White Chicks
Culinary Movie Night Guide
Difficulty Level: Easy
Table of Contents
Equipment
Here is a list (with links) of all the equipment and decorations I used for my White Chicks Culinary Movie Night. I would be incredibly grateful if you used my links. I will make a little commission, and that would really help with the cost of the website and related expenses. You can find my full Amazon List here!
Tips
- Personalizing the Menu– When planning your menu for your movie night, don’t feel pressured to serve exactly what I chose to serve. Feel free to remove/add/replace dishes so it makes sense for you and your guests. I’ve included an editable menu in this guide to make it your own!
- Managing Your Time– These movie nights can take a lot of time to prepare, especially if you plan on doing everything yourself. If you are planning a culinary movie night with a group, I suggest doing a potluck style. Have each person contribute a dish or two, and it’ll be very manageable. If you are planning on preparing everything yourself, here are some things I’ve learned while doing these often:
- Make A To-Do List– I can’t stress this enough! It’s very easy to forget simple things like opening a bottle of prosecco before you start the movie so you aren’t fumbling with the seal before serving. I have done this so many times! Your to-do list should include absolutely everything you need to do leading up to pressing play.
- Start Early– I learned this after a few very long days of trying to cook, prepare, and host all on the same day. Anything that can be done in advance should be done during the days leading up to the movie night. Some examples include pre-mixing cocktails, making desserts and other foods like soup that hold up well in the refrigerator, and pre-making any handmade decorations. Hosting is stressful enough without having to make a multi-course meal in one day, so get as much done as possible before.
- No Pausing– The question I get asked the most is “Do you pause the movie to bring out the next dish?”. It’s important to me that I don’t disrupt the flow of the movie, so I do not pause. It’s also important to me to enjoy the movie with my guests. Setting up everything I need before the movie helps me bring out each dish efficiently. The setup usually includes plating each dish and storing it in the refrigerator, so all I have to do is quickly microwave it before serving. I set out any garnish or decoration on my kitchen counter so it’s easily accessible. I even pour the cocktails into their cups and store them in the refrigerator, so all I have to do is add ice and any finishing touches before serving. Always think about how you can do the bare minimum during the film. I always include the setup in my to-do list as well, so I don’t forget about any aspect of the preparation.
- Optional– If your budget permits, I recommend ordering food that you may not be confident in cooking or food that may take a lot of time to cook. I do this occasionally, and it helps cut down the preparation time and supports local businesses. Win Win!
- Decorations- Have fun and decorate your space and serving tray! Add elements from the theme of the movie, but make a budget and stick to it! I usually use things I already own because these movie nights are DIY, and I don’t need to spend a fortune to make it fun. If I do buy decorations for the movie night, I try to find cheap or reusable things. If you are curious about some of the things I’ve used during the movie nights, here is a link to my Amazon List. All these items are things I bought with my own money and enjoyed using.
- Manage Stress- Culinary Movie Nights are fun and a great way to show your friends and family you love them. Sometimes, things you envision in your head will not come out perfectly. When this happens to me, it can be discouraging and stressful, but the people I do these for have NEVER expressed anything but appreciation. Go easy on yourself and remember that your guests are just happy to be there and to experience something you put so much thought and time into making.
Menu
I have created a free, editable, and printable menu for all the dishes I served for this Culinary Movie Night! Feel free to change it to what will work for you and your guests.
Cues
These are the cues I used during the movie night so I knew when I had to get the next dish ready to serve.
Please note: Each cue describes a scene that happens a few minutes before I have to serve the dish. It does not describe the scene the dish is based on. Some people get confused with that, so I thought I should specify. Because the cues only give you a few minutes to prepare the dish, it’s very important to have everything cooked and set up before the film starts. Review the “Tips” section above for ways to make this seamless.
I often get asked why I don’t use time stamps to keep track of when to serve the next dish and the simple answer is, I don’t find those helpful. If I used timestamps, I would have to have a separate timer going or keep disrupting the movie to check the timestamp. It makes much more sense to have cues to indicate when the next scene is about to happen. This allows me to enjoy watching the film with my guests.
Below is the link to the cues I used. This document is editable, so you can make updates if you decide to take out or change dishes.
Recipes
Operation Vanilla
For this scene, Kevin and Marcus are undercover, at a bodega, pretending to be Cuban retailers. I wanted to serve an ice cream with Cuban flavors to tie in this funny scene so I served vanilla ice cream with rum, queso, guava, sweetened condensed milk, and Maria Cookies.
