Here is a great dinner party trick: Invite some people over for dinner. Don’t stress out about all the things you’re going to make; instead, focus all your emotional and financial efforts on one, glorious thing. Say it’s a very large piece of slightly fancy red meat. Season it aggressively, love it passionately, and cook it perfectly at a low and gentle temperature. Do all of this before anyone gets there. Perhaps throw a few russet potatoes into a very hot oven to bake while you wait for everyone to arrive, because they’ll only set you back about $4 and baked potatoes are amazing. Throw together a very quick salad of maybe just some spicy leaves and a handful of herbs, but don’t dress it with lemon just yet. Watch everyone file in and fill your home with the wine they brought. Pour yourself a glass! You deserve it.
When you’re ready, take the baked potatoes out of the oven, ask someone to prepare some fixings for said potatoes (like opening a tub of sour cream). Finish your perfectly cooked meat by browning it in a skillet (or that very hot oven). Don’t even bother to let it rest, because it doesn’t need to (thank you, “Reverse Sear!”). Carve your insanely impressive piece of meat (be sure everyone sees you doing this), and then, last, dress your salad. Eat all these things together and feel happy that you did something nice for people you love by preparing them a fancy cut of meat in your own home, where the only price of admission was a bottle of wine. And the dishes—they have to do the dishes.
