-
G. ALLEN
TABLE SERVICE
Frappe Table. FRONTISPIECE
TABLE SERVICE
BY
LUCY G. ALLEN
OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL OF COOKERY
ILLUSTRATED
MpN-REFE <
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1920
••
r\\
Copyright, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
All rights reserved
Set up and electrotyped by J . S. Cashing Co., Norwood, Mass. , U.S.A.
FANNIE MERRITT FARMER
I
438465
INTRODUCTION
THIS work has grown out of years of efficient, practical teaching by Miss Allen in my school of cookery, where it is to be used as a textbook in table-service courses. It has been written in re- sponse to the demand made by many pupils who wished the knowledge placed in convenient form for ready reference.
It is now offered to the larger circle of all home lovers with the hope that it may help those who are striving for the beauty of a well-ordered house and of gracious service.
FANNIE MERRITT FARMER.
Miss FARMER'S SCHOOL OF COOKERY, BOSTON, 1914.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. DUTIES, DRESS, AND REQUISITES OF A WAITRESS . . i II. CARE OF DINING-ROOM. HARDWOOD FLOORS. WINDOWS.
ANSWERING TELEPHONE AND DOOR BELLS . . 4
III. EQUIPMENT OF BUTLER'S PANTRY. CARE OF PANTRY
SINK. WASHING DISHES. CARE OF SILVER AND BRASS 10
IV. REMOVAL OF STAINS 18
V. GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR LAYING THE TABLE. SPREAD- ING TABLE-CLOTH. ARRANGEMENT OF COVERS . 24
VI. DIFFERENT KINDS OF SERVICE. GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR SERVING. PREPARATIONS FOR SERVING A MEAL. CLEARING THE TABLE FOR DESSERT. CLEARING THE TABLE AFTER A MEAL is FINISHED. ORDER OF SERVING 29
VII. LAYING THE TABLE FOR A HOME BREAKFAST AND SERV- ING IN DETAIL 38
VIII. CARE AND SERVING OF FRUIT. GRAPEFRUIT — ORANGES — MELONS — STRAWBERRIES — CURRANTS — BA- NANAS — APPLES — PINEAPPLES .... 44
IX. LAYING TABLE FOR A HOME DINNER AND SERVING IN
DETAIL 54
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
X. LAYING THE TABLE AND SERVING A HOME DINNER
WITHOUT A MAID 60
XI. LAYING THE TABLE FOR A FORMAL LUNCHEON AND
SERVING IN DETAIL 64
XII. FORMAL AND INFORMAL AFTERNOON TEAS. BUFFET
LUNCHEON AND EVENING SPREADS .... 73
XIII. LAYING THE TABLE FOR A FORMAL DINNER AND SERV-
ING IN DETAIL 81
XIV. SERVING OF WINES AND CORDIALS .... 90
XV. CHAFING-DISH SUPPERS. THE TABLE EQUIPMENT. LIST
OF FOODSTUFFS AND CHAFING-DISH COOKERY . 94
XVI. TRAY SERVICE. SERVING BUTTER IN VARIOUS FORMS 98
XVII. CARE OF SALAD GREENS. SERVING OF CHEESES AND
CAVIARE 103
XVIII. NOTES ON CARVING no
XIX. SUGGESTIONS ON THE MAKING OF MENUS. ACCOM- PANIMENTS TO THE SEVERAL COURSES. WHAT TO SERVE WITH SOUP, FISH, MEATS, GAME, SALADS, DESSERTS, ETC. . 115
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frappe Table Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Sideboard ........ 24
Placing of Luncheon Napkin 26
Formal Dinner Cover in Detail .... 26
Maid Removing Crumbs 34
Diagram of Breakfast Table 38
Table Laid for Breakfast, with First Course of Grape- fruit in Place 40
Breakfast for Two Laid in Sun-Room, with First
Course of Orange Juice in Place ... 42
Pineapple Arranged for Serving .... 48
Oranges Arranged for Serving . .... 48 Apple Sliced for After-Dinner Service . . -52
Sliced Lemon, and Sliced Orange with Sprigs of
Mint for Afternoon Tea 52
Diagram of Table Laid for Home Dinner Without
Service of Maid 60
Luncheon Cover in Detail 64
[xi]
List of Illustrations
PACING PAGE
Table Laid for Formal Luncheon with First Course of
Fruit in Place 68
Table Laid for Formal Tea 72
Informal Tea Service with Equipment for Making Tea 74
Informal Tea Service with Tea Made and Brought In 76
Diagram of a Buffet Table 80
Glasses for Wine 82
Glasses for Water 82
Tray Arranged for Breakfast 98
Tray Arranged for Luncheon 100
Butter Forms 102
Celery Cut Club Style 102
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TABLE SERVICE
CHAPTER I DUTIES, DRESS, AND REQUISITES OF A WAITRESS
THE duties of a waitress center around the serving of meals. These duties should be performed in such a manner that the service will be prompt, orderly, unobtrusive, and with as much regard as possible for the prevailing style. Other work that she may be called upon to do will vary according to the formality with which the household is conducted and the number of servants employed. Where only two maids, a cook and a waitress, are employed, the latter is expected to attend to the duties of a second maid, which include keeping in order other parts of the house.
The requisites for a waitress are :
Medium height Cleanliness
Erectness of carriage Quietness
Lightness of foot Order
Quickness of motion
Table Service
She should be alert, observing, and prompt in all service. Absolute cleanliness of person and dress is required under all circumstances.
In summer, her morning uniform should be a white or light cotton gown, white apron, and soft leather shoes which give the minimum of noise. When serving dinner, she should wear a plain black woolen gown with white collar and cuffs, and a small fancy apron, unless it is the wish of her mistress that her dress be wholly white. In extremely warm weather, the white gown at dinner is preferable. A cap may be worn, but the custom is not so general as formerly.
In winter a waitress wears the white or light cotton gown until after luncheon, unless there are guests at that meal. If such is the case, she wears the black gown. Some persons have made the pleasing inno- vation of providing for their maids uniforms of gray mohair, in place of the conventional black. A waitress is expected to be dressed and ready to answer the door-bell at three o'clock in the afternoon. Another maid, or some member of the family, attends to this duty between two and three o'clock.
The duties in regard to the service of meals are as follows :
Care of dining-room and pantry.
Laying of table and serving-table.
[2]
Duties, Dress, and Requisites of a Waitress
Serving breakfast, luncheon, and dinner.
Washing table dishes.
Care of silver, glass, china, cutlery, and brasses.
Care of table linen.
Carving.
Making butterballs, salads, and sandwiches.
Preparation of fruit.
Preparation of celery, radishes, olives, pickles, jellies, relishes, and hors-d'oeuvres.
Preparation of cheeses.
Making and serving beverages.
Serving table waters and wines.
Announcing meals.
The waitress should see that the carving-knife is sharpened before any meal for which it is required. Under no circumstances should the sharpening be done at the table.
[3]
CHAPTER II
CARE OF DINING-ROOM. HARDWOOD FLOORS. WINDOWS. ANSWERING TELEPHONE AND DOOR BELLS
CARE OF DINING-ROOM
ONCE a week the room should be thoroughly cleaned. Sweep hardwood floors with a soft hair brush, then wipe with a long-handled dust-mop. Clean soiled spots with turpentine applied with a soft cloth. Never use water. Every day run the carpet-sweeper or vacuum cleaner over the rug, wipe the floor with a dry mop, and dust the room.
Place fresh water in all vases containing flowers.
After each meal remove any crumbs which may have fallen to the floor and see that the room is thoroughly aired.
Give careful attention to the temperature and ventilation of the dining-room. Bear in mind that fresh air warms more quickly than impure air.
Before breakfast, air the room well, taking care that it is warm before the meal is served. The temperature of the dining-room should be higher for breakfast than for any other meal, but this
Care of Dining -Table
is not always possible. The range of temperature between 67° and 71° Fahrenheit is comfortable to most people.
If an open fire is used for auxiliary heat, the wait- ress should see that the fireplace is swept and cleaned, and the fire relaid for the next lighting.
CARE OF DINING-TABLE
After each meal remove stains, if necessary, and once a week rub the entire surface of the table. A good polish is made from equal parts of raw linseed oil, turpentine, and vinegar. Apply with a soft cloth, then polish with a soft, dry, woolen cloth or chamois, first rubbing across the grain and afterwards with the grain. Do not neglect the sides and edges of the table.
Many persons use a dull-finished table in prefer- ence to one highly polished, as it not only shows wear less and requires less care to keep it looking well, but is also more beautiful. For a table in a country house or in a household where service is limited, a good treatment is the application of a very thin coat of the best spar varnish. This should be put on by some one who thoroughly understands the work. A table so treated may be washed again and again, and the surface always looks well.
[si
Table Service
CARE OF HARDWOOD FLOORS
The waxing and polishing of hardwood floors would best be attended to by men who make it their business. Directions are given, however, for those who wish to have the work done by the household staff.
Sweep the floor with a soft hair brush, then wipe with a long-handled dust-mop. Clean soiled places with turpentine applied with a soft cloth. Never use water. Moisten a flannel cloth with the best soft wax to be obtained and rub over the floor. Let the floor remain in this condition an hour or more, then polish with a weighted brush. Rub first across the grain, then with the grain. When a slight luster comes, cover the brush with a soft, woolen cloth and rub in one direction only, until a high polish is obtained.
An application of spar varnish makes a floor more durable, and is recommended for those receiving hard usage, such as the floors of nurseries, kitchens, and seashore or country dining-rooms. Floors fin- ished in this way are not injured by water.
CARE OF BRUSH AND CLOTHS
The brush must be kept clean when not in use. As a protection from dust, slip the brush into a cotton bag made with a running-string. Once in
[6]
Care of Windows
two or three months clean the brush by washing in tepid water to which ammonia has been added. Let the brush soak half an hour, rinse, and dry in the open air with the bristles down. When bristles are worn out, a new brush may be bought to fit into the weighted top.
Wash the cloths in hot water and washing soda and rinse in two quarts of warm water, to which one tablespoonful of linseed oil has been added to restore the oil and keep the cloths soft.
Keep all materials used for oiling and polishing in a covered jar or tin pail to avoid danger of fire from spontaneous combustion.
CARE OF WINDOWS
In city houses, it is best to have the windows washed by a man ; but the windows of a suburban house can usually be washed by the maid, without difficulty. First clean the woodwork before wash- ing the glass, using wooden skewers in the corners. Wash the glass with a cloth free from lint (a good quality of cheese-cloth is best), wrung out of tepid water. Rub dry with clean cloths which have ab- sorbent qualities and polish with soft paper. Some persons prefer a sponge and a chamois. In winter it is desirable to add alcohol to the water used for washing, as it prevents the water from freezing on
Table Service
the glass. Never wash windows when the sun shines on them, as the result will be a window glass with streaks across it. It is best to wash windows on a mild day. Whatever the temperature, the maid should be well protected from exposure to the weather.
ANSWERING DOOR-BELL
When answering the door-bell, never open the door grudgingly. Open it wide, yet use caution against the intrusiveness of agents. The maid should have within reach a small tray on which to receive calling-cards. She should never take the tray to the door. If the caller does not present a card, the maid asks whom she shall announce. She asks the caller to be seated in the reception-room and then takes the card to her mistress or, if no card is presented, announces the name.
Returning to the reception-room, she announces that Mrs. Blank will be down very soon, unless Mrs. Blank herself comes down as quickly as the maid could return. If the person at the door be a mes- senger, he should be offered a seat in the hall while the maid attends to his errand.
If the maid answers the bell in the morning, while about her work, she must have a clean white apron conveniently placed so that she can put it on quickly.
[8]
Answering the Telephone
A point to be remembered is that the stairs in the front part of the house are to be used by the maid only in conveying communications between the reception-room and the upper part of the house, and are not for the maid's convenience in attending the door.
r
ANSWERING THE TELEPHONE
The telephone call should always be answered promptly, pleasantly, and courteously. If the call is for some person in the house at the time, the maid asks: "What is the name, please?" If the call is for some member of the household who is no€ at home, the maid adds to her question : "May I take a mes- sage?" If a message is given, the maid should re- peat it, to be sure that it is correctly received, and write it down then and there, using the block of paper and pencil which should always be at the telephone.
To keep the telephone in sanitary condition, the mouthpiece should be wiped with disinfectant daily.
[9]
CHAPTER III
EQUIPMENT OF BUTLER'S PANTRY. CARE OF PANTRY SINK. WASHING DISHES. CARE OF SILVER AND BRASS
THE BUTLER'S PANTRY
THE butler's pantry should be equipped with :
Strainers for punches, tea, and coffee.
Enamel ware pitchers for ice-water, punches, soups, etc.
Utensils and seasonings for salad making.
Vegetable brushes for cleaning celery and radishes.
Soft brushes for washing cut glass.
Materials for cleaning silver and cutlery.
Soap, ammonia, washing soda, and alcohol.
Matches in a tightly covered tin box.
rjardwood boards for use in cutting bread, meat, and cake.
Knives of various sizes.
Refuse can of galvanised iron with cover.
A dish drainer with a folded towel in bottom to prevent the nicking of dishes.
Glass-towels, hand-towels, dish-wipers, dish-cloths,
[10]
The Butler's Pantry
cheese-cloths, and holders, neatly arranged in a drawer.
A receptacle for soiled table linen is necessary. A hamper is best, if there is sufficient space ; if not, a bag hung on the door is convenient. It is unwise to place soiled table linen in a drawer, as the odor of food which clings to it is an invitation to mice. A towel rack is essential. If the arrangement of the pantry does not permit the use of a rack which stands upon the floor, have one screwed to the wall, high enough and in such a position that one's head would not be likely to brush against towels hanging on it.
