So one of your dinner guests can't eat gluten. How do you plan? Like cooking for any food preference, cooking for a gluten-free guest can seem overwhelming. Here are some tips to keep the evening flowing smoothly.
1. Plan a gluten-free dinner - This might seem extreme just to accommodate one person, but if you're expecting someone with a high sensitivity to gluten, even some residual flour on a plate can cause a reaction. Try focusing on serving vegetables, proteins, and grains that are naturally gluten-free.
2. Serve gluten-free dishes separate from other dishes - Don't put rice crackers on the same tray as Triscuits, for example, or expect guests to eat around noodles in chicken noodle soup. Gluten has a pesky way of mingling with anything it touches.
3. Do a quick refresher on what eating gluten-free means - Gluten is hidden in some unexpected places like soy sauce, beer, vinegar, and marshmallows. Know what to avoid before you realize your guest can't eat half the food you've prepared.
4. Ask your guest what they prefer to eat - Just because a food is gluten-free doesn't mean someone will like it. I learned this when I specially made gluten-free peanut butter macaroons for a friend with Celiac disease who actually didn't like peanut butter or macaroons. Some fresh fruit and whipped cream would have been just fine!
5. Don't reinvent the gluten wheel - Substituting gluten-free flours for traditional flour is trickier than it sounds. Sarita Ekya, the chef and co-owner of NYC's macaroni and cheese restaurant S'MAC, experimented for an entire year before getting her gluten-free mac and cheese just right. Stick with simple dishes and well-tested recipes.
How do you cook gluten-free?
Related: Give Up Gluten? Why and What It Means to Be Gluten-Free
(Images: Flickr user Dennis Wong licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Comments (8)
As someone with celiac, I'd like to point out that my friends have gone to extraordinary lengths to try and do gluten-free dinners for me, but the risks of getting glutened extend fr beyond what you've listed here. If you're cooking for someone with celiac, don't use wooden spoons or cutting boards that have been used in your regular cooking. Also, you have to read every label of every single ingredient you're using -- even down to spices and seasonings.
I've had celiac for years, and have been accidentally glutened by friends who went above and beyond in their preparations, but didn't know you can't bake what you're making me in the same oven as you've got something with gluten baking. Or that most dried spices and seasonings are processed and bottled in facilities that aren't safe. Or forgetting to wash their hands in between putting regular crackers on a plate before putting gluten-free crackers on a plate.
So, I guess another piece of advice for someone hosting someone with celiac, is to be okay with your guest asking if they can bring their own food, and not feeling offended by it. I have to do it, because when I get even a trace amount of gluten, I'm down for the count for nearly a week, and I just can't take the risk anymore. So, my friends are getting used to my showing up at their house with my own food, prepared in my safe/clean kitchen, and they're okay with it.
I agree with the previous poster!!! I am very gluten intolerant and navigating social situations is MUCH more difficult when very well-meaning people try to be accommodating but do not consult you first.
If you want to accommodate your celiac guest, the best thing to do is always just to be open and honest with them on the front end. Most Celiacs will very much appreciate you asking for their help - way before they'll appreciate having to interrogate you about every single ingredient and/or preparation you've made, and in front of your other dinner guests.
Simply call them ahead of time and say, "I'd like to include you in my dinner party. Here is what I'd like to make. How can I change it so you can join us?" They might ask to help out, they may bring their own food, but always, always ask!! We are in charge of our own health and we have to have total knowledge of everything we put in our mouths. Even if you spend time learning about gluten free cooking and have reviewed every ingredient, it takes only one slip of the spoon on the counter where you made bread yesterday to accidentally poison someone. And you may never even know you've done it!
My friendship group has two gluten free types in it. Some substitutions are easy - cornflour instead of flour for thickening for example.
We quite often make double dishes - eg. if everyone is having pie, pop half the filling in a smaller dish and the non flour people can have stew.
And we eat a LOT of Eton Mess!
Don't forget most commercial soy sauces have gluten in them.
Wonderful post, but the first two replies are spot on - cooking for us is very tricky, and please please don't be offended if we ask to read the ingredients list when you cook for us, or tend to hover in the kitchen watching you cook. We are really really just trying to keep from getting poisoned, and from having the embarrassment of having to tell you we got sick when you tried so hard. Cooking the whole meal gluten free is the best, first, choice. But before you do that, you have to clean your kitchen surfaces completely. Covering the counters with waxed paper is also a great second line of defense if you are a heavy baker. Skip baked goods - warm fruit compotes over ice cream are great. and yes NO wooden spoons, cutting boards, or serving surfaces. Wood holds gluten for ages.
Wow, I'm really glad that I read the comments. Now I wonder if I've been one of those well-meaning gluten poisoners by just focusing on ingredients. Next time I will do a deep clean and double check with my gf friends.
Whoa, I didn't even think about the cutting boards and wooden spoons. I don't think I'd be able to cook anything truly GF out of my kitchen at all - I have so many wooden tools, I would have a hard time cooking without them. Is stainless steel and glass okay if it's been run through the dishwasher? What about plastic serving spoons?
Great post, and if I may suggest another-- if food is being served buffet style and some dishes contain gluten, do try to (1) keep them separate and make sure the serving utensils don't migrate, but also (2) ask you gluten-free guests if they would like to go first to avoid any unintended cross-contamination by other guests serving themselves.
Also, vinegars have been proven to be safe:
http://www.celiac.com/articles/184/1/American-Dietetic-Association-Revises-Its-Gluten-Free-Guidelines---Distilled-Vinegar-is-Safe-for-a-Gluten-Free-Diet/Page1.html