repertoire and you can extend it to the dinner party table.

Put the sugar and almonds into a heavy-based saucepan or frying pan and cook over moderate heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture is golden brown and the nuts are glazed. Quickly pour mixture on to an oiled baking tray and leave until completely cool and hard. Then break in pieces and finely crush the praline with a rolling pin.

Praline will keep for 6 months stored in an airtight tin screw-topped jar. It adds a most delicious flavour to mousses or ice creams. Sprinkle praline over trifle, custard puddings or dessert cakes.

Grease a small cake tin or large plate. Spread the walnuts on a baking tray and place in the centre of an oven heated to 350°F (180°C) or Gas no. 4 for about 5 minutes until walnuts become crisp and hot.

Meanwhile, put the sugar into a medium-sized saucepan. Make up the orange juice to 1/4 pint (150ml) with water. Add to the pan and stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil, without stirring, until the temperature on a sugar thermometer reaches 240°F (116°C), or soft ball stage. Draw off the heat and allow bubbles to subside.

Add the grated orange rind and hot walnuts. Stir with a wooden spoon until thick and creamy. Quickly turn on to the prepared tin or plate and separate nuts with a fork. Leave until completely cool. Store in an airtight tin.

Variation: Use chopped walnuts and separate mixture into clusters using two forks.

This is an uncooked fondant. Sift the icing sugar and cream of tartar on to a work surface. In a mixing bowl, break up the egg white with a fork. Gradually beat in about one-third of the sifted sugar with a wooden spoon to make a stiff paste. Add a few drops of oil of peppermint or the peppermint essence and a few drops of food colouring, if using it.

Turn mixture on to the remaining icing sugar. Using the fingertips, gradually knead in as much sugar as is required to make a smooth, pliable fondant. Then roll out fondant about 1/4 inch (5mm) thick. Using a small round 1 inch (2.5cm) cutter, cut 48 circles of fondant. Arrange on trays lined with waxed paper and leave to stand overnight to dry. When firm they can be lifted off the paper.

- Use flavoured sugar instead of ordinary castor sugar when making sandwich cakes.

- Use lemon sugar in apple pie and orange sugar to sweeten any dessert recipe using rhubarb.

- Either is nice sprinkled over pancakes.

- Make sugared rims on individual serving glasses to add a lovely touch to serving ice creams or I sorbets, especially lemon or orange sorbets.

Sugared fruits make a pretty buffet table centrepiece especially when they are combined with citrus fruits and walnuts in their shells. Small bunches of sugared grapes look pretty as a garnish on cold ham and tiny clusters of redcurrants are lovely on desserts.

All you will need is an egg white and castor sugar for coating plus fruits that have been washed, dried and polished with a cloth. The egg white should only he broken up with a fork until runny not beaten which would add volume to it. Sprinkle a bed of castor sugar over a sheet of greaseproof paper. Brush the fruit with the egg white I use a small paint brush. It’s best not to paint the entire surface of apples and pears: a streaked effect running from stalk downwards is more attractive. Roll the fruit in the bed of sugar to give a pretty frosted look. The sugary coating will quickly dry.

Sugared grapes: Have grapes in small clusters of 2 or 3. Dab the top of each grape with egg white, then roll the fruit in the bed of sugar.