A useful article is a gas, hot-water, or electric heater for heating dishes and for keeping food hot. Dishes heated for the table in this way are less liable to breakage than if they are sent to the kitchen; then, too, the cook needs all the space she has at her disposal. A waitress should bear in mind that hot food should be served hot, and that heated plates and serving dishes are necessary to accomplish this. Yet china should be put into an oven only moder- ately heated.
Certain cold dishes, such as ices and salads, should be served as cold as possible, and the chilling of plates and serving dishes assists in presenting them at the right temperature. The ideal pantry should con-
Table Service
tain a small ice-box for table butter, cream, and salad ingredients.
The best arrangement for the keeping of table linen is to have in the pantry a linen-closet with shelves ; but, this convenience lacking, table linen should be arranged neatly in drawers lined with white paper. It is well to keep table-cloths in a drawer by themselves. Fine cloths keep in much better condition and make a better appearance upon the table, if ironed with one central fold and then rolled. Rolls for the purpose may be bought, or satisfactory ones can be made of many thicknesses of heavy paper. Never fold centerpieces ; keep flat or rolled. Ar- range napkins in piles, according to size and design.
Arrange china and glass conveniently and taste- fully. Hang cups on hooks which come for the pur- pose, as space is thus economized, and the handles are less liable to be broken. For the protection of choice china, "plate savers" (round pieces of cotton flannel) may be laid between the plates, as they are piled. This lessens the danger of scratching and nicking.
THE PANTRY SINK
Keep the pantry sink in good condition and polish the faucets often. Once a week, pour down the pipe or sink drain a strong solution of sal-soda or cop-
[12]
Washing Dishes
peras. The former is preferable, as copperas stains. Potash should never be used, as in combination with the grease collected in the pipe, it tends to make soap, thus clogging the pipe. Sal-soda is the safest and best cleansing agent, and the proportion of one cup of sal-soda to five quarts of hot water is gen- erally satisfactory.
WASHING DISHES
Sort dishes before beginning to wash. See that they are well cleaned, either by using a rubber scraper which comes for the purpose, or by wiping with paper napkins, which should be burned immediately. Be careful to drain all tea and coffee grounds from cups and pots. If the silver is collected and put into a pitcher of water, the washing of it is simplified, and it is kept by itself as it should be.
Two dish-pans, one for the washing of dishes and one for hot rinsing water, make the best arrange- ment, if there is sufficient space for them.
Never leave soap in the dish-pan. Make the water soapy by using the soap-shaker. Dishes should be washed in groups, beginning with those least soiled. Wash and wipe one group of dishes before beginning another. A few dishes only should be put into the dish-pan at a time. When choice dishes are to be washed, it is a good plan to lay in the bottom of the
[13]
Table Service
dish-pan or pantry sink a folded Turkish towel; then, if a treasured piece of china slips from the hand, it falls on a soft substance. There is also a rubber device which slips over the end of the faucet, and lessens the liability of nicking dishes.
Wash the glasses first, previously rinsing in cold water any glass which may have contained milk. Under no condition should a cloudy glass appear upon the table.
Delicate glass and china cannot be exposed to extremes of heat and cold without risk of breakage. The water in which fine china is washed should not be too hot. Glass and china which are decorated with gold should never be put into scalding water or washed with strong soap, for soap will eat off even pure gold. When two tumblers or glass dishes stick together so that there is danger of breakage in get- ting them apart, put cold water into the inner one and hold the outer one in warm water, and they will separate at once. For washing cut glass, use a soft brush and, after wiping, place each piece on a soft, dry towel. This precaution is necessary for dishes of a deeply cut pattern, as the towel absorbs any moisture which cannot be reached in wiping.
A great deal of expensive glass is broken through ignorance. Most breakages result from taking a dish out of a warm closet or room and immediately
Washing Dishes
placing in it something cold. If one tempers a cut glass dish before using, the coldest substance may be put into it without danger. To temper cut glass, pour tepid water into the dish, then a little cold water, next a few small pieces of ice, and then more pieces of ice, until the temperature of the dish gradu- ally approaches that of the substance it is to contain.
Never allow handles of pearl, ivory, or bone to stand, even for a moment, in water. Neglect of this precaution tends to discolor and loosen the handles. After the blades of steel knives are washed, scour with Bath brick or emery-board.
Silver tarnished by egg should be cleaned as soon as it is washed, never left until silver-cleaning time.
Wash water pitchers after each meal. If carafes are used, they should be washed thoroughly twice a week. Any sediment may be removed by using a good soap powder and a small dish-mop. These mops come in varying sizes for articles which have small openings, such as carafes, bottles, vases, etc. Wash the outside of the carafes with a small, stiff brush. Cruets, mustard jars, and salt dishes should be kept scrupulously clean. Diluted ammonia is the effectual agent in the cleaning of vinegar cruets.
Table Service
DIRECTIONS FOR THE CARE OF SILVER
Silver, if washed in plenty of soap and hot water and rubbed dry with soft, clean towels each time it is used, need not be cleaned oftener than once a month. To clean silver, wash in hot suds and wipe dry. The addition of borax softens the water; a good proportion to use is one teaspoonful of borax to two quarts of water. A silver-cleaning paste or soap, bought of a reliable dealer, is the most satisfactory cleansing agent. Either one should be applied with a soft cloth, the silver wiped with a clean, soft cloth, and polished with chamois. A soft brush will be required for engraved, grooved, or chased work. Silver cleaning-pans are liked by many, as the silver is cleaned quickly and easily; but great caution should be exercised in their use and they should not be employed for the cleaning of plated ware. The cleaning-pans give most gratifying results when used for solid silver which has become badly tar- nished from lack of use.
Silver should never be wrapped in bleached flannel, as the sulphur which has been used in bleaching will tarnish it. Unbleached cotton flannel or a French tissue paper which is grass-bleached is best. A small piece of camphor gum placed with silver when it is put away will help to prevent tarnish. Rubber
[16]
Cleaning Brass
i
must not be left near gold or silver. Rubber bands around boxes in which silver is kept will cause the metal to tarnish, owing to the sulphur in the rubber.
CLEANING BRASS
Acids clean brasses readily but cause them to tarnish quickly. As nearly all patented prepara- tions contain acids, the cleaning should be followed by an application of whiting, which will neutralize the action of the acid and preserve the surface from corrosion. One can buy a brass polish giving satis- factory results, or salt and vinegar may be used, if care is taken to wash the article afterward in hot water, then to polish with whiting and finish polish- ing with a soft, dry towel. Brass and copper ar- ticles, after being perfectly cleaned, retain their brightness a long time when left in a dry atmosphere, but when exposed to dampness, tarnish quickly; at the seashore, therefore, a good treatment, after cleaning, is a thin coating of white shellac, which excludes the air and keeps brasses bright under unfavorable conditions.
CHAPTER IV REMOVAL OF STAINS
ALL spots and stains should be dealt with while fresh. The longer they are allowed to remain, the more difficult will be their removal. The first thing to remember about all stains is that the fundamental treatment is the same — to find some substance in which the stain is soluble. If the right solvent is not known, one employs wrong methods, and the stain becomes "set" when it might have been re- moved easily. Most stains are made permanent by the use of hot water and soap. For this reason it is best to treat a stain before washing. Stains are much more easily removed from white than colored materials, as many of the best solvents which remove stains also remove color.
Stains which call for the use of boiling water may be more easily removed if the cloth containing the stained part is stretched tight in an embroidery frame, then placed over a basin and the boiling water applied.
[18]
Character of
Stain BLOOD
CANDLE
CHOCOLATE
COFFEE CREAM
FRUIT
GRASS STAIN
Removal of Stains
Reagent Method of Removal
Cold water and ivory Wash in soap and soap with cold raw water and cover starch. with a paste of
starch and water.
Blotting paper and
warm iron.
Borax with cold and boiling water.
Boiling water. Cold water.
Boiling water.
Naphtha soap warm water.
[19]
and
Place paper on spot and rub with hot iron, changing paper often.
Sprinkle the stain with borax. Soak in cold water. Use boiling water as for coffee.
Pour from a height with force.
Wash while fresh. (Applies to any stain, but particu- larly to milk and cream.)
Same as for coffee. (Peach and pear need frost.)
Wash in soap and water. Apply ammonia and cold water at once.
Character of
Stain INK
IRON RUST
MEAT JUICE
Table Service
Reagent Method of Removal
There is an ink eradi- cates on the
market that is
most satisfactory
on white goods. Or use milk (sweet Soak in milk, or in
or sour) ; salt and salt and lemon
lemon ; water juice.
and chloride of
lime; ongaline.
Lemon and salt ; on- Spread a cloth over
galine, or oxalic a bowl containing
acid. one quart warm
water and one
teaspoon borax.
Apply acid drop
by drop until stain
lightens, then dip
in water in bowl;
or dampen with
cold water, salt,
and lemon juice.
Spread in sun and
keep moist with
lemon.
Cold water and soap. Wash first in cold water, then in soap and cold water. [20]
Removal of Stains
Character of Reagent
Stain
MEDICINE STAINS Alcohol.
MILK
MILDEW
Same as cream. Cold water.
Lemon j trice and sun- shine.
Or a paste of soap, lemon, starch, and salt.
Or chloride of lime.
Method of Removal
Soak in alcohol.
Wash while fresh. (Applies to any stain, but particu- larly to milk and cream.)
Cover with lemon juice and put in sunshine. Make a paste of soft soap, juice of one lemon, one tablespoon powdered starch, salt ; let remain on spot 48 hours ; spread on grass during treatment. Make second ap- plication if neces- sary or soak in solution of one tablespoon chlo- ride lime in four quarts of water till mildew disap- pears. Rinse several times in clear water.
[21]
Character of
Stain PAINT
Table Service
Reagent Method of Removal
Benzine or turpen- tine.
Rub stain with either.
Rub stain while fresh on wrong side of garment.
SCORCH
TEA
Sunlight.
Do not have to wet it. The quicker it is treated the better.
Glycerine and boil- Spread stained part ing water. over bowl. Pour
on glycerine, then boiling water.
WAX
Blotting paper and
warm iron.
Place paper on spot and rub with hot iron, changing the paper often.
WHEEL GREASE AND STREET OIL
Lard and boiling Rub lard well into water. grease spot. Pour
boiling water over the spot to remove grease. Then wash in very hot water.
[22]
Removal of Stains
Character of
Stain
FRESH WINE STAINS
Reagent
Method of Removal
Yellow laundry soap and pulverized starch.
Wet the stain with strong suds made of hard, yellow, laundry soap. Then coat the stain very thickly with pulverized starch; and lay it in the sun. After one good sun-bath of two hours or so, the stain should disappear. If it remains, repeat the process. Cover as soon as possible with a thick layer of salt. Then treat as for coffee stains.
After using acids, always wash cloth out in ammonia or borax water.
Or use salt and boiling water, or salt and boiling milk.
[23]
CHAPTER V
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR LAYING THE TABLE. SPREADING TABLE-CLOTH. ARRANGEMENT OF COVERS
THE center of the dining-table should be directly under the central light, unless this position would not permit the waitress to pass between the table and the sideboard. For dinner, lay the silence cloth upon the table. This cloth may be double-faced cotton flannel, knitted table padding, or an asbestos pad ; the latter may be obtained in various sizes. The first two launder well ; the last is easily handled and may be protected from soiling by the use of linen covers, which can be bought to fit the pads. The table-cloth appears to best advantage when ironed with few folds, which must be straight. A table- cloth should be unfolded on the table, not opened and thrown over it, as the latter method tends to crumple the cloth. The center fold of the cloth must form a true line through the center of the table, having the four corners at equal distances from the floor. The cloth never should hang less than nine inches on all sides below the edge of the table.
[24]
General Directions for Laying the Table
Place the centerpiece directly in the center of the table, taking care that the thread of the linen runs in the same direction as the thread of the cloth. Place in center of this a fern dish, growing plant, dish of fruit, or cut flowers. This is the conventional arrangement to be varied by individual taste. The decoration varies in elaborateness with the meal served, but whatever the arrangement, it should be either so low or so high that an unobstructed view may be had across the table.
Lay the covers, allowing twenty-four to thirty inches from plate to plate. A " cover" consists of the plates, glasses, silver, and napkin to be used by each person. The covers on opposite sides of the table should be directly opposite each other, not out of line. Mark the position of the covers by laying the service or place plates, which should be not less than ten inches in diameter. In laying a bare table, the covers are marked by the plate doilies. A ser- vice plate is laid for each person, one inch from the edge of the table ; this plate remains upon the table until it is necessary to replace it with a hot plate.
Next, lay the silver, which should always be placed in the order in which it is to be used, beginning at the outside and using toward the plate. Silver for the dessert course is never put on with the silver required for the other courses, except for the dinner
[25]
Table Service
which is served without a maid, when everything should be done to avoid the necessity of leaving the table. Neither is the table set with more than three forks. If more are required, they are placed with their respective courses. Either bring the salad or dessert silver in on the plate, or place it from a nap- kin or tray at the right, from the right, after the plate is placed. Some persons object to the first- named method, on account of the possible noise. The knife or knives are to be placed at the right of the plate, half an inch from the edge of the table, with the cutting edge toward the plate. Place spoons, with the bowls facing up, at the right of the knife; and forks, with the tines turned upward, at the left of the plate. The spoon for fruit or the small fork for oysters or hors-d'oeuvres is placed at the extreme right or on the plate containing this course. This statement does not include the serving of oys- ters or clams on the shell ; then the fork is always found at the right.
Place the napkin, preferably flat and squarely folded, at the left of the forks. The hem and selvage of the napkin should be parallel with the forks and the edge of the table, this position bringing the embroidered letter, if there be one, in the right place. Napkins are sometimes given additional folds to save space.
