Full Course Meals Explained (2024)

Many cultures enjoy full course meals with a unique assortment of food and customs. Full course meals have a rich, diverse history from many regions that is a result of evolving food trends over time. To the Western world, the full course meal might bring to mind lavish dinner parties or long meals at a fancy restaurant. But how many courses should be in a full course meal, and what should each course consist of? Below, we provide basic information about full course meals in the tradition of Western cultures and go through typical meal course sequences.

Click below to learn more about full course meals:

  • What Is a Full Course Meal?
  • What Is a Meal Course?
  • Sample Sequences for Up to 12 Meal Courses
  • 12 Course Meal Menu
  • How to Create a Full Course Meal Menu
  • Serving a Full Course Meal Tips

What Is a Full Course Meal?

Full Course Meals Explained (1)

A full course dinner is a meal featuring multiple courses. The basic full course meal consists of three or four courses. They normally begin with precursors to a main dish, such as an amuse-bouche, followed by the main course(s), and they are finished off with sweets, coffee, and tea.

Full course meals frequently take place at someone’s home, at a venue, or at a restaurant. They are customarily enjoyed in the afternoon or evening for a special occasion. In both upscale restaurants and casual eateries, guests can opt for a full course meal by ordering multiple dishes to come out at separate times. While a traditional full course meal may be more complex than quick service, it is still commonly enjoyed by groups of friends at celebratory events. The more ambitious tasting menu includes up to twenty courses and is spread over an extended period.

What Is a Meal Course?

A meal course is a single food item or a set of food items served at once, such as a sandwich, soup, and crackers, or steak and mashed potatoes. An average meal consists of one or more meal courses.

How Many Courses Are in a Meal?

Many meals only contain one course. The most basic full course meal is made up of 2 or 3 of the following courses: an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. However, meals can feature up to 12 or more courses.

Sample Sequences for Up to 12 Meal Courses

Full Course Meals Explained (2)

A common and logical way for your full course meal to proceed is by starting with light plates, continuing with richer dishes, and finishing off with small and delicate items. Below are sample full course meal sequences, but you can choose which meal courses you would like to include on your menu.

  • 12 course meal: A 12 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, amuse-bouche, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, first main course, palate cleanser, second main course, cheese course, dessert, and mignardise.
  • 10 course meal: A 10 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, second main course, dessert, and mignardise.
  • 9 course meal: A 9 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, dessert, and mignardise.
  • 8 course meal: An 8 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, palate cleanser, dessert, and mignardise.
  • 7 course meal: A 7 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, dessert, and mignardise.
  • 6 course meal: A 6 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert.
  • 5 course meal: A 5 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert.
  • 4 course meal: A 4 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, main course, and dessert.
  • 3 course meal: A 3 course dinner menu includes an appetizer, main course, and dessert.

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12 Course Meal Menu

Full Course Meals Explained (3)

Below are explanations of the courses that may comprise a 12 course meal as well as dish suggestions for each course.

