Cannabis dinner parties. They exist. And I mean, why not? Pot is just like everything else in our culture in that trendy things come and go, and right now, cannabis dinner parties are pretty popular. The big cities even have licensed chefs on Craigslist who will come into your home and do all the cooking for you; they’ll create three-course meals centered on infused edibles and they’ll dole out some cannabis education while they’re at it. Sure, that sounds fun, but it also sounds expensive, and Durango isn’t one of those “big cities” in the first place. So, if you live in a mountain town like ours and you want to throw a cannabis dinner party, you must do it yourself.
I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it, but first, I need to drop a few disclaimers. For one, if you plan on throwing a cannabis dinner party, please make sure all your guests designate a driver. It’s just as illegal to drive under the influence of cannabis as it is when it comes to alcohol, and it’s dangerous, so do the grownup thing. Secondly, edibles can take up to an hour to kick in, so please keep that in mind, and communicate this fact to all your guests. Trust me, you don’t want your friends to overindulge in the beginning, because by the end of dinner, they’ll turn into drooling zombies who won’t get off your couch. You don’t want that. Third, the state-recommended serving size is 10mg, so you’ll want to design your dinner in a way that makes it so a guest can enjoy all three courses without exceeding 10mg total THC—this can be a bit tricky to do, but don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it. And for the record, there’s nothing wrong with consuming more than 10mg of THC, just like there’s nothing wrong with having more than one beer. It’s just important to know your preferred serving size when it comes to THC, and if any of your guests are newbies, it’s important to keep things in check so they have a good time. And lastly, it’s important to offer non-infused options for those designated drivers; the only thing worse than not being able to get high is not being able to eat as well.
Alright. I’m going to give you three example recipes so you can cover an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert, but I’m going to keep things simple so you don’t have to put in too much work (because that’s not what pot is about).
1.) Let’s start with a salad. A good salad is healthy and classy, and it breaks that brownie-only paradigm most people have when it comes to infused edibles. And in this case, we’re going to infuse the dressing—doing so makes it easy to control your serving size, and all you’d have to do for those designated drivers is offer some regular dressing to keep them sober. So, get yourself some good romaine lettuce, croutons, and anchovy filets for a garnish, and then combine all these ingredients for the dressing:
- ½ TSP anchovy paste
- 1 TBS lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- ½ TSP Dijon mustard
- ½ TSP Worcestershire
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1/8th TSP each, salt and pepper
- 2, 10mg packets Ripple Pure 10.
This dressing recipe will make five servings, and if you do the math, after adding the 20mg THC, each serving will contain roughly 3mg THC given what will be left over in the dressing bowl. So, do you see what I’m doing? If you create three courses, each containing about 3mg THC, the entire dinner will give each guest the target 10mg of THC. Math is your friend when it comes to edibles. And my choice to use Ripple in the first course was intentional: Ripple is made with a water-soluble THC distillate (I wrote a whole blog on the subject that you can read HERE), which means it will kick in much sooner than something lipid-soluble. This means that your guests will start to feel the high right in the middle of your main course; that’s next-level hosting.
Now, onto the main course. Since I started with an infused topping, I’m going to stay in that lane and give you a recipe for a badass gravy. You can put it on steak or chicken or potatoes, and people who are trying to stay sober can simply go without gravy. But I’m just going to give you the ingredients (if you don’t know how to make gravy, you shouldn’t be hosting dinner parties):
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- ½ TBS canna-butter
- 3 ½ TBS unsalted butter
- 1/8th cup flour
- ½ TSP onion powder
- 1/8th TSP thyme
- ¼ TSP sage
- ½ TSP rosemary
- ¼ TSP each, salt and pepper
Please don’t let that “canna-butter” ingredient scare you because it’s relatively easy to make. I wrote an entire blog about the process that you can read HERE. If you follow my instructions, a ½ tablespoon will contain 20mg THC, and once again, if you split this gravy into five equal portions, each guest will get just over 3mg, thereby bringing our two-meal total to just over 6mg THC. But please remember, if you’re not up to making your own canna-butter, you can simply add two packets of Ripple to the gravy and achieve the same results.
Onto dessert! If you clicked that last “HERE” I gave you, you read directions on how to make infused oil. And if you make infused oil and then do a quick google search for oil-based brownie recipes, you can serve your guests pot brownies topped with ice cream for the final course. But I’m going to pretend that you’re a lazy stoner like I am, and since cooking two courses is tiring, we’re going to make dessert easy. Here are the ingredients:
- Ice Cream
- 4oz melting chocolate
- 2 – Coda single-serving hot-chocolate on a spoon.
If you mix all the chocolate together, melt it, and then pour it over five servings of ice cream, that will give your guests another 3mg THC each, and then everyone will be sitting comfortably at about 10mg each after the dinner is over. And then if you throw in a couple grab-bags for your guests containing after-dinner joints and whatnot, it’ll be a dinner party worth putting on Pinterest (but I don’t know if you’re allowed to pin pot stuff).
Of course, cannabis dinner ideas are limited only by your imagination, and for inspiration, there are all sorts of sites like THIS one that’ll give you all the ideas you need to be Martha Stewart crossed with Snoop Dog in the kitchen. And we sell all the pot-related stuff you’ll need to complete these recipes right here in our Durango dispensary. So, if you’re thinking about throwing a cannabis dinner party, bring your valid I.D. proving that you’re 21 or over and come see us at 208 Parker Ave, because We’re Your Best Buds!