[26]
Placing Luncheon Napkin.
Nuts.
Entree*....!]
Meat
^•*. ^*~S \A/*»+f
.0 O'o::- -^
...Keat A...J,sh ^...^«up .....Jryit ... .Service plaia
Formal Dinner Cover in Detail
General Directions for Laying the Table
Place the water glass at the point of the knife ; the bread-and-butter plate above the service plate, a little to the left ; and the butter spreader across the upper, right-hand side of the bread-and-butter plate, with the blade turned toward the center of the plate. At first-class hotels the butter spreader is often found at the right with the other knives, but this is not consistent with home table service. Place all the silver, china, and glass required for one cover as close together as possible, without having the pieces touch or appear crowded. The whole table and the cover itself has a much neater appearance if the cover is compact, not loosely spread. Salt and pepper sets are to be placed between each two covers. If an open salt cellar is used, place the salt- spoon across the top or on the cloth beside it.
When the table is being laid for a supper or a spread where no knife is required, place the fork at the right, as it is to be used in the right hand and there is sufficient space for it there. A teaspoon, if called for, would be at the right of the fork.
The table laid, the chairs are placed. They should not be too near the table, neither entirely away from it, but where they can be used with slight exertion.
The sideboard was used formerly to hold all extras required during the serving of a meal. The serving- table has taken its place, while the sideboard is used
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Table Service
for decorative purposes only, usually holding choice pieces of silver. The size of the serving-table deter- mines how much or how little shall be arranged upon it, and what shall be in the pantry in readiness for use. A screen is desirable in the dining-room to shield a person at the table from the draughts of a swing door, as well as to shut off the view of the pantry interior. If the tight door is used, fasten it back during the serving of a meal and place the screen, which is then even more necessary. Greater care must be taken in the latter case that no sound of voice or preparation shall be heard from the pantry.
[=8]
CHAPTER VI
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SERVICE. GENERAL DI- RECTIONS FOR SERVING. PREPARATIONS FOR SERVING A MEAL. ANNOUNCING A MEAL. CLEARING THE TABLE FOR DESSERT. CLEAR- ING THE TABLE AFTER A MEAL IS FINISHED. ORDER OF SERVING
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SERVICE
THERE are three forms of service, the English, the Russian, and the Mixed. The last, as its name indicates, is a compromise between the other two. When deciding how much or how little form is to be used in the serving of meals, one must first take into consideration the number of servants employed as well as one's personal preferences.
The English service is the most practical where help in table service is limited, as all the food be- longing to one course is placed in suitable dishes before the host, hostess, or some other member of the family, and served from the table.
The Russian service is "from the side" and is in use entirely for formal dinners and luncheons. It is in use also for all meals by those who care for form
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Table Service
and have the servants to conduct it well. The plates are placed, empty, for the successive courses, and all the food is passed, attractively arranged on suitable dishes, from which each person helps him- self; or the food may be arranged on individual plates and placed before each person, although this is not the best form of the service.
The combination of the two forms results in the Mixed service, in which some of the courses are placed upon the table in the English way, while others are served from the side in the Russian style. For example, the soup may be placed (Russian), the meat carved at the table by the host (English), the vegetables passed by the waitress (Russian), the salad served by the hostess (English), or passed by the waitress (Russian), and the dessert served by the hostess (English).
GENERAL DIRECTIONS AND PREPARATIONS FOR SERVING
Special watchfulness of each person's needs in the dining-room is expected of a waitress. No person should be obliged to ask for bread, butter, rolls, or water. An attentive maid keeps these supplied. During the progress of a meal she should speak only when addressed.
The cook and the waitress should be furnished with
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Directions and Preparations for Serving
menus of the meals for each day. The service will be much smoother than if they are obliged to rely upon their memory.
If the English service is used, the maid should lay out one more plate for each course than there are people at the table; this is used for the working plate.
Before serving a meal, the maid should have ar- ranged in groups, on the serving-table or in the pantry, the serving silver required for that meal, also all the silver required for a single cover. Then, if some piece is accidentally dropped by a person at the table, it can be quickly and unobtrusively replaced.
The waitress should have, within easy reach, a soft napkin, which she can bring to absorb any liquid which may be overturned. The spot should then be covered with a fresh doily or napkin. She should have at hand, also, a heavy, damp, woolen cloth to use in case of accidents, such as candle-shades taking fire, or the lamp of the tea-kettle or the chafing-dish burning beyond control. Under no circumstances should the maid carry out the flaming article, for it is dangerous to attempt to move it. The flame should be smothered.
No sound of a voice or of running water or noise of any kind should come from the pantry, while people are at the table.
Table Service
Be sure that all plates and dishes which should be heated are heated, and all dishes for serving ices and salads and cold desserts are chilled.
In arranging the various .plates for the courses, have in mind the color combinations of food on deco- rated china, and select the china which will har- monize best with the food to be served.
Always place a linen doily in a plate to be used for bread, rolls, crackers, sandwiches, or cakes. Paper doilies are not good form, unless it is necessary to use a doily with food which would be damaging to a linen one.
Avoid filling cups and glasses to the brim. Do not lift a glass to refill it; if it is difficult to refill, on account of the closeness of the covers, draw the glass out on the cloth to a position near the edge of the table where it can be filled easily. Move the glass by placing the hand near the bottom, never over the top.
ANNOUNCING A MEAL
Before announcing a meal, the waitress should see that all doors and drawers are closed, all shades properly drawn, and all necessary articles for the serving of the meal at hand.
Two minutes before a meal is announced fill each water glass two thirds full of water and set a form of butter upon each bread-and-butter plate.
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Announcing a Meal
In announcing a meal, it is sufficient for the maid to appear at the door of the drawing-room, standing in silence for her mistress to recognize her presence ; or she may announce the meal by the formula "Dinner is served" " Luncheon is served." If the family is large and scattered, she may use a Japanese gong as a summons, but only for the informal meal. A formal luncheon or dinner is always announced by the waitress in person. Breakfast is announced according to the preference of the hostess; some- times at the chamber doors, sometimes by the Japan- ese gong, or by personal announcement, if the family is assembled in one room.
A maid should pass, serve, and place everything from the left, except beverages and extra silver, which are served or placed at the right, from the right. Place and remove plates, one at a time. To facili- tate service, it is permissible to bring two plates of food (soup or salad particularly) to the dining-room, placing one on the serving-table and the other on the dining-table ; returning to the serving-table for the second plate rather than to the pantry saves time and steps.
In exchanging or placing plates, the hand should grasp the edge of the plate, never allowing the thumb to be placed over the rim. See that the rims of all plates and the bottoms of all serving dishes are clean
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Table Service
before taking them to the table. When placing or removing one plate, always use the left hand. If removing and placing at the same time, use the left hand for the plate containing food which might be spilled if the elbow were jostled, and use the right hand for the empty plate or the one containing food less likely to spill.
When presenting any dish containing food, have a squarely folded dinner napkin on the palm of the left hand, under the dish. Have the serving silver placed on the dish in a position convenient for the person to be served ; this silver should be arranged in the pantry, not as the dish is being presented. Two pieces of silver, placed one at either end of platter, are essential in most cases for the best service.
Hold the serving dish firmly and low, and near the person to be served. Hold it in the left hand and if too heavy for one hand, steady or balance it with the right hand on the edge of the dish. Stand slightly back of chair and keep as far away from the person being served as is consistent with good ser- vice. Close contact should be avoided.
Always pass the most important accompaniment to a course first and others in the order of their im- portance.
The folded napkin is used under all dishes con- taining food to be served. The napkin is not used
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Clearing the Table for Dessert
when placing or exchanging plates, or in removing from the table dishes containing food. The serving tray is used principally when it is necessary to pass or remove two or more small articles, such as cream and sugar, or salts and peppers. The tray should be fitted with a linen doily, which helps to keep the articles from sliding.
In clearing the table for another course, remove all dishes containing food, not taking the silver from them ; first of all the platter or principal dish, plac- ing the carving-knife and fork side by side on the platter, if the carver has not already done so ; next, the soiled plates and silver ; and last, all clean china and silver which were not used.
Bread-and-butter plates remain upon the table until after the salad course. Salted nuts, bonbons, and all water and wine-glasses remain upon the table to the end of the meal. In some sections of the country, it is customary to remove the wine- glasses as each course of wine is finished. The disadvantage of this custom is the fact that persons who care for only one kind of wine during dinner are inconvenienced.
CLEARING THE TABLE FOR DESSERT
In clearing the table for dessert, remove any rel- ishes which may have been upon the table, the
Table Service
bread-and-butter plates, and the salts and peppers ; that is the only time during the meal that a person is left without a plate before him. Remove the crumbs from the table, using a small napkin and a decorated plate for the purpose. The use of a doily in the plate depends upon individual preference.
CLEARING THE TABLE AFTER A MEAL IS FINISHED
After a meal is over, set the chairs back in their places, then brush up the crumbs which may have fallen to the floor, lest they be trodden into the rug. In clearing a breakfast or tea-table where there has been no change of courses, remove the glasses and silver first. Put any food that is to be saved on small dishes to be set away. Scrape the table dishes, empty and rinse the cups, and neatly pack together those of a kind, near where they are to be washed. Brush the crumbs from the cloth or table, remove doilies, or fold the cloth in its creases, and put away carefully.
ORDER OF SERVING
The order of serving depends largely upon the wishes of the hostess and the occasion.
Serve first the hostess or the guest of honor, then the next person to the right around the table in suc- cession, whether a man or a woman.
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Order of Serving
The majority of persons prefer serving the hostess first, and there are advantages in doing so. It enables her to see if the dish has been properly pre- pared and provided with suitable serving silver. Also, if the course is unusual or puzzling, the guest, by observing the hostess, may learn how to serve herself.
At a formal dinner, two waitresses are usually in attendance. One begins with the woman guest of honor at the right of the host and serves to the right. The other starts with the hostess and continues around the table to the right, ending with the host. This method of service gives one of the maids more persons to serve than the other.
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CHAPTER VII
LAYING THE TABLE FOR A HOME BREAKFAST AND SERVING IN DETAIL
THE HOME BREAKFAST
THE American breakfast has become a much simpler meal than in years past. The light menu generally used consists of fruit, followed by cereal, then the main dish, which may be eggs (cooked in various ways), bacon, or broiled or creamed fish, always with hot rolls, muffins, or toast, and coffee. Some persons prefer tea or cocoa. The Continental custom of serving honey or marmalade has been generally adopted.
Directions in detail follow for laying the table, and serving, English style, a simple menu.
LAYING THE TABLE
The practice of using the bare table with doilies is growing in popularity. The principal reasons are the saving in laundry and the fresher appearance of the table. The luncheon set is in almost univer- sal use at breakfast and luncheon, the table-cloth still being used at dinner.
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Diagram of Breakfast Table.
Laying the Table
First, rub the table-top with a soft cloth and place the centerpiece. Upon the centerpiece place what- ever form of decoration one cares to use. Then mark the covers by placing the plate doilies. On each doily place the service plate. At the right of each service plate place a knife and, at the right of the knife, a spoon for the cereal ; at the left of the plate, a fork; at the left of the fork, the napkin. Place the water glass on a small doily matching the plate doily and centerpiece, at the point of the knife. Lay the bread-and-butter plate on a small doily at the tip of the fork. Place the butter spreader across the upper, right-hand side of the plate. Di- rectly in front, at the head of the plate, place a doily, and on that a finger-bowl one third full of tepid water. Place salt and pepper sets, each set on a small doily, between each two covers.
In front of the mistress place the coffee service. This will necessitate slight changes in the cover laid for her use.
One of the most attractive arrangements is the large, silver tray holding coffee urn, hot-water pot, creamer, and sugar-bowl with sugar-tongs, a bowl for the water which has been used to heat the cups, and as many cups and saucers as the tray will ac- commodate. Be sure that the teaspoon is on the right-hand side of the saucer, the handle of spoon
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Table Service
parallel to the handle of cup. If there is not room for all the cups required, the maid should bring from the serving-table to her mistress, a fresh cup, when she takes from her a full cup. The silver coffee-pot may be used in place of the urn. Some persons choose the Russian samovar, of course selecting a tray to match, with creamer and sugar-bowl of luster ware or china harmonious in coloring. A simpler service is to place at the hostess's right a coffee- pot on a tile, and to arrange the accompanying hot-water pot, the creamer, and the sugar-bowl in a half circle in front of her, with the cups and saucers inside the semicircle. Or the percolator may be put on in the same way, and either silver or china or glass, as one prefers, used for the remainder of the service. If a coffee-pot is used, it should be scalded before it is filled.
A hostess should ask a guest at table his prefer- ences as to cream and sugar ; those of the family she is supposed to know. It is important that cream and sugar be put into the cup before pouring the coffee. The flavor is quite different and not satisfactory to the coffee drinker if the coffee is poured into the cup and the sugar and cream passed.
See that all doors and drawers are shut, shades properly drawn, and screen placed. After filling glasses with water, and placing butter upon the
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!
o
Serving the Breakfast in Detail
bread-and-butter plate, place upon the service plate a fruit plate containing the prepared half of a grape- fruit. The spoon for the grapefruit may be at the extreme right beside the spoon for cereal or prefer- ably, on the plate with the grapefruit. After attend- ing to the service of water and butter, as the last thing, light the alcohol lamp under the urn or hot- water kettle, if one is used, and then announce break- fast in the manner the mistress prefers.
SERVING THE BREAKFAST IN DETAIL
MENU Grapefruit
Cereal Dropped Eggs on Toast with Rasher of Bacon
Buttered Toast
Orange Marmalade
Coffee
I. Remove fruit plate (right hand) and finger-bowl
and doily together (left hand).
II. Place individual cereal dish on service plate (left hand).
III. Pass serving dish containing cereal with serving
spoon in dish (left hand, napkin).
IV. Pass cream and sugar (tray), sugar-spoon, when
presented to the first person, upon the tray be- side the bowl. Have handle of pitcher and
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Table Service
handle of spoon for sugar in a position convenient for the person served.
V. Remove service plate with individual cereal dish (left hand) and place warm plate (right hand). Soiled plates should be removed to the pantry, not to the serving-table. Warm plates may be brought from the pantry or taken one by one from the serving-table, if previously placed there.
VI. Place serving silver for eggs and bacon (right side, right hand, napkin or tray).
VII. Place asbestos mat, fitted with linen cover, in front
of host (left side, left hand).
VIII. Place platter containing eggs and bacon before host (napkin).
IX. Bring warm plate (right hand) and place before
host after taking up (left hand) filled plate. X. Place filled plate (left hand) before person to be served, removing first (right hand) warm one already there, which take to host for serving, and proceed as before until all are served.
XI. Take cup of coffee from mistress (left hand), change to right hand, and place (right side). Be sure that cup is placed so that the handle may be taken easily.
XII. Repeat in same manner until all are served. If tray or space before mistress is not large enough for all cups needed, after placing a filled cup go to serving-table for fresh cup (right hand), and
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Serving the Breakfast in Detail
place before mistress when the next filled cup is taken (left hand).
The person who pours usually hands the filled cup to the waitress, but the maid herself should place and take up all plates and other dishes containing food, such as cereal, salad, dessert, etc.
XIII. Pass plate of toast (napkin).
XIV. Pass marmalade in small dish with spoon in dish
(napkin).
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CHAPTER VIII
CARE AND SERVING OF FRUIT. GRAPEFRUIT - ORANGES — MELONS — STRAWBERRIES — CUR- RANTS — BANANAS — APPLES — PINEAPPLES
ALL fruit has been exposed to dust, dirt, or han- dling and should be made clean when brought from market or garden. Pears and apples, if cleansed by rubbing, will take a high polish, which adds to their beauty. Peaches should be brushed or wiped carefully. Grapes should be washed, thoroughly drained, and the imperfect ones removed, just before serving. Some persons do not approve of washing berries, but berries and other small fruits (especially those that are received through city markets) harbor insects and other impurities that only washing will remove. The best way to wash berries is to put them into a large bowl of cold water and splash them about, repeating the process with fresh water till the berries are free from sand and dirt. By this method, the sand settles to the bottom of the bowl, whereas if the berries are placed in a colander or sieve, all the sand does not wash through, but more or less lodges on the fruit.
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Care and Serving of Fruit
It is often advisable to buy fruit in large quantities : oranges and grapefruit by the box or half box, apples by the barrel, bananas by the bunch, etc. They should be kept in a cool place, the drier the better and looked over often, using those first which ripen first. Pears picked green and put into a dark place for ripening do not change all at once, but some be- fore others, and therefore need frequent inspection.
There is a difference of opinion as to whether or not fruit should be chilled before serving. Some epicures think that the flavor of fruit is spoiled by chilling; but, in the summer time especially, fruit that is cool is refreshing to most persons.
Much taste may be shown in arranging fruits for the table. There is a large variety in size, shape, and design of china, silver, glass, and basket recep- tacles which are made for holding fruits. Some in glass and silver are designed to hold both fruit and flowers.
When possible, leaves from the tree or bush upon which the fruit was grown, should be put on the dish beneath the fruit. Grape leaves under small clusters of grapes, peaches, and plums, give a bit of cool color and fill in awkward spaces. In the fall, when clematis becomes dried, its soft fluffiness gives an attractive touch to a dish of fruit.
When using pumpkins made into bowl or basket
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Table Service
shape for the fruit dish, as is often done for Thanks- giving dinners, the vine fills in the spaces gracefully and fittingly.
The most popular fruit and the one longest in season is the grapefruit. For breakfast it is served in a simple manner; but for luncheon or dinner it may be combined with cordials or suitable garnishes and be made as elaborate as desired. In preparing grapefruit for breakfast, wipe with cheese-cloth wrung out of cold water, cut in halves crosswise (not from end to end) and with a sharp, thin-bladed knife remove seeds, then cut around pulp within each section of the fruit, except the outside next rind ; cut this last of all, severing the membrane where it joins the rind, and cutting to the bottom of the fruit. Next, cut the core from the bottom of the grapefruit, and pull the core upwards ; it should bring with it the skin between sections of the pulp, leaving pulp undisturbed in its place. Holding pulp down on one side with the flat side of the knife and pulling one side at a time greatly helps in removing the mem- brane. One must be careful in preparing grapefruit in this way to avoid too much pressure. It should be handled lightly, otherwise much juice escapes, and the fruit is not pleasing in appearance. The halves of grapefruit are now sprinkled with sugar or the sugar may be passed, as some persons consider
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Care and Serving of Fruit
it more wholesome in the natural state. Grapefruit is not at its best when prepared the night before serving, but it is quite desirable that it stand in an ice-box from ten to fifteen minutes if sugar is served on it.
Grapefruit is served at luncheon or dinner either as a first or as a dessert course. When grapefruit is to be served in either of these ways, prepare as already mentioned or carefully remove the sections and serve in glasses which come for the purpose, or in sherbet or champagne glasses. Various cordials are used for flavoring, and some garnishes answer the purpose of flavoring as well. The Maraschino cherry is the most common of these ; another is Bar le Due currants, either red or white, a spoonful placed over the fruit or in the center cavity ; cubes of apple-mint jelly with grapefruit make a combina- tion pleasing to eye and palate ; candied fruits may be chopped fine and sprinkled over grapefruit; whipped cream, sweetened and flavored with Maras- chino cordial, may be put on the fruit with pastry bag and tube, and the cream garnished with candied violets or cherries. When serving the grapefruit in its skin, select bright yellow, smooth fruit.
Halves of grapefruit are arranged for individual service on small plates, usually covered with a lace paper doily. Lycopodium moss makes an attractive mat and garnish for the fruit, as it gives a soft, light
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Table Service
effect and gracefully fills in the space between fruit and plate.
The two most popular ways of preparing oranges are :
ist. Wipe and serve fruit whole. Each person eats in the way he chooses, either cutting in halves crosswise and using the orange-spoon, or peeling and separating the fruit into sections.
2nd. Wipe fruit, cut in halves crosswise, and ex- tract juice, using a glass lemon squeezer. Serve in small glasses two-thirds full. The glasses filled with the juice are set on small doily-covered plates, placed in position on the service plate before breakfast is announced.
Other suggestions are given which, though not practical for the breakfast table, are helpful in planning for tray service.
ist. Wipe orange, peel, remove fruit in sections, and free from skin and seeds, preserving shape. Arrange on small plate around a mound of confec- tioner's sugar.
2nd. Select and wipe large, firm oranges. Cut lengthwise through the skin of fruit in eight equal sections, from blossom end to within one inch of stem end. Then peel back, tucking each point under to represent petals. Leave the orange pulp whole, or partly separate sections.
Pineapple Arranged for Serving.
Oranges Arranged for Serving.
Care and Serving of Fruit
3rd. Wipe and remove the peel from an orange in such a way that an inch-wide band remains around the center at equal distance from stem and blossom ends. Cut the band across once, separate sections, but do not remove them from the band, and arrange around a mound of sugar.
4th. Wipe and prepare orange in the same way as with band and separated sections ; cut the band once and turn so as to leave the sections outside; fasten band together with a small skewer (wooden toothpick) to make a circle.
Melons are served either for the "beginning" or the "finish" of a meal. Small melons should be washed, wiped, chilled, and cut in halves, from stem to blossom end. Remove seeds and objectionable stringy portion, and serve to each person half a melon placed on a small plate (with or without paper doily). Pass sugar on a tray, and salt and pepper also, if they are not on the table between every two covers. The flavor is preserved if the melon is perfectly chilled, but is lessened or destroyed if pieces of ice are served in it.
Watermelon should be very cold and may be served in a variety of ways. If a melon is served with the rind on, wipe, cut in halves, and trim the rounded end of each half so that it may stand flat and firm on the serving dish. Then the host may
Table Service
remove the red portion with a large spoon, in egg- shaped pieces, and place on individual plates. The melon may be cut in the pantry in slices three inches thick ; then the rind cut off in circular pieces, and the edible center (rounds of pink pulp) removed to a chop plate or silver platter of ample size. To serve, cut in wedge-shaped pieces. Another way is to re- move the pink center of the melon in the pantry with a spoon, in egg-shaped pieces, and arrange on a large glass or silver dish, with cracked ice. A few green leaves or a few sprigs of mint may add to the attrac- tiveness of the dish.
Choice, large strawberries should be served with the hulls on, after gently cleaning the fruit with a soft brush (butter brush). They may be piled in pyramid shape on a dish, and sugar passed with them, or they may be served on individual plates around a small mound of sugar. The mound is made by pressing confectioner's sugar into a cone-shaped utensil of the size desired and then unmolding it in the center of the plate. A pastry tube is of the right size and shape ; sometimes a cordial glass and again forms of stiff paper may be used. If the sugar has been pressed firmly into the cone, and the lower edge of the mold tapped on the plate directly where it is to be placed, it will hold its shape, unless handled or shaken roughly. Small galax leaves, with stems
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Care and Serving of Fruit
removed, fitted into one another and placed on the plate to form a mat, make a good color background for this fruit, if one cannot obtain strawberry leaves. Miniature market baskets, obtained at a caterer's or confectioner's, may be filled with the berries and placed on the individual plate. (
Currants on the stems should be washed, drained, and arranged for serving on a dish, preferably glass, and sugar passed. Large currants should be removed from stem and washed, then put into a dish with granulated sugar, and shaken until the currants are covered with the sugar. This should be done only just before serving. White and red currants served together make a pleasing effect. Small fruits like currants, blackberries, and raspberries may be served with a little crushed ice ; this is much appreciated on a hot day, and these fruits, being highly flavored, bear the slight dilution the melting ice gives. Cherries may be served on the stems, or stemmed and pitted and served in individual dishes with sugar and crushed ice.
Grape scissors are essential when bunches of grapes are served.
Whole bananas with skins left on are served at breakfast, or they may be peeled, sliced, and sugar and cream passed, or peeled, sliced, and sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar.
Table Service
Apples are not often served peeled, as the pulp discolors so quickly; but if prepared nicely, they make a pleasing finish to a heavy dinner. Select large, perfect apples and keep them in the ice-box for several hours before serving. Immediately before they are to be used, peel, and cut in slices an eighth of an inch thick from stem to blossom end, be- ginning at the outside and working toward the core. Arrange the slices on a flat glass dish with serving fork and pass as the last course.
Pineapple, when prepared in the simplest way, is shredded, sprinkled with sugar, and served from a large dish. To shred pineapple, pare and cut out eyes. Pick off* pieces with a silver fork, continuing until all the soft part is removed. It can be made to look more attractive, however, by serving in other ways.
ist. Cut a slice from both top and bottom of a large pineapple, then cut off the rind in four pieces, leaving a pyramid. Cut the pyramid in half-inch slices, crosswise, leaving in original shape. Serve with sugar.
2nd. Pare and remove eyes from pineapples. Then cut in half-inch slices crosswise. Remove hard cen- ters, using a small biscuit cutter, thus leaving fruit in rings. Arrange rings, overlapping each other, in a round serving dish, and sprinkle with granu-
Apples Sliced for After Dinner Service.
Sliced Lemon and Sliced Orange with Sprigs of Mint for Afternoon Tea.
Care and Serving of Fruit
lated sugar. Leaves from the top of the pineapple make an attractive garnish. One may be slipped through each ring with pleasing effect.
3rd. Pare and remove eyes from pineapple. Then cut crosswise in slices one inch thick. Cut these slices in halves and arrange them on a serving dish, straight side down, radiating from a bunch of mint.
4th. Clean thoroughly a selected pineapple. Each eye has a distinct outline, about an inch in diameter. With a sharp, pointed knife, cut on this outline to- ward the center of the fruit, and with a fork detach and remove the cone-shaped pieces. Arrange pieces on individual plates around mounds of sugar. They may be eaten easily with the fingers, as the outside skin remains on.
[53]
CHAPTER IX
LAYING TABLE FOR A HOME DINNER AND SERVING IN DETAIL
THE HOME DINNER WITH MIXED SERVICE
THE following menu is chosen to illustrate the home dinner service, not so much that it is attractive in itself, as that it gives an opportunity for varied service, — that is, the use of the side dish, which is never seen at a formal dinner, and of a small dish, set in a plate, for the dessert.
MENU Clam Soup Crisp Crackers
Sirloin Roast of Beef with Franconia Potatoes Brown Gravy Canned Corn
Bread
Dressed Lettuce Graham Bread Sandwiches
Blanc Mange Crackers and Cheese Demi-tasse
LAYING HOME DINNER-TABLE
Lay the silence cloth, the table-cloth, the center- piece, and the decoration, and follow the general
[54]
Laying Home Dinner-Table
directions for laying the table and serving given in a preceding chapter. Place for this dinner the service plate, a knife, a spoon for the corn, and a soup spoon ; two forks, one for meat and one for salad; water glass, bread-and-butter plate with spreader, napkin, and salts and peppers. The carving cloth, if used, is placed now. It is not always desired, but it protects the cloth from the spatters which are un- avoidable in carving, and the particles of crisp fat which are apt to fly. It may be an oblong tray cloth, a carving cloth with opening for asbestos mat, or a dinner napkin.
It is as important that the maid prepare and lay out all necessary dishes, silver, and serving napkins that will be required during the meal as that she forget nothing in laying the table. A delay in the service which is caused by hunting for some piece of needed serving silver is unpardonable.