  1. Course One - Hors D'Oeuvres: Since this course is typically served during a co*cktail hour or as guests are arriving, hors d’oeuvres are usually finger foods that can be held in the hand.
  • Goat cheese crostini with fig-olive tapenade
  • Zucchini fritters
  • Shallot and pancetta tortilla crisps
  • Course Two - Amuse-Bouche: This can be translated from French to mean “amuse the mouth” or more generally, to please guests’ palates with a small flavorful taste. Frequently, this might serve to stimulate the appetite or simply hint at flavors to come in the next meal course(s). In restaurants, this is normally a complimentary item specifically chosen by the chef.
    • Sweet potato chips with goat cheese and caviar
    • Caprese bites with basil vinaigrette
    • Pea soup served in a shot glass or espresso cup
  • Course Three - Soup: As with all of your courses, a classic idea is to relate your soup course to the season. It's always smart to avoid soups that are too hearty so guests don’t fill up for the rest of the meal.
    • Cold melon and basil soup
    • Pumpkin sage bisque
    • Tuscan white bean and roasted garlic soup
  • Course Four - Appetizer: In many parts of Europe, this course is referred to as the "entree" because it introduces the main courses in the meal. It is usually served on serving trays or small appetizer plates and features small cuts of meat, seasonal vegetables, starches, and sauces.
    • Charred broccoli with shish*to peppers and pickled onions
    • Mushrooms stuffed with Pecorino Romano, garlic, and bread crumbs
    • Candied carrots with honey, cumin, and paprika
  • Course Five - Salad: This course is usually an assortment of raw vegetables with a flavorful dressing. In some parts of Europe, salad is served after the main course, but it is also common to serve salad before.
    • Garden salad with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and tart vinaigrette
    • Chopped Thai salad with peanut dressing
    • Greek salad with olives, lettuce, red onions, and feta cheese
  • Course Six - Fish: This dish is a flavorful light protein before the main courses.
    • Grilled salmonwith a soy sauce marinade
    • Lemon garlic tilapia
    • Crispy trout with a parsley-caper vinaigrette
  • Course Seven - First Main Course: The first main dish is often white meat, such as chicken, duck, or turkey.
    • Spicy Thai basil chicken
    • Roasted duck with an orange-ginger glaze
    • Deep-fried turkey with a honey bourbon glaze
  • Course Eight - Palate Cleanser: This is like a reset for your taste buds. Its purpose is to remove residual tastes from the mouth before the next course.
    • Sorbet (lemon, melon, or mint)
    • Prosecco
    • Water with lemon
  • Course Nine - Second Main Course: Typically, the second main course is red meat, such as premium beef and lamb, or game meat such as venison.
    • Stuffed lamb breast with lemon, ricotta, and oregano
    • Grilled flatiron steak with rosemary potatoes
    • Herb-crusted venison medallions
  • Course Ten - Cheese Course: Create a platter of different cheeses along with items to accompany them.
    • Include a variety of cheese textures and flavors, such as aged, soft, firm, and blue cheeses
    • Choose a selection of breads and crackers
    • Provide companion items, such as jams, chutneys, spicy mustards, caramelized onions, candied nuts, and pistachios
  • Course Eleven - Dessert: Usually accompanied by an after-dinner drinksuch as a glass of dessert wine, coffee, or tea, this is a sweet and decadent course.
    • Rich flourless chocolate cake with a glass of sweet port wine
    • Lemon creme brulee with dry white wine
    • Fruit tarts and berries with champagne
  • Course Twelve - Mignardise: At the end of the meal, you can serve a mignardise, which is a tiny, bite-sized dessert or pastry served with tea, coffee, port, brandy, or scotch.
    • Miniature butter madeleine biscuits
    • Small pieces of chocolate
    • Bite-sized macarons

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    How to Create a Full Course Meal Menu

    Full Course Meals Explained (4)

    Preparing for a full course meal can seem like a daunting task, especially if it's for a large crowd. However, if you follow a central theme or cuisine when deciding what will be on your menu, it is much easier to come up with your dishes. Below are some tips for creating your menu.

    • Choose a theme: Before you begin creating a full course meal menu, decide on a theme, cuisine, or set of flavors to base your meal around. This makes it easier to come up with a menu and ensures continuity throughout the courses.
    • Decide on a season or region: Consider basing your full course meal on the season, or feature cuisines from one or several regions.
    • Build around the main course: Whatever theme you choose for your meal, ensure that it can provide a solid main course, and work the rest of the courses and theme elements around it.

    Tips for Serving a Full Course Meal

    The way you serve or enjoy a full course meal is up to your discretion and can be as casual or formal as you prefer. Below are some tips to curate a full course meal, along with information on traditional etiquette.

    • Provide water and wine: As you begin serving your full course meal, provide a goblet of water and a glass of wine for each guest.
    • Pay attention to table setting: Each course requires distinct dinnerware and silverware, so set your table based on the number of courses in your meal.
    • Remember utensil etiquette: Guests will first use the outermost utensils and work their way in towards the plate as the courses progress.
    • Remove plates: Before moving on to the next course, remember to remove the plates from the previous course.
    • Be prompt: Don’t wait too long between serving each course.
    • Know when to clear plates: According to traditional etiquette, each plate should be cleared (from the right side of each guest) before serving another (to the left side of each guest).
    • Ask guests to pass their dishes: If you do not have servers at your dinner party, have guests pass the dishes from the left, so they can easily serve themselves since most people are right-handed.
    • Choose a charger plate: Many table settings will have a charger plate that serves as a base setting on top of which dinnerware for each course is placed. The plate is only cleared when dessert is served.

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    Ultimately, you can serve a meal as creatively or traditionally as you'd like. You can include as little as one course and up to as many as you have time and energy for. Full course meals provide ample opportunity for hosts, chefs, and restaurants alike to show off their talents and tastes while offering an enjoyable and decadent dining experience that guests will remember.

    Full Course Meals Explained (5)Posted in:Catering Tips |Holidays | |By Hannah Herrera

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    Full Course Meals Explained (2024)

    FAQs

    What does a full course meal include? ›

    Full course meals are made up of three courses: an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Also known as a three-course meal or a standard course meal, you will sometimes see restaurants offering a full menu with these three items. You can add more courses to a full course meal.

    What are the 7 courses of a meal? ›

    7 course meal: A 7 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, dessert, and mignardise.

    What are the 5 main course meal? ›

    A typical five-course meal consists of one-bite hors d'oeuvres, a plated appetizer, a palate-cleansing salad, the main entrée, and dessert. In some cases, you can omit the hors d'oeuvres and insert a soup between the appetizer and salad courses.

