Menu ideas for 1980's themed dinner party

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Can anyone give me some ideas for 1980s food. Preferably home cooked stuff. Tempting as it is to serve Findus Crispy Pancakes I'm not sure my guests would actually eat them.

Melon boats
Steak Diane
Pavlova

Mateus Rose, Lambrusco, Babycham, lager top, rum & black

I got married in the 80s and learned to cook from Delias Complete Cookery Course. I agree you won’t go far wrong if you get hold of a copy of that and pick your recipes from there. It’s a great book and I still refer to it today.

A couple of recipes that stand out in my mind are the smoked mackerel pate and a gorgeous ragu sauce for Bolognese or lasagne that uses beef, chicken livers and bacon.

We did a 60s party with prawn cocktails and chic in a basket, black forest gateaux I think cuis had moved on by the eighties! Microwaves were cool!

Sorry 70s party not 60s

Most of things mentioned here are giving me 70s vibes rather than 80s.

High end 1980s food - Nouvelle cuisine

Low end 1980s food - Lean Cuisine ready meals

www.womanandhome.com/food/recipes/most-popular-food-50s-60s-70s-80s-92047/
Apparently chicken Kiev, pizza, garlic bread were the height of sophistication

Was baked Alaska the 80s?

My mother used to make salmon mousse for a starter, mushroom stroganoff and a chocolate bombe for dessert (it’s a frozen dessert so made ahead).

Banoffee desert with caramel made by boiling a tin of condensed milk in water forever
Nouvelle Cuisine aka tiny portions

Prawn cocktail
Vesta Beef Curry
Strawberry mousse (those little frozen ones if you can still get them of course!)

Baked Alaska, the 70s.

Chicken chasseur or coq au vin are the most 80s things I can think of.
Summer pudding for dessert.

Prawn cocktail

Steak and chips

Black forest gateaux

Anything with a raspberry coulis

As others have said, lots of these suggestions ate 70s not 80s.

My parents didn't really do dinner parties but o do remember some meals out at a local bistro where garlic bread was a big thing. Smoked mackerel.pate was popular and so was brown bread ice cream.

I've got a copy of Delia's cookery course which is a "new edition" published in 1989. Pork braised in cider, Coq au Vin and chicken in mustard sauce all feature.

I remember fondue sets being a big thing when i went to uni in the late 80s.

Philadelphia cheese with Piat d'Or wine was a favourite of my parents. Those two brands are very 80s to me.

I think ratatouille was big then too.

I got married in 87 and yes, we still ate steak and chips, prawn cocktail etc but if I cooked a special meal it would be either from Delia Smith or it would be a very complicated curry made from scratch. My copy of Delia’s complete cookery course was a wedding present.

Prawn cocktail.
Steak and chips
Black Forest gateau
That was the big night out at Berni Inns.
Anybody remember this.
Planned weeks in advance.

Most of these suggestions are definitely 70s with the exception of Viennetta which was invented in the 80s. It was a time when parents still cooked dishes from their youth (fried everything, chips with everything) but exotic foreign food was starting to become available. By exotic I mean spag bol - prior to about 1985 the only pasta I’d ever seen was Heinz tinned spaghetti! The idea of health food was beginning to take hold too, and the microwave was invented so frozen ready meals appeared in the shops.

I agree with a pp- things coooked in the microwave were the in thing. Rubbery scrambles eggs etc

Prawn and Avocado vinegrette
Melon with Parma Ham
Melon balls
Minestone
Egg mayo

Beef Stroganoff
Steak av Poivre
Minted lamb
Steak Diane

Banoffee pie
Sticky toffee pudding
Bread and butter pudding
Tiramisu

Fondue!!!

I think a lot has to do with what part of the country you lived in, and what your family background was, both affected what foods you ate.

Also what shops were available... I remember in the very early 80s when Sainsburys first colonised my area, it was as though a floodlight had been turned on!

I got married in the late 1960s so was bringing up my family during the 1970s. Spaghetti Bolognese was regularly on the menu throughout the 1970s. By the 1980s I was making pasta carbonara and pasta Alfredo etc and the spag bol had taken a back seat.

Elsie, those all sound absolutely disgusting! For the sake of Delia Smith's good name, I should say that none of those feature in Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course, which I still have and use regularly. I think my copy dates from the late 70s.

I think Beaujolais wine was pretty popular in the 80's.