When a maid serves from the table, she should always provide one plate more than the number of persons to be served, as this is necessary to work with.
If a salad is served with the meat course, place it on the right side, from the right. This is one of the very few exceptions to the rule of "placing everything from the left except beverages and extra silver."
After passing vegetables, take them to the kitchen
tssi
Table Service
to be kept warm, the mistress ringing if a second helping is needed.
If the dining-room has no electric table-bell, for the best service the waitress should remain in the dining-room, when her duties do not require her presence in the pantry.
Some persons prefer the conventional method of having the serving silver placed on the table before the dish to be served is brought in. Others prefer the newer way of having the silver brought in on the platter. The latter saves time and steps.
The soup should be brought to the dining-room after the family are seated, in order that it may be served hot. Soup at dinner should always be served in soup plates, never in bouillon cups, unless one is serving an iced consomme.
SERVING HOME DINNER IN DETAIL When the family are seated,
I. Bring two filled soup plates from pantry, leave one on serving-table (right hand) and place the other (left hand).
II. Return to serving-table for second plate, place, and repeat till all are served.
III. Pass plate of crisp crackers (napkin).
IV. Remove soup and service plates together (left hand),
and place heated plate (right hand).
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Serving Home Dinner
V. Place carving-knife and serving silver (right hand,
right side) and carving-fork (left hand, left side),
brought to table on napkin or tray.
VI. Place platter of beef and Franconia potatoes (napkin).
VII. While host carves, place dish for canned corn at
left of each plate. Take dishes from serving-table,
one in each hand. Place the one in left hand
at left, change the one in right hand to left hand,
and place; return to serving-table and repeat
till all are placed.
VIII. Take filled plate from host (left hand), and place heated plate, the extra one for serving (right hand).
IX. Place filled plate before person to be served (left hand), removing heated plate (right hand), take to carver, and proceed as before. X. Pass gravy, ladle in dish (napkin). XI. Pass canned corn, spoon in dish (napkin). XII. Pass bread (napkin).
XIII. Remove roast with carving set and spoon on
platter.
XIV. Remove carving cloth.
XV. Remove soiled plate (left hand), place plate for salad (right hand), take up side dish (right hand).
XVI. (a) Place salad fork (right hand, right side), and salad spoon (left hand, left side) brought on napkin or tray ; or (b) bring in silver on salad bowl.
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Table Service
XVII. Place salad before mistress (napkin). XVIII. Take filled salad plate from mistress (left hand), and place empty plate (an extra one) brought from serving-table.
XIX. Place filled salad plate before person to be served (left hand), first taking up the empty plate (right hand), which carry to server and repeat in same manner. XX. Pass sandwiches (napkin). XXI. Remove salad bowl and silver. XXII. Remove bread-and-butter plate (left hand) and salad plate (right hand), clearing the place at once.
XXIII. Remove salts and peppers and any unused silver
remaining on table (tray).
XXIV. Remove crumbs (napkin and plate).
XXV. Place individual dessert plates, with doily on plate, small glass dish on doily, and spoon on right-hand side of plate. In placing, see that the plate is set down with the spoon in correct position on right-hand side of person. XXVI. (a) Place silver for serving dessert, one piece right side (right hand), second piece left side (left hand), brought on napkin or tray or (b) brought in on the dish.
XXVII. Place dessert before mistress (napkin). XXVIII. Take filled dessert plate from mistress (left hand) and place the extra doily-covered plate with glass dish and spoon (right hand).
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Serving Home Dinner
XXIX. Place filled dessert plate before person to be served (left hand), first removing plate (right hand). Repeat till all are served. XXX. Pass sugar and cream (tray). XXXI. Remove dessert dish and silver. XXXII. Remove dessert plate (left hand) and place service for next course (right hand), namely : a finger-bowl on a doily-covered plate and a small knife on right-hand side of plate.
XXXIII. Pass crackers and cheese, knife on cheese dish
(napkin).
XXXIV. (a) Bring in after-dinner coffee-service and
place before hostess, who pours coffee, which waitress passes; or, (b) bring coffee in cups on a tray and place (right side, right hand). XXXV. Pass cut sugar and cream (tray), sugar-tongs arranged on sugar-bowl.
[59]
CHAPTER X
LAYING THE TABLE AND SERVING A HOME DINNER WITHOUT A MAID
ONE can serve meals, without a waitress, in an orderly and attractive manner. Lay the silence and table-cloths, a plate for each person, then the silver, according to preceding directions. Place tumblers, bread-and-butter plates with spreaders, and napkins, with salts and peppers between each two covers. In convenient spaces toward the corners place vine- gar and oil cruets, a plate of butter with butter-knife or butter-pick, a pitcher of cold or iced water, and relishes, if any are used. The carving cloth and carv- ing set should be in place, with sufficient silver for each dish to be served.
Special pains should be taken in laying the table to provide everything necessary, that there may be as little occasion as possible to go to pantry or serving- table. Since the soup tureen is rarely used, the soup is brought from the kitchen, hot, in heated soup plates, by some young member of the family. Children should be allowed and taught to help in the serving. They should have a daily share in such duties as fill-
[60]
Diagram of Table Laid for Home Dinner Without Service of Maid.
Serving a Home Dinner without a Maid
ing the water glasses, passing butter or sauces, and removing the dishes between courses.
In many families the mother is the only one to leave the table and arrange for the change of courses, but this duty should devolve upon younger members of the household.
The butler's assistant, a series of shelves on cas- tors, to stand at the left of the mistress is a piece of furniture which is of great assistance in serving with- out a maid.
It is a help to have some one who sits near the carver serve the vegetables that are to be on the same plate with the meat, as passing the plate back and forth is thus avoided; or the vegetable dishes may be passed from one to another, each helping himself. Great care should be taken to pass all the accom- paniments to the courses, as butter and syrup with hot cakes ; cream and sugar with cereal ; and con- diments and relishes when they are needed. Avoid, however, the confusion of passing many things at once. It is not practical to carry out, for this kind of service, all the rules observed by a waitress. For instance, it is too much to expect of one who has to prepare and serve a meal to take additional steps solely for the sake of form. Therefore, for this kind of serving, it is allowable to leave a person without a plate and to remove two plates at a time, one in each
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Table Service
hand. In bringing a very hot dish to the table, one would use a napkin under the dish for protection, but not for the sake of form. Suppose the menu to consist of soup, meat, and vegetables, and dessert; the order of service would be as follows :
I. Take up service and soup plates together, or the soup
plate, if only that is used.
II. Bring to table as many warmed plates as there are people at table and place before the master of the house.
III. Bring in meat platter and place before master of the
house.
IV. Bring in dishes of vegetables and gravy and arrange
on table in regular order, parallel with the edge of the table and directly in front of the persons who are to serve.
V. Clear table according to general directions except, to save steps, remove two plates or other articles at a time.
VI. The table cleared and crumbs removed, bring in plates for dessert and place before mistress of house. Bring serving silver and then dessert.
VII. Bring coffee-service; a convenient place for coffee- service is the butler's assistant. The arrangement of clean silver, plates for salad and dessert, finger- bowl service, upon this useful piece of furniture saves many steps.
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Serving a Home Dinner without a Maid
The home dinner menu for which the accompany- ing plate was prepared is :
Cream of Pea Soup Croutons
Roast Lamb Brown Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Tomatoes
Mint Jelly
Bread
Green Apple Pie Demi-tasse
[63]
CHAPTER XI
LAYING THE TABLE FOR A FORMAL LUNCHEON AND SERVING IN DETAIL
THE formal luncheon is almost as popular a form of entertainment as the formal dinner. Usually the company is composed of women only ; men being rarely available at this time of day. The popular hour at which luncheon is served is half-past one, although one o'clock is sometimes chosen, especially if cards are to follow.
The table for a formal luncheon should be laid with a luncheon set, consisting of centerpiece and doilies, all of the same pattern, or with a luncheon cloth. The latter reaches to the edge of the table or hangs six or seven inches below.
Many people have made for their use, when en- tertaining, the round, adjustable table-top, at which many guests may be comfortably seated. The ordinary sized round table will not seat many, and as a round table has advantages over the square, oblong, or elliptical, these tops are of great con- venience to a hostess. They are more expensive when veneered with mahogany, but if made of in-
Laying the Table for a Formal Luncheon
expensive wood, demand, of course, the use of the cloth.
The table should be rubbed first with a soft cheese- cloth or chamois, then the centerpiece is placed, and on that such floral decoration as the hostess chooses. After the desired effect has been obtained, flowers should be removed to a cool place until they are wanted.
The question of the use of candles at luncheon is to be decided by the hostess. Artificial light should not be used unless necessary. If the room is dark, as is sometimes the case in city houses, one would better have lighted candles than a gloomy table; again, sometimes half the guests face windows where the glare of light is blinding, which affords occasion to draw the shades and use candles. There are times when artificial lighting is very much out of place, as on a pleasant day with sunshine flooding the room.
If a bare table is used, lay the correct number of plate doilies at equal distances around the table and place on each doily a service plate. The cover is then arranged according to previous directions, — • knives, spoons, and silver needed for the first course at the right, forks at the left, never laying more than three; if more are needed, place when required. Place luncheon napkin (sizes thirteen to seventeen
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Table Service
inches square, hemstitched or scalloped) folded in three-cornered shape, at left of forks. If the napkin has an embroidered letter, it should, be placed with the point toward the plate, or folded as in the il- lustration. If it has no initial, place the long edge parallel to fork. Sometimes bread or a roll is placed in the fojds of a napkin or on it, but unless the service is limited, it is better to pass bread or rolls.
Place the water glass at point of the knife, on a small doily; an apollinaris glass for the serving of a "cup" on the same doily, to the right and a little below the water glass. The wine-glass, if wine is served instead of a "cup", should occupy the place of the apollinaris glass. Butter may be, but seldom is, served at luncheon. For salted nuts, either indi- vidual nut dishes or larger dishes are used. The in- dividual dishes, already filled, are placed at the top of the plate (no doily) ; the large dishes with spoon are to be taken from the serving-table and passed.
The cover is now complete, with the exception of the place card, which varies in style and design so much that the exact position for it must be decided by the hostess.
Sometimes favors are used and are placed either at the head of the plate or in groups around the centerpiece, with ribbons running from them to the plates.
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Laying the Table for a Formal Luncheon
Salts and peppers are placed on doilies matching the set, between each two covers. Dishes containing candies are placed on doilies, wherever they look best on the table. The bonbon spoon should be on the table beside the dish, and when bonbons are passed, the dish is placed upon a tray and the spoon beside it.
MENU FOR FORMAL LUNCHEON
Fruit Cocktail
Cream of Cress Soup *
Bread Sticks Olives Radishes
Huntington Halibut *
Cucumber Fishes Rolls
Larded Squab Breasts around Hot Ripe Olives
Brown Sauce Potato Croquettes en Surprise (Peas)
Claret-Cup
Spring Salad *
Horseradish Sandwiches *
Coffee and Marron Ice-cream
Small Cakes
Demi-tasse
This luncheon, if for eight or more covers, requires the service of two waitresses. One waitress serves the hostess first, then serves in turn to the right, go- ing half-way round the table. The second waitress
* " A New Book of Cookery " — Farmer.
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Table Service
starts at a point directly opposite the hostess and proceeds to the right. Exception must be made to the main or heavy course, when the head waitress serves the meat, beginning with the hostess, to every one at table, and the second waitress follows with the first vegetable. The first waitress then passes the second vegetable, and the second waitress fol- lows with rolls. When the luncheon is for many covers, the service may be made more prompt if two dishes of everything are prepared, each waitress attending to her side of the table only.
Before luncheon is announced, be sure that the finger-bowls, garnished and one fourth full of tepid water, are ready on the serving-table if possible, or on a shelf just inside the pantry door. There is a wide range of choice in the garnish for finger-bowls. A few petals from the flowers used in decoration, roses, carnations, violets, nasturtium flowers and leaves, a spray of mignonette, sweet-scented leaves of rose geranium or lemon verbena, Japanese flowers which open and float when thrown into water, are all used. A few drops of rose or violet water are sometimes added. Wire rims may be bought to attach to the rims of metal finger-bowls, and flowers arranged in them to form a wreath. A finger-bowl which may be presented afterwards as a favor is a small glass tray with flower-holder ; this may hold a
[68]
Laying the Table for a Formal Luncheon
few flowers and a miniature Japanese fish or floating water-fowl.
The coffee-service should be in readiness on serv- ing-table or sideboard. Have ready a small napkin and a plate for removing crumbs from the table and have all serving silver, serving napkins, and filled water pitcher at hand. If room can be found upon the serving-table for the dessert plates, put them there before luncheon is served. If not, bring them to serving-table, before placing upon the luncheon table, as this plan saves many steps to pantry.
As all formal dinners and luncheons are served from the side, the only edibles to be placed and re- main upon the table are the salted nuts and the candies ; often not even these are there, although the candies usually add a desirable touch of color.
Before going to the table, some hostesses serve in the drawing-room a light cocktail accompanied by sandwiches or small wafers.
The first course of a formal luncheon is usually attractive in appearance and is laid on the service plate just before luncheon is announced. The plac- ing of it before or after the guests come to the dining- room is a matter of personal preference. If this course is a fruit cocktail, the arrangement would be to place the glass filled with the fruit on a small
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Table Service
plate fitted with a doily, with the spoon on right-hand side of plate, then place on the service plate. If lobster or scallop cocktail is served in place of fruit, the arrangement is the same, substituting an oyster fork for the spoon.
SERVICE FOR A FORMAL LUNCHEON IN DETAIL I. Remove fruit cocktail service, that is, small plate
containing doily, glass, and spoon (left hand). II. Place bouillon cup and saucer on service plate,
handles directly parallel to edge of table (left
hand).
III. Pass bread sticks (napkin).
IV. Pass olives and radishes (napkin).
V. Remove service plate with bouillon cup on it (left hand), and place warmed plate for fish (right hand). VI. Pass Huntington halibut with two pieces of serving
silver in position (napkin). VII. Pass rolls (napkin). VIII. Pass cucumber fishes (napkin). IX. Just before ready for meat course, pour claret-cup (right side, right hand), a small folded napkin in left hand to catch possible drops from pitcher. X. Remove fish plate (left hand), place warmed dinner
plate (right hand).
XI. Pass platter containing squab garnished with hot, ripe olives, with serving silver in position (napkin). XII. Pass brown sauce, ladle in dish (napkin).
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Service for a Formal Luncheon
XIII. Pass potato croquettes with serving silver on dish
(napkin).
XIV. Pass rolls (napkin).
XV. Remove dinner plate (left hand), and place salad
plate (right hand).
XVI. Pass salad with serving silver in position (napkin). XVII. Pass horseradish sandwiches (napkin). XVIII. Remove bread-and-butter plate and doily together (left hand) and salad plate (right hand), thus clearing the cover at once. XIX. Remove salt and pepper sets and the doily under
them (tray). XX. Remove crumbs from table (small napkin and
plate). XXI. Place plates for ice-cream with
(a) ice-cream fork on right-hand side of plate, or (b) fork and spoon on right-hand side, or (c) silver placed at right, from right, after plate is placed.
XXII. Pass ice-cream with serving silver in position (napkin).
XXIII. Pass cakes (napkin).
XXIV. Remove plate (left hand) and place finger-bowl
service, — plate, doily, and bowl containing , water (right hand). XXV. Pass bonbons (napkin or tray). XXVI. Serve coffee in drawing-room. The hostess pours after-dinner coffee and maid passes, or all cups are arranged in the pantry, on a large tray with
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Table Service
sugar-bowl, sugar-tongs, and creamer on the same tray, if there is space; if not, they follow on a smaller tray. Many like to use the rock crystals in place of cut sugar; in that case a spoon would be substituted for the tongs.
If one prefers to serve coffee at the table, as is some- times done, the maid exchanges the dessert plate for the finger-bowl service. Then she places coffee at the right and passes sugar and cream. The finger- bowl is removed by guest, and the plate used for bonbons which the maid passes last.
On some less formal occasions, coffee might be poured by the hostess at the table. In this case the service is brought to the hostess as the dessert course is being finished. The maid places a cup of coffee at the right of each guest and passes sugar and cream ; after which she replaces the dessert plate with the finger-bowl service and passes bonbons.
[72]
CHAPTER XII
FORMAL AND INFORMAL AFTERNOON TEAS. BUFFET LUNCHEON AND EVENING SPREADS
SERVICE FOR AFTERNOON TEAS
FOR the informal afternoon tea no table is set. The maid brings to the drawing-room, living-room, sun-parlor, or piazza — in fact any place but the dining-room — the tray with the tea-service, which she places on a table previously made ready to receive it. The tray may be of either silver, mahog- any, or lacquer. The hostess either makes the tea and pours it or has it made and brought in for her to pour. Of course the former service is more graceful and personal. If tea is made by the hostess, the maid must see that the equipment for making and serving it is complete. A teakettle for boiling water, an alcohol lamp filled, and a box of matches, a tea-caddy with teaspoon and a tea-ball are es- sential. The tea-ball is convenient when making a few cups of tea, but when several cups are to be poured at once, a teapot is necessary. Cut sugar or rock crystals, a pitcher of cream, a small dish of sliced lemon, and cups and saucers, spoon on saucer,
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Table Service
and tea napkins should be in readiness on the tea-tray. Hot water should be brought in, in the teakettle, and placed over the lamp, as it soon reaches the boiling point and the tea is prepared quickly. Plain bread and butter sandwiches or sandwiches of the simplest kinds — olive, nut, or lettuce — should be served, also small cakes or wafers. Care should be taken not to have anything elaborate. A curate's assistant for convenience in passing all sandwiches and wafers at the same time is much in use for informal after- noon teas.
Out of doors, in summer, iced tea, iced chocolate, or punch is often more convenient, as well as more accept- able than hot tea. For out-of-door service, the tea- wagon will be found most useful, as the entire service may be placed upon it and wheeled to the chosen spot with little trouble.
A tea for which cards are sent out is a formal oc- casion, really an afternoon reception. Friends of the hostess serve all the refreshments, but maids should be in attendance to remove used cups and plates and to bring in fresh ones; also to replenish all dishes of food. The table is laid either with a luncheon cloth or with doilies, and is decorated with flowers and candles. At one end is the tea-service, a large tray holding teapot, hot-water pot, sliced lemons in dish with a small fork, sugar-bowl holding
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Informal Tea Service with Equipment for Making Tea.
Service for Afternoon Teas
cut sugar, sugar-tongs, and a cream pitcher. As many teacups as possible (each with teaspoon on saucer, the handle being parallel to handle of cup) should be placed on tray, others being brought as needed. At some teas, the cups and saucers are used without plates. At the opposite end of the table is the coffee, chocolate, or bouillon service. Here are placed tray, urn, cream, and sugar for coffee; the chocolate urn, and whipped cream in a bowl with ladle, if chocolate is the chosen beverage ; or the urn alone, if bouillon is served. Cups, saucers, and spoons are arranged the same as for tea.
Friends of the hostess preside at each end of the table. Often four different ladies are asked to pour, two for the first hour and two others for the last hour. A large dinner napkin to protect the pourer's gown should be near the tray. Plates filled with sandwiches, others filled with cakes, and dishes holding candies, with others containing salted nuts, are arranged symmetrically upon the table. Cakes are also disposed upon the frappe table and on serv- ing-table and passed from there. One must avoid having a crowded table. Individual ices are some- times served, although frappe (or some frozen cream, not too rich) is usually preferred, served in frappe glasses from a frappe bowl by some friend of the hostess.
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Table Service
If possible the frappe table is in some room other than the dining-room, as this arrangement relieves a sometimes congested spot. The frapp e table should be covered with a luncheon cloth and be equipped with punch or frappe bowl and ladle, and frappe glasses. There should also be small plates in piles with plate doilies between, always linen, if possible. Paper plate doilies ate permissible only when one is entertaining one hundred or more guests. Upon each of these doily-covered plates a frappe glass is placed for serving, filled with sherbet, and a sherbet spoon placed on right-hand side of plate. A tray holding sherbet spoons should be upon the frappe table. A filled cake basket and dishes of candy may be placed there for convenience in serving. Piles of plates and small napkins (never of paper) are arranged on serving-table. Young girl friends of the hostess see that guests reach the dining-room and are served. To serve, they should take a napkin and a plate to a guest, or a napkin only, as the service demands, ask her which beverage she prefers, and then serve it, passing sandwiches and cakes to her also. Sometimes a maid stands at each side of the door at the entrance of the dining-room and pre- sents a napkin and plate, or a napkin, to each guest entering, after which the young girls act as the servers.
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Informal Tea Service with Tea Made and Brought In.
Buffet Spreads
Salads are offered for an evening spread or pos- sibly for a light spread after an afternoon at cards, but not at a tea. Music is frequently provided, but the musicians should be stationed far enough from the guests so that only the suggestion and charm of the music are evident. It should not be overpower- ing enough to make conversation difficult.
BUFFET SPREADS
At a buffet luncheon or spread, the guests are not seated but partake of the refreshments standing. When "buffet service" is used, the food is placed upon an attractively laid table, usually all at the same time, although it may be brought to the table and served in courses. Plates, silver, and napkins are arranged upon the table to make the service as quick and easy as possible.
When luncheon is served at small tables to many guests, the service is the same as though all were seated at one table, but it requires a number of maids to carry out this arrangement. The buffet luncheon table is preferable to small tables for many reasons ; it requires less space, can be made to look more at- tractive, and calls for much less china and silver and for less service. The luncheon cloth is the pre- ferred covering and no centerpiece is necessary. There is so much silver to be laid for serving that the
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Table Service
cloth is not only a protection to the table, but it lessens the noise of handling the silver.
The arrangement and service of a buffet luncheon and a buffet spread or supper are practically the same, except that the luncheon often presents heavier and more varied courses than would ordinarily be given at night, and that in the evening lighted candles are used. The table decoration previously planned by the hostess is placed after laying the luncheon cloth. The arrangement of the dishes depends largely upon the menu and upon the number of guests to be served. It is better to have the maids replenish dishes and supplies from serving-table or pantry than to give the table the appearance of being crowded.
The menu might consist of two hot and two cold dishes and two frozen desserts, or one frozen dessert and one attractively garnished mold of jelly or cream. One only of each kind mentioned may be the choice of the hostess, if the occasion does not de- mand more, though in providing for many persons it is advisable to present two hot dishes. All food should be such as can be easily eaten with a fork, as the use of a knife is impossible. Rolls, sand- wiches, and perhaps olives, are upon the table, and cakes, candies, and salted nuts are passed. Both hot and cold dishes are on the table at the same time,
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Buffet Spreads
ices being brought in as a separate course. Whether the hot and cold refreshments are served on the same plate or in two courses depends entirely upon the preference of the hostess. If presenting one hot and one cold dish, serve each kind from two platters, as by this arrangement the table appears better balanced, and the service is facilitated. A good arrangement of the table is as follows : at the ends and directly opposite each other place the two plat- ters or chafing-dishes from which is served the hot course ; and on the other sides of the table the two dishes containing salad or cold entrees. Around these platters group the plates and silver, placing the serving silver in the most convenient position. On two opposite corners of the table place the small napkins in neat piles not too high. Plates of rolls and sandwiches are placed not too far in from the edge of table. Rolls are served with the hot course, and sandwiches accompany the salad. After the hot and salad courses have been removed, the ices are brought in. Cakes previously arranged on the serving-table are passed and then placed on the dining-table. For beverages, coffee alone, or coffee and chocolate may be provided. Either one or both may be served from an urn, or the filled cups may be brought on a tray from the pantry.
Friends of the hostess usually serve, sometimes the
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Table Service
host and hostess assisting, although occasionally waitresses are expected to do the serving. The waitresses must always be observant and prompt to remove soiled dishes, bring fresh ones, and replenish supplies.
A wedding breakfast may be served much like the formal luncheon, unless the number of guests is so large that it takes the form of a buffet spread.
The buffet spread for a large reception where people are coming and going during certain hours varies from the buffet spread served at a certain hour to a definite number in that all refreshments, hot, cold, and frozen, are put upon the table at once.
A list of dishes suitable for buffet spreads or lun- cheons includes the following suggestions :
Hot bouillon Hot entrees Cold entrees
Frozen creams and ices
Small cakes
Coffee
Salads with thick dressings Chocolate
Hot rolls
Light sandwiches
Punch
[80]
Diagram of a Buffet Table.
CHAPTER XIII
LAYING THE TABLE FOR A FORMAL DINNER AND SERVING IN DETAIL
THE FORMAL DINNER
A HOSTESS, before attempting either a formal dinner or luncheon, should be sure to have enough and efficient help. If the cook is to be depended upon for the cooking, extra help should be engaged for dish-washing, picking up and generally "lending a hand", provided there is no laundress or other member of the household staff to assist. If the cook is not equal to the extra occasion, employ some per- son to come in and prepare the dinner, using the cook as her assistant.
In families where a chambermaid is employed, she is expected to act as second waitress when nec- essary ; or, this not being possible, an accommodat- ing waitress should be engaged to assist. A helper, also, in the pantry to stack soiled dishes, keep shelves clear for action, serve soup and pour coffee, keep iced water in readiness, open wine bottles, supply crushed ice for cordials, etc., makes the
[81]
Table Service
service more prompt and satisfactory. If a dinner is suggested without added help, there is often grum- bling and dissatisfaction on account of the extra amount of work involved. On the other hand, if a mistress sees that help is engaged to lighten this work, the maids look forward with pleasure to the party-giving.
For the formal dinner, a handsome, perfectly laundered, damask cloth should be spread on the table after placing the soft table pad. The laying of the table is practically the same as for the formal luncheon, — a centerpiece and table decoration, with the addition of candlesticks placed symmetrically about the centerpiece. The service plates, flat silver, and napkins are laid as for luncheon, only, of course, the dinner napkin, ranging in size from twenty-four inches to twenty-eight inches, is used.
Butter is not usually served. Occasionally some hostess who wishes butter serves it regardless of custom. Occasionally, too, the bread-and-butter plate is seen on the table, not for the serving of butter, but as a convenience in caring for bread, olives, celery, radishes, etc.
The arrangement of glasses begins with the goblet at the point of the knives ; the wine-glasses are placed in a convenient group at the right of the gob-
[82]
If? f
Glasses for Wine. High Cocktail, Low Cocktail, Sherry, Sauterne, Claret, Champagne, Cordial, Whiskey.
Glasses for Water Water Goblet, Iced Tea, Water, Apollinaris.
The Formal Dinner
let, the glass to be used first, at the extreme right. It is not customary to serve more than three wines, and oftener two or even one is served.
The cover now appears as for the formal luncheon : service plate, forks and napkin at left of plate, knives, soup spoon, and oyster fork, if needed, at right of plate ; water and wine-glasses as indicated ; individual nut dishes directly in front of the plate ; salts and peppers between each two covers; and bonbon dishes placed between candles, the bonbon spoon on the cloth beside dish. The laying of the table is finished, with the exception of place-cards, which the hostess arranges. Two minutes before announcing dinner, fill water glasses two thirds full and light candles.