    What are the parts of a 4 course meal? ›

    The four-course meal consists of a soup, an appetizer, an entrée, and dessert. The appetizer is the first of the four dishes in our four-course meal.

    Is pizza a full course meal? ›

    A meal is something that is relatively balanced and filling to the person eating it, i.e., you are not hungry after eating it. Pizza has grain, dairy, vegetables, and, depending on your toppings, even meat. With this information in mind, it becomes clear that pizza is a thoroughly balanced meal.

    Is a entrée a full meal? ›

    In the United States and parts of Canada, the term entrée refers to the main dish or the only dish of a meal.

    What is a 21 course meal? ›

    In formal dining, a full-course dinner can consist of 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 16 courses, and, in its extreme form, has been known to have 21 courses. In these more formalized dining events, the courses are carefully planned to complement each other gastronomically.

    What are the 12 courses of a meal? ›

    Typically, the 12+ course chef's tasting menu consists of hors-d'oeuvres, amuse-bouche, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleaner, second main course, cheese course, dessert, and end of the meal dessert. You'll be able to choose your meal ahead of time when you make your reservations.

    What are the 17 meal courses in a classic menu? ›

    17 French course menu
    • 1 – Hors-d oeuvre / Appetiser. ...
    • 2 – Potage / Soup. ...
    • 3 – Oeuf / Egg. ...
    • 4 – Farinaceous / Farineaux / Pasta or Rice. ...
    • 5 – Poisson / Fish. ...
    • 6 – Entrée / Entree. ...
    • 7 – Sorbet / Sorbet. ...
    • 8 – Releves / Joints.

    What does a 6 course meal consist of? ›

    A six-course meal offers hors-d'oeuvres, soup, fish, and an entrée, followed by salad, coffee, and dessert.

    What does a 3 course meal consist of? ›

    A 3-course meal is any meal that includes one entrée, one main course, and one dessert. Also referred to as a standard course meal, 3-course meals are considered the starting point for fine dining.

    Why soup is served first? ›

    Scientifically, soups, along with being appetizing, help in secretion of digestive juices inside the stomach, which aids in proper digestion of the main meal afterwards. Moreover, it calms a growling stomach.

    Which is served first soup or salad? ›

    When soup is served for a luncheon or dinner, Emily Post's “Etiquette” offers the following advice: --Soup should be the first of six courses. It should be followed by fish, the entree, salad, dessert and coffee.

    What is a meal at 4 pm called? ›

    tea. A light afternoon meal of sandwiches, cakes etc, with a drink of tea. Around 4pm. It is also sometimes called afternoon tea (mainly BrE). The word tea can also refer to a cooked evening meal, around 6pm (BrE).

    Is soup or appetizer first served? ›

    Present the soup course.

    This course is usually served before the appetizer or in place of an appetizer. This dish is served in a small soup bowl and eaten with a rounded soup spoon. Your soup choice may vary by season.

    Is Spaghetti a full course meal? ›

    The primo: In Italy, pasta is a first course, or primo, served as an appetizer, not as the main event. Soup, rice, and polenta are the other options for the primo.

    Is salad considered a complete meal? ›

    A salad is usually served at the beginning of a meal, but a salad can be a filling meal on its own if you include the right ingredients. Eating a big healthy salad can also be a great way to get more fruits and veggies that are high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

    Does mac and cheese count as a meal? ›

    There is no question mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food. How can you go wrong with pasta swimming in a creamy, ooey cheese sauce? It's a meal adults or kids can turn down!

    Is pizza an entrée or appetizer? ›

    Entree means a food that is generally regarded as being the primary food in a meal and includes, but is not limited to, sandwiches, burritos, pasta and pizza.

    Why is it called an entrée? ›

    The word entrée entered the French culinary lexicon by way of music. An entrée is a term used to speak of an opening act in a musical or opera. So, it follows, an entrée was a beginning course for a traditional, French multi-course meal. By 1759, entrée is widely accepted as a culinary term in France.

    What comes first entrée or appetizer? ›

    In the US. An appetizer is a small dish that comes before the main meal to stimulate the appetite while entree is the main course of a meal.

    How many courses are in a French dinner? ›

    French family meals typically have four courses, although a fifth course is sometimes included. The traditional course structure begins with a drink and appetizer (nuts or crackers), called aperitif.

    How many courses are in a Italian meal? ›

    Typically an Italian meal consists of four courses (starter, first course, main course, and dessert), although this can be stretched to eight courses or more (starter, first course, fish main course, meat main course, cheese, and dessert). Do not feel obligated to eat this many courses.

    How many courses are in an Edwardian dinner? ›

    In elaborate Edwardian dinner parties, there could be up fourteen separate courses, so having enough cutlery was a status symbol in itself! Service à la Russe swept across Europe, arriving in England by the second half of the nineteenth century.

