The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a logistics problem before it is a menu. Seven preparations, one kitchen, one oven, and a room full of people arriving at once.
The cold course is how you solve it. Two or three of the seven, served first, prepared entirely in advance, requiring nothing from the stove after early afternoon.
Which of the seven go cold
The traditional list varies by family and region, and there is no canonical seven. What is consistent is that the meal opens cold and moves toward heat.
Good candidates for the cold course:
- Shrimp cocktail. The most reliable. Poached in advance, held on ice, universally eaten.
- Baccalà salad. Salt cod, poached and flaked, dressed with olive oil, lemon, celery, olives and parsley. Made a day ahead and better for it.
- Marinated anchovies or sardines. Bought cured, arranged with lemon and oil. No cooking at all.
- Octopus salad. Simmered until tender, cooled, dressed with oil, lemon and oregano. Can be made two days ahead.
- Insalata di mare. Shrimp, squid, mussels, all poached separately and dressed together. The most work, and the most impressive.
- Oysters or clams on the half shell. Shucked at the last minute, served on the same ice bed.
The hot dishes that follow, typically a baked or fried fish, a pasta with clams or a stew, then have the kitchen to themselves.
Build order
A cold course for twelve, working backwards
- Two days aheadStart salt cod soaking if you are making baccalà. Change the water three times a day. Buy frozen shrimp.
- The day beforePoach and dress the octopus. Make the baccalà salad. Shrimp from freezer to refrigerator.
- Morning ofMake the sauces. Arrange the marinated anchovies on their plate and cover.
- Early afternoonPeel, poach, shock and dry the shrimp. Twenty minutes, and the last time you need a burner.
- One hour aheadBuild the ice bed and pre-chill the assembled tray. Shuck oysters if serving.
- Fifteen minutes aheadPlate the shrimp, set the sauce, bring everything to the table together.
Serving it as a single course
The cold dishes should arrive together, not in sequence. This is a table where people are standing, talking and helping themselves, and a course that appears in instalments never settles.
The practical arrangement is one chilled tray as the centre, with the shrimp and any raw shellfish on ice, and the dressed salads in shallow bowls around it. The ice keeps the things that need it cold, and the salads sit at room temperature where their olive oil is not congealed.
Baccalà and octopus salad are both better slightly above refrigerator temperature. Take them out twenty minutes before serving. Olive oil at 4°C is dull and thick.
Quantities
For a cold course at a meal where six more courses follow, portions are smaller than they would be at a party.
- Shrimp: three per person. For twelve, two pounds of 16/20 count.
- Each salad: about a third of a cup per person.
- Oysters: two per person, and only if you are willing to shuck them at service.
The commonest mistake is making the cold course as generous as a standalone appetiser, which leaves people full before the fish they spent all day on reaches the table.
The tray
A stainless piece with a real ice well does most of the work here, because the cold course sits out for the length of a long, slow opening. Chill the assembled piece for ten minutes before plating, and crush the ice if the course will sit for a while. The full method for holding a tray cold.
If you are serving oysters alongside shrimp, they share the bed comfortably. Shuck them last and set them into the ice at an angle so the liquor stays in the shell.
The centre of the cold courseThe AAF-01 Classic is 304 stainless throughout, with an ice well deep enough for oysters and shrimp together.
View on AmazonWhat to drink
Cold seafood and high acid. A dry Greek Assyrtiko, a Vermentino, a Muscadet or a Franciacorta all work, and all of them are still working three courses later.
The Chilled Presentation Playbook
Fifteen pages: every method on this site, twelve sauces, an oyster guide, and a timed prep schedule for a table of twelve. Free, as a PDF.
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Common questions
What is served cold at the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
Typically shrimp cocktail, baccalà salad, marinated anchovies, octopus salad or insalata di mare, and oysters or clams on the half shell. Two or three of these open the meal.
How many of the seven fishes should be cold?
Two or three. Serving them together as an opening course frees the kitchen entirely for the hot dishes that follow.
How much shrimp per person for the Seven Fishes?
Three 16/20 count shrimp per person, since six more courses follow. That is about two pounds for twelve people.
The Chilled Presentation Playbook
Everything on this site in one PDF, plus twelve sauces, an oyster guide and a timed prep schedule for a table of twelve.
No more than one email a month. We never sell or share your address. Privacy.