As at a luncheon, the first course may or may not be placed before announcing dinner. It consists of a "beginning" such as a canape, oysters or clams on the shell, or fruit, and in such case is already in place when guests come to the dining-room. When cock- tails are served in the drawing-room, a caviare, or some other sandwich, or a canape is passed. In the latter case, the dinner should not open with a canape.
A dinner menu consists of the following customary courses, but the number may be increased or di- minished at the will of the entertainer.
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Table Service
A "Beginning"
Soup Salad
Fish Ices
Entree Fruit
Roast and Vegetables Coffee
If only one entree is served during a dinner, it comes before the roast ; if two, the meat or heavier entree precedes the roast, and the vegetable or lighter entree follows it.
If both roast and game are served, a frozen punch should be served as a separate course, after the roast, and the salad should be served with the game, in- stead of forming a course by itself. Dessert would follow. With one meat course only, sorbets and frozen punches are not served except at large dinners, and banquets, and at hotels.
Coffee is almost always served in the drawing- room. This tends to make the serving of crackers and cheese a custom less general than formerly. At the formal dinner, even on the rare occasions when coffee is served at the table, cheese is seldom passed with the coffee, although it is perfectly good form to do so. Those who are fond of cheese and do not care to eliminate it, use it as an accompaniment to the salad. This seems to be, however, a matter of individual preference.
The Formal Dinner
MENU FOR A FORMAL DINNER
Cocktails Caviare Sandwiches
Selected Strawberries
Mock Bouillon* Olives Sherry
Rolled Cassava Cakes
Turbans of Flounder*
Dressed Cucumber Rolls
Delmonico Tomatoes * Roasted Incubator Chickens
Chantilly Potatoes *
Buttered Asparagus Tips Champagne
Grapefruit and Alligator Pear Salad
Paprika Crackers
Montrose Pudding * Small Cakes
Coffee Cordials
The service required for the preceding menu is here described in detail.
Dinner is announced in the drawing-room by serving the cocktails and sandwiches, the sand- wiches being arranged on a doily-covered plate. Cocktails, poured in the pantry into cocktail glasses, are served from a tray. If the small cocktail napkins are used, it is best, if there is room, to place them on the tray with the glasses. One maid passes the cocktails and another follows with the sand- wiches. When these have been served, the host
* " A New Book of Cookery " — Farmer.
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Table Service
leads the way to the dining-room with the guest of honor, who is to be seated at his right. Guests following find their seats at table by means of the place cards. The hostess and her escort come last. The cocktail glasses should be collected after the dinner is in progress by one maid when she has the leisure and should be taken from drawing-room to pantry or kitchen by some other way than through the dining-room.
The first course is arranged on a small plate placed on the service plate, and is already on the table, - large strawberries, hulls on, with a small mound of powdered sugar in center, all on galax leaves (with- out their stems) fitted into one another to form a mat. A strawberry fork is placed, though the use of it is optional. A finger-bowl could be placed with this course or not. If placed, it should be removed when the course is finished.
I. Remove fruit plate (left hand) or, if finger-bowl is used, fruit plate (right hand) and finger- bowl (left hand) together. II. Place plates containing soup (left hand).
III. Head waitress pours sherry.
Second waitress passes Cassava cakes (napkin).
IV. Pass olives (napkin).
V. Remove soup and service plates together (left hand) and place warmed plate for fish (right hand). [86]
The Formal Dinner
VI. Pass fish in platter with serving silver in position (napkin).
VII. Pass rolls (napkin).
VIII. Pass dressed cucumber with server in place (nap- kin).
IX. Remove fish plate (left hand) and place entree arranged on plate (right hand).
X. Pour champagne (right side, right hand).
XI. Remove entree plate (left hand) and place warmed
dinner plate (right hand).
XII. Head waitress passes platter of chickens with serv- ing silver in position (napkin).
XIII. Second waitress passes potatoes with serving silver
in dish (napkin).
XIV. Pass dish of asparagus tips with serving silver in
dish (napkin).
XV. Pass rolls (napkin). XVI. Replenish individual nut dishes if necessary.
XVII. Remove dinner plate (left hand) and place salad arranged on plate, fork on right-hand side of plate (right hand). XVIII. Pass sandwiches (napkin). XIX. Remove salad plate (left hand). XX. Remove salts and peppers (tray). XXI. Remove crumbs.
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XXII. Place dessert plate
(a) with ice-cream fork on right-hand side of
plate, or (b) with spoon and fork on right-hand side
of plate, or (c) place silver at right from right.
XXIII. Pass mold of ice-cream (napkin) with serving
silver in place, the mold already cut, but shape retained.
XXIV. Pass cakes (napkin).
XXV. Remove dessert plate (left hand) and place finger-bowl service, — plate, doily, and bowl one fourth full of tepid water and garnished (right hand).
XXVI. Pass bonbons (napkin or tray). XXVII. In drawing-room, place coffee-service before hostess, who pours and maid passes; or, if preferred, all the cups, filled, may be placed on a large tray with sugar-bowl, sugar-tongs, and creamer, and the tray passed by waitress. Few people take cream, but it is always of- fered. XXVIII. Head waitress collects coffee cups and removes
coffee-service.
XXIX. If only one waitress is serving, she returns with the cordial-service; if two, then the second waitress follows with the cordial-service which may be in a decanter on tray with cordial glasses, hostess serving and maid passing, or [88]
The Formal Dinner
which may be prepared in pantry and passed. If the cordial served is one which calls for shaved ice, the glass is filled two thirds full of ice, and the cordial poured over it. Some- times two kinds of cordials are served.
When the gentlemen remain at table, one maid serves coffee to the ladies in drawing-room, the second maid remains in dining-room, passes cigars and cigarettes, with lighted candle or matches on one tray, then coffee, then cordials, or brandy and soda. Cordials are prepared while guests are drink- ing coffee. The maid should collect coffee cups as soon as the guests have finished with them, but yet not show undue haste.
An hour after dinner the maid pours charged water into apollinaris glasses arranged on a tray, which she passes to guests in drawing-room.
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CHAPTER XIV
SERVING OF WINES AND CORDIALS WINE SERVICE
THE best usage sanctions one or two wines at dinner, though three may be properly served. Fol- lowing are the wines most commonly used and the courses with which they may be served.
Soup Sherry or Madeira
Fish Sauterne or Rhine Wine
Entree Claret
Meat Champagne or Sparkling Burgundy,
which is continued throughout the
dinner.
Claret, being a light wine, is sometimes served at the same time as champagne for those who do not care for the stronger beverage. Wine should be poured very slowly, and glasses only two thirds filled.
Every wine except sherry should be poured at the close of the course preceding the one with which it is to be served. Sherry should be poured after placing the soup.
To serve champagne, cut the wire and work the cork out carefully with an upward pressure of the
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Wine Service
thumbs. In opening a bottle, some waitresses take the precaution of working out the cork under the edge of the table, as sometimes it pops out with great force. If one does not use a bottle holder, have a folded napkin wrapped around the bottle before pouring. Pour a small quantity of wine into the glass of the host, not filling it, then begin at the right of the host and fill the glasses slowly and not too full.
Claret is usually served from a claret pitcher.
Sherry, Madeira, Port, and Burgundy are served from a decanter.
Sparkling Burgundy, Champagne, Rhine Wine, and Sauterne are served from the bottle.
TEMPERATURE OF WINES
35° F. Pack in ice several hours before serving. If wanted at short
CHAMPAGNE notice, pack in ice and salt
SPARKLING BUR- > half an hour before needed,
GUNDY J but be very careful that it
does not become frapped. In packing, keep ice away from neck of bottle.
SWEET CHAM- Should be extremely cold and
PAGNE is improved by being slightly
frapped.
RHINE WINE 40° F. Cold.
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SAUTERNE 50° F. Slightly cold. Some persons
prefer it chilled in the ice box; some prefer it not so cool.
SHERRY 40° F. Cold.
MADEIRA 65° F. or Temperature of the room.
PORT 55° F. Temperature of the cellar.
CLARET 65° F. or Temperature of the room.
BURGUNDY 70° F. Temperature of the room.
Cordials and liqueurs are stimulating beverages, very sweet, very strong, and aromatic. They are always served after the coffee, in cordial glasses which hold only a small quantity. Some of the cor- dials are served with crushed ice, some with cream, and some plain. A popular cordial is Creme de Menthe, either of a clear white or green color. To serve this cordial, the glasses should be two thirds full of finely crushed ice, and a small amount of the cordial poured over it. Avoid filling glasses too full. At some hotels and clubs, Creme de Menthe is served in a slightly larger glass than a cordial glass and ac- companied by a short straw. This is not often done, however, for private or home service.
Benedictine, Chartreuse, Apricot Brandy, and Eau de Vie de Dantzic are the cordials that come next in favor and are usually served "straight", though some persons like a dash of cream in Benedic-
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Wine Service
tine. Creme de Cacao is served with a dash of cream, either plain or whipped. Creme Yvette is a violet colored and flavored cordial, very sweet and very cloying, and demands cracked ice.
Many other cordials such as Orange Curacoa, Maraschino, Noyau, and Kirschenwasser may be served as beverages, but are more acceptable as flavors for ices, sauces, and puddings.
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CHAPTER XV
CHAFING-DISH SUPPERS. THE TABLE EQUIPMENT. LIST OF FOODSTUFFS FOR CHAFING-DISH COOKERY
CHAFING-DISH SUPPERS
FOR the chafing-dish supper lay the bare table with either luncheon cloth or luncheon set, flowers, and candles. Mark the covers with the plate doilies ; place a plate on each doily, and the necessary silver according to directions ; the water glass and ginger ale or beer glass on small doily at right, and the napkin at left.
If the party is for many persons, provide two chaf- ing-dishes, one at each end of the table. This not only affords quicker and better service but adds to sociability. Always have a metal tray under the chafing-dish as a protection against fire and stains, and an asbestos mat under the tray.
The hostess must be sure that everything is in readiness, — all ingredients needed for the dishes to be cooked and all utensils needed in the cooking. A teakettle for boiling water is an important item of
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Chafing-Dish Suppers
the table equipment; an electric toaster, also, is desirable, though toast or croutons prepared in the kitchen may be kept warm on an asbestos mat placed over the chafing-dish flame. Owing to the lateness of the hour at which some of these parties are given, the kitchen fire cannot always be depended upon for making toast. In that event put a very little butter into one of the blazers and fry the bread lightly on both sides. The lamp under the chafing-dish and teakettle should be filled with alcohol before the guests assemble, and addi- tional alcohol should be at hand in the pantry. Be sure the flame is out and the lamp cool before filling, and also wipe the lamp dry before lighting. One cannot take too great precaution against fire. Plates should have been previously heated. Ebony-handled or wooden spoons are better to use in chafing-dish cookery than silver, as the latter get too hot to be handled with comfort. An extra napkin, an extra fork and spoon to "try with", a box of matches, and a bowl to hold tasting spoons and burned matches, should be placed conveniently near the person who presides over the chafing-dish.
Have measured for the dish to be cooked all liquid and dry ingredients and seasonings, so that the work may be simplified, and the time of prepara- tion at the table shortened. The butter should be
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Table Service
measured beforehand and made into balls, each containing a level tablespoonful.
Select attractive as well as convenient dishes to hold the accessories. Small wooden Russian bowls which do not break are noiseless and ornamental. Bowls of the Paul Revere pottery and some of the rice-pattern Chinese bowls are pleasing. Pitchers holding from half a cup to a pint are necessary. It is a good plan to arrange upon a single tray the bowls, pitchers, and small dishes containing all ingredients for one dish. This may be conveniently placed at the left of the person presiding over the chafing-dish.
Some things are cooked in the blazer or top pan, directly over the flame. Egg dishes and all creamed dishes need the hot-water pan beneath, and of course the hot-water pan is necessary to keep the food warm. Have at hand a tile on which to place the hot -water pan when not in use. Be sure that not too much water is in the pan; about one inch in depth is sufficient; also watch that the water does not boil away, leaving the pan dry.
The chafing-dish supper is always an informal occasion, and the guests may serve themselves if they prefer.
A list of various foods which may be used in chafing-dish cookery :
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Chqfing-Dish Suppers
Sweetbreads Tomatoes
Chicken Cheese
Lamb Crab Meat
Cooked Tongua Terrapin
Beef Lobster
Bacon Oysters
Ham Shrimps
Venison Scallops
Chickens' Livers Frogs' Legs
Eggs Sardines
Mushrooms Salmon
Peas Finnan Haddie Cooked Fish heated in Sauce
There are many kinds of rarebits varied by the principal flavor, as tomato, onion, green or red pepper, etc. Any of the souffles, either cheese or sweet souffles, are successfully made in the chafing-dish.
Fudges (made with peanut butter, marshmallows, sultana raisins, nuts, and Canton ginger) are popular chafing-dish possibilities.
Slices of bread cut in any chosen shape and toasted, or heated crackers, are an understood part of the chafing-dish supper. Creamed dishes require toast, while rarebits call for either crackers or toast. Bev- erages always accompany a chafing-dish supper. Among the most popular are ale, beer, cider, mineral water, wine "cup", punch, and hot coffee.
[97]
CHAPTER XVI
TRAY SERVICE. SERVING BUTTER IN VARIOUS
FORMS
TRAY SERVICE
OFTEN a maid is asked to prepare a tray for break- fast or luncheon, to be served to a person in her room. Certain points are to be remembered in ar- ranging a tray, which should appeal to sight as well as taste. Always cover the tray with a fresh linen cloth with no fold. The dishes used should be small in size, and those containing hot food should be covered. Arrange the taller dishes at the back of the tray, the low ones in front, but never over- crowd it. Select dainty china, harmonizing in color with the food to be served.