    How long does a 3 course meal take? ›

    Give it at least 2 hours maybe more if you have dessert or an after dinner drink.

    What is the last course of a meal called? ›

    Synonyms for DESSERT

    Thanks for visiting The Crossword Solver "Final course of a meal".

    What is the main course of a dinner called? ›

    In the United States and Canada (except Quebec), the main course is traditionally called an "entrée".

    What is a 4 course progressive meal? ›

    There are usually four courses, including an appetiser, starter, main and dessert so you will need one person to deliver each dish. It's best when all hosts live in the same apartment building, street or neighbourhood so it's easy to travel between venues throughout the night.

    What is a3 course meal? ›

    Definition of 'three-course meal'

    The three-course meal includes an appetizer, entrée, and dessert.

    What is the start of a soup called? ›

    1. Sauté Aromatics. The base of your flavor in a soup comes from the vegetables and other ingredients you add at the beginning, called aromatics.

    Why do they give bread with soup? ›

    They need to complement and support each other, and one cannot outshine the other. The soup is the melody while bread sings harmony. For instance, a super dense and hearty soup like chicken noodle does not need a dense, dark bread to support it. A creamy soup requires something extra-absorbent and fluffy.

    Why do they eat salad last in Italy? ›

    One of the main reasons that traditional Italian meals have salads served after a large meal instead of before is to cleanse the palate, or the roof of the mouth. You probably know that after you eat, sometimes the taste of your meal can linger in your mouth for some time afterwards.

    What is the first meal to be served? ›

    An appetizer is part of a meal that's served before the main course. You might serve your dinner guests an appetizer of crab-stuffed mushrooms when they first arrive for dinner. Usually, an appetizer is a small serving of food — just a few bites — meant to be eaten before an entree, and often shared by several people.

    Why do they give salad before the main meal? ›

    Salad wants to move through the body faster than denser food.” Putting raw, water-packed vegetables into your body first helps to lubricate your digestive path, and acts as “an enzymatic spark,” she says, one that makes it easier to later move heavier food through the body.

    Why do Brits say tea for dinner? ›

    “High” tea. “High” tea is actually dinner but has also come to mean a lavish afternoon tea. In the past, high tea was an alternative to afternoon tea. It combined snacks and a hearty meal and was usually served at about 6pm.

    What is supper vs dinner? ›

    Dinner and supper are both used to refer to the main meal of the day, and especially to that meal as eaten in the evening. Supper is used especially when the meal is an informal one eaten at home, while dinner tends to be the term chosen when the meal is more formal.

    What is an after dinner meal called? ›

    The modern usage of "supper" varies considerably; sometimes supper is still used to describe a light snack or meal in the evening, either after or instead of dinner, but often it replaces dinner as the term for the main evening meal.

    What appetizers are served before the main meal? ›

    Hors d'oeuvres are small items served before dinner, often accompanied by co*cktails. They're most commonly found at co*cktail parties or during the co*cktail hour of a reception or gala. Most of the time, hors d'oeuvres are considered 'finger foods' and can be eaten while standing and mingling.

    What are the four balance rules of a good menu? ›

    How do we achieve balance in a menu?
    • The spread of dishes and ingredients used.
    • The spread of price points and profitability.
    • The seasonality within the dishes.
    • Healthy options.
    • The ratio of dishes within each section.

    Which order of serving meal is correct? ›

    At a formal restaurant or banquet, food should be presented to guests in the following order:
    • Guest of honor.
    • Female guests.
    • Male guests.
    • Hostess.
    • Host.

    What are 3 course meal and examples? ›

    A 3 course meal is made up of an appetizer, main dish, and dessert.
    ...
    Here are examples of a few courses:
    • Soup and crackers are an appetizer course. Two items but meant to be eaten together.
    • Salad, dressing, and bread served together.
    • Meat and potatoes.
    • Chips and dip.

    What is a full course Italian meal? ›

    Traditional Italian menus have five sections. A full meal usually consists of an appetizer, first course and a second course with a side dish. It's not necessary to order from every course, but usually people order at least two courses. Traditional meals may last one or two hours or even longer.

    What is served first soup or salad? ›

    When soup is served for a luncheon or dinner, Emily Post's “Etiquette” offers the following advice: --Soup should be the first of six courses. It should be followed by fish, the entree, salad, dessert and coffee.

    What is second course meal? ›

    According to Sardinian tradition, both at home or in restaurants, second courses are usually with fish or meat and are served after a first course with pasta or rice. If you change the quantities, you can use the same recipes as starters or mains.

    How many courses are in a full French meal? ›

    French family meals typically have four courses, although a fifth course is sometimes included. The traditional course structure begins with a drink and appetizer (nuts or crackers), called aperitif.

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