It was very simple to make. You just need to blend the following ingredients in a bowl:
- One quart container of softened Vanilla Ice Cream
- 1 cup of Caribbean rum
- 8-oz Queso Blanco (Cuban-style cheese) or an 8-oz package of Cream cheese if you can’t find queso blanco
- Half a can of sweetened condensed milk (reserve the other half to drizzle as a topping)
After you have blended these ingredients well, fold in the following ingredients:
- Half a jar of Guava jam (reserve the other half to drizzle on top as a garnish
- 3.5 oz sleeve of crumbled Maria Cookies (reserve a few cookies from the sleeve as a topping.
Freeze your Ice cream mixture for a few hours or overnight. Make sure it is sealed well.
Serving tips: This is the first dish of the movie night, so when you are ready to start the movie, you can quickly scoop the ice cream and add your toppings before serving.
Moo Btch!
The iconic quiche scene! This is a must-serve at a White Chicks Culinary Movie Experience! There are a few options for this dish. You can buy premade frozen mini quiches. This is the easiest option because you just have to pop them in the oven for a bit before serving.
I already had the ingredients to make my own, so I decided to make a simple batch of mini quiches with ricotta cheese and simple seasonings like salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme. Below is a great link with multiple different mini quiche recipes to give you some variety if you want to make them yourself.
Serving tips: Mini quiches freeze really well, so this is another dish you could make the day before to save time and then freeze. Then, you just have to cook them from frozen for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. I recommend popping them in the oven right before starting the movie. This scene is close to the beginning of the film, so they’ll be fresh out of the oven when it’s time to serve.
Taste the Leather
This line always makes me giggle, “I can taste the leather”. I really wanted to incorporate this scene in my culinary movie night so I thought of foods that resemble leather. Fried pork belly (with the skin) and fruit leather felt like the perfect combination.
Once you make the Chicharron, start assembling the kebab. I used mango fruit leather with Tajin, but whatever fruit leather you can find will work. Even a fruit roll-up would work! I also suggest serving the kebabs with a lime wedge. Lime goes so well with chicharron and fruit!
Serving tips: Because this is a fried dish, it is best served fresh. This is the last thing I made before pressing play, so it was still fresh when it was time to serve.
Powderpuff Girls
Of course, we have to have powdered donuts for the powder puff scene. I paired the donuts with white wine since that was one of the main drinks at the table.
Serving tips: To save time, I recommend that you set up the donut garnish before you start the movie. These are the cocktail picks I always use and love. I also recommend you open the bottle of wine before or make sure it’s a twist top. That way, you can quickly pour the glasses of wine and serve everything fast without fumbling around with the cork or the donuts.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
“Easy white chocolate. I wouldn’t want you to melt.”
White chocolate was a must for this scene! I knew we had a big feast coming up in the next scene, so I went for a white chocolate martini instead of some type of dessert. For the garnish/stir stick, I used a chocolate Pocky. I already had it on hand from my Whisper of the Heart movie night, and I thought it was a funny addition considering the angle the cameraman got in this scene. LOL!
White Chocolate Martini Recipe – You may want to double the servings because it’s a very small portion.
Serving tips: To save time, I premixed this cocktail the night before and stored it in a mason jar in my refrigerator. I already had the Pocky garnish in the cups, too, so all I had to do was shake the mason jar and pour before serving.
Girl Dinner
“I’ll have a steak smothered in onions, rack of ribs, pasta with extra garlic, french fries with lots of vinegar, and onion rings with lots of sauerkraut.”
BBQ Ribs Recipe– I love Tini’s oven-baked ribs recipe. It comes out perfect every time. I did not, however, make her BBQ sauce. I wanted quick and easy, so I just used store-bought. This recipe takes three hours, so I suggest starting this first and then doing the other prep work while it’s in the oven.
Steak with Onions Recipe – Prepare this while the ribs are cooking. Store in refrigerator when done.
Garlic Butter Pasta Recipe – Prepare this while the ribs are cooking. Store in refrigerator when done.
Fries and Onion Rings– I used frozen fries and onion rings to keep my prep quick. I set them up on a baking sheet before starting the movie, and then I popped them in the oven when I was preparing the white wine and donuts. Make sure to serve them with malted vinegar and sauerkraut.
Serving tips– To make serving quick, I had the ribs, steak, and pasta already set up on the baking sheet. When I was preparing to serve the white chocolate martini, I added the freshly baked fries and onion rings to the tray and put the whole tray in the oven at 200 degrees F. This temp will keep everything warm until it’s time to serve.
Where’s Latrell
To tie in the dance floor, I served the Apple Martinis with these green glow stick bracelets.