After the cloth is laid, place a plate in the middle of the front side. The knife and spoon should be on the right of the plate, the fork and napkin on the left. Place the water glass at the point of the knife, the individual butter plate containing a form of butter, at the top of the fork. The various dishes to be served should then be arranged symmetrically. Do not forget salt and pepper.
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Serving Butter in Various Forms
The tray should never be allowed to stand about after use, therefore the maid should come for it at what would seem the proper time.
SERVING BUTTER IN VARIOUS FORMS
Butter may be served in prints as it is bought or may be shaped into various forms. The former is practical for every-day use; a quarter or a half- pound cake is placed upon a butter dish, with butter- knife on dish, and neat, square pieces cut off for serving. Butter, too, may be bought in half-pound cakes stamped in individual squares, which are divided with a knife.
Usually wooden implements are used to shape butter, such as butter-paddles and molds. These should be thoroughly scalded and then thoroughly chilled in ice-water before beginning to shape the butter. Not less than thirty minutes should be given to the preparation of utensils, and an hour's time is better. When they are ready, put the butter into a bowl of cold water and with a wooden spoon work it until it is waxy enough to shape. Balls are the most common, the most easily made, and are the foundation of other forms. In order that all may be uniform in size, measure a level tablespoonful of butter for each ball and roll between the butter- paddles. Hold the paddle vertically in the left
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hand and horizontally in the right, thus placing them at right angles to each other. Light pressure should be given and a rotary motion of the paddle in right hand, holding left one stationary. Practice is usu- ally necessary to accomplish a well rounded ball. Drop the balls on a chilled plate and in summer use a plate of cracked ice upon which to place the balls. The butter-paddles should be dipped into cold or iced water after each shaping. As butter readily absorbs flavors and odors from other articles, it should be kept in a clean, closely-covered receptacle. There come for the purpose jars of glass or porcelain, with handles and tight covers, which are very satis- factory. Balls may be made up in quantity and kept in these jars, as no harm comes from piling them; but more fanciful shapes mentioned must be deli- cately handled and should be made not long before serving. One of these is the "shell" made with a butter scoop or crook. To make these a piece of butter of some length is required, or two half-pound prints can be placed end to end and used. First dip the utensil into a cup of hot water and wipe dry with a piece of clean cheese-cloth. Then draw it over the butter lightly and quickly, making a thin shaving which curls over as it is drawn along. The crook must be dipped in hot water and wiped clean each time. For serving, these shells are arranged
[100]
Serving Butter in Vancus
on a dish of cracked ice with a few sprigs of parsley or cress ; for the individual plate, three of them look attractive placed close together with a very small sprig of green in the center.
Butter lilies are made by first forming a butter- ball ; next, place it between the smooth sides of the paddles and make a smooth surfaced ball rather than a rough one. Then, still using the smooth sides of the paddles, slap the ball with one paddle while it rests on the other, until the ball is a flat round of uniform thickness. Fold over the two lower sides to form a point and slightly curve back- ward the top. Place on a dish of cracked ice. Make the pistil by rolling a small piece of butter between the smooth sides of the paddle, exerting greater pressure on one end than the other. Place the broader end in the heart of the lily, having the point come not quite to the top, and not touching the sides at all. A bit of green at the base of the lily is at- tractive.
To make roses, follow directions just given as far as patting into a circular flat piece and then drop into cold water. When five have been made, put the hands under water and mold the five petals into the form of a wild rose. The bases of the petals should be joined one to another, and the tops of the petals bent into irregular shapes. For the center make
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three or five of the tiniest possible balls on the cor- rugated side of the paddle. These roses can be made small for individual service, or a large butter-rose may be made and passed, with knife on dish for serving.
Butter may be worked until creamy (or freshly- churned butter may be used) put through a pastry- bag and rose-tube into three-inch lengths of pencil size, or into rosettes, by holding the tube still and pressing until the butter has piled up to the size de- sired. Rolls may be made by making first a ball, patting to about one fourth of an inch in thickness (holding butter-paddles parallel to each other) and rolling the circular pat of butter up. Care should be used to hold the butter-paddles in correct position, else the butter will not have the vertical creases it should have.
Pats are made by using the small wooden forms, which come for the purpose and which must be per- fectly scalded and chilled to get good results. The butter is packed solidly into the small space, evened off, and pressure is brought to bear upon the butter within ; then the wooden form is taken up and the imprinted butter removed.
Butter forms look more attractive when served with cracked ice and a few green leaves or a bit of cress or of parsley.
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Butter Forms.
Celery Cut Club Style.
CHAPTER XVII
CARE OF SALAD GREENS. SERVING OF CHEESES AND CAVIARE
TO PREPARE SALAD GREENS Lettuce.
IT is desirable to attend to lettuce as soon as it comes from market or garden. Cut off root close to leaves and remove leaves one at a time, discard- ing any of the outside ones that may be wilted, broken, or tough. Wash in a bowl of cold or ice- water and let stand until crisp. Take up each leaf separately, shake slightly, arrange in original form and place in wire basket (which comes for the pur- pose) or in bag made of cheese-cloth. Hang in re- frigerator until needed.
The tender heart leaves should always be served whole, while it is often desirable to shred the outside leaves.
To Shred Lettuce.
Roll leaves by twos lengthwise and cut in thin slices crosswise, using a thin, sharp knife or scissors. Shake shreds lightly for use in garnishing or making a back-
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ground for salads. This should be done as near serving time as is possible. If the midribs of the leaves are tough it is desirable to remove them before rolling the leaves.
Romaine.
Separate leaves and wash, same as lettuce. The small ones may be served whole, the larger ones cut in halves lengthwise, then each half cut in three or four pieces crosswise. It is generally desirable to remove the midribs.
Escarolle and Chicory.
Separate leaves and wash same as lettuce. The leaves, being smaller, require more care in the wash- ing. Discard the coarse green leaves, leaving the light green and yellow portions for serving.
Watercress.
Cut off roots, separate stalks, and wash in iced water. Drain thoroughly and shake each piece separately.
Endive.
Remove and discard outer leaves. Plunge the remaining stalk into ice-water. When it is crisp, drain, wipe, separate leaves of stalk, and serve whole, or the stalk may be shredded.
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To Prepare Salad Greens
Celery.
Cut off roots and leaves (excepting tender ones) from a bunch of celery. Separate stalks, wash, scrape, and cut in pieces of uniform length. Chill in ice-water to which a third-inch slice of lemon has been added. Drain and serve on a bed of crushed ice. If tops of stalks are gashed several times before putting into water, they will curl back and make celery look more attractive. The inside tender stalks do not require scraping.
Celery when used for a garnish is often curled.
To Curl Celery.
Scrape thick stalks of celery and cut in two-inch pieces. With a sharp knife, beginning at outside of stalks, make five parallel cuts extending one third the length of pieces; then make six cuts at right angles to cuts already made. Treat the other end in the same manner or not, as desired. Put in ice- water to which a third-inch slice of lemon has been added and let stand several hours, when ends will curl back and celery will be found very crisp.
To Serve " Club Style."
Select celery, several bunches of which have been tied together, not " bunched " by the use of nails. The root being used here, rusty nail holes are a dis-
Table Service
advantage. Discard the coarse, outer stalks of each small bunch. Keep the inner hearts of each whole, not separating the stalks one from another. Wash thoroughly with a small vegetable brush and then trim the root neatly, discarding the outside, which is discolored. Cut the small bunch of un- separated heart stalks through the center length- wise, from point of root to top, and if the halves are large, divide each again in the same way. Crisp in ice water, drain, and serve.
Radishes.
Remove leaves, leaving stems half an inch long, and remove tip of root. Wash, scrape, and serve on a bed of crushed ice. This treatment is always satis- factory for long radishes. Globe (otherwise called round) radishes are pleasing when cut to represent tulips or chrysanthemums.
To Cut Radishes to Represent Tulips.
Select long, globe radishes and remove leaves, leaving stems half an inch long, and remove tip end. Wash, and, beginning at root end, make six incisions (at equal distances) through skin extending nearly to stem end. Pass thin bladed knife under sections of skin and cut down as far as incisions extend. Place in cold water and let stand an hour or two,
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Serving of Cheeses and of Caviare
when sections will fold back giving a tulip-like ap- pearance. Drain and serve on a dish of cracked ice.
To Cut Radishes to Represent Chrysanthemums.
Select round radishes and remove leaves, leaving stems half an inch in length, and cut off a thin slice from the root end. Wash, and scrape radishes in several places to remove some of the red color. Cut from top nearly to stem end in thin, parallel slices, then cut thin slices at right angles to slices already cut. Place in cold water and let stand until open to suggest chrysanthemums. Drain and serve on a dish of cracked ice.
SERVING OF CHEESES AND OF CAVIARE
To serve Edam and Pineapple cheese, the top should be cut and notched in such a way that it can be fitted in, when not in use. The best grocers usually do this upon request. To pass, set the cheese in the folds of a napkin (which come up around it) on account of the oiliness of the rind. Also silver frames come for holding these cheeses. A silver cheese scoop is used to serve it. When putting away after serving, if a small, fresh piece of cheese-cloth is wet with brandy and placed inside (cover on), the cheese will not become moldy as
Table Service
readily, and an additional flavor will be gained as well.
Camembert should be in the ice-box an hour or two before serving. To serve, scrape off the tin- foil, then scrape off discoloration under tinfoil. Place on a plate covered with a lace-paper doily and cut in wedge-shaped pieces, with a butter spreader upon the plate for serving. Prepare some time before serving and keep in ice-box until needed.
Roquefort should be placed upon a plate fitted with a lace-paper doily, with butter spreader on plate for serving, or cut in small pieces and placed on doily-covered plate.
Cream cheese, or Neufchatel, is placed on plate containing lace-paper doily, with butter spreader on plate for serving.
American Dairy Cheese should be cut in small pieces of uniform size and placed on plate covered with a lace-paper doily.
RUSSIAN CAVIARE
Caviare is the roe of the sturgeon and can be bought fresh or salted, the former being the more expensive. It is used in various ways as an appe- tizer or hors-d'oeuvre and takes the place, to some extent, of the raw oyster. It is seasoned and served in small Swedish timbale cases, on cuts of toast or
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Russian Caviare
crackers, or as a sandwich filling. In combination with olives, sardines, or a cress butter, it makes a good sandwich filling to serve with cocktails. After removing caviare from the can or jar in which it is bought, season with a few drops of lemon juice and a dash of cayenne. If using the fresh caviare, salt also should be added.
CHAPTER XVIII NOTES ON CARVING
THE waitress in many households is expected to do the carving. This work, to be accomplished satis- factorily, requires a knowledge of the anatomy of that which is to be carved, which can be gained only by handling meats before and after cooking.
A person who carves needs a steady hand, a correct eye, and, above all else, sharp carving-knives of different sizes and carving-forks provided with guards which should be up while carving. It can be plainly seen that a turkey calls for a carving set of different size from that required for a smaller bird. Platters, too, should be of suitable size.
If one understands the direction in which the muscular fibers lie, he knows just how to cut, namely, across the grain. Remember that slices should be of uniform thickness and without ragged edges.
To Carve Porterhouse Beefsteak.
The flank end should be removed before cooking. Cut both the tenderloin and the sirloin from the central bone, carving the meat in two pieces ; then
[no]
Notes on Carving
cut in pieces, with the grain, about one inch in thickness. Serve a piece of each to a portion, not forgetting the dish gravy. When carving beef, always ask a guest if he likes it rare, medium, or well done.
To Carve Roast Beef — Rib or Sirloin.
Place roast on platter, skin side up. Press fork well down into the center of the roast, hold fork firmly in left hand and with a pointed, thin-bladed, sharp knife in right hand cut in thin, parallel slices from crispy, fat edge to bones, then slip knife under slices and cut from bones. Serve dish gravy with each portion.
Back of Rump.
Press the fork well down into center of the roast, hold firmly in left hand, and with knife in right hand cut in thin, parallel slices, with grain of meat. By so doing, some of the less tender muscle will be served with that which is more tender. Serve dish gravy with each portion.
To Carve a Fillet of Beef.
Begin at the thick end and cut diagonally across, having each slice from one fourth to one half of an inch in thickness.
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Table Service
To Carve a Leg of Lamb.
Place roast on platter with rounding side up and small bone to the left of the carver. Introduce carving-fork into center of roast and hold firmly with left hand, with carving-knife in right hand. Cut in thin, parallel slices across grain to bone, then slip knife under slices and remove from bone. A leg of lamb which has been boned either by cook or butcher before cooking is more easily carved and gives better slices.
To Carve a Saddle of Mutton.
Make cuts parallel to backbone from half to three fourths of an inch apart; then make cross cuts at right angles to first cuts, from two to two and a half inches in length. Free meat from bone by slipping the knife under and cutting pieces from bone.
V
To Carve a Loin of Lamb or Veal.
Before cooking, the backbone of the loin should be cut at each rib. Cut the roast between ribs, serving one to each person. A Crown of Lamb is carved in the same manner.
To Carve Roast Turkey or Roast Chicken.
Place bird on back with drumsticks at right of carver. Introduce carving fork across breast-bone
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Notes on Carving
(at its highest point) and hold firmly in left hand; with carving knife in right hand cut through skin between second joint and body, close to body. With knife, pull back the leg and second joint (in one piece) and disjoint from the body, then cut off wing. Carve breast meat in thin parallel slices. Remove fork and use with knife in separating second joints from drumsticks ; also carve each of these in slices. Finish carving one side of a bird before beginning the other. Serve a portion of light and of dark meat with some of the stuffing to each person, unless a preference has been asked and given.
To Carve Broilers.
Cut in halves, and halve each half if the bird is large, severing at joints as far as is possible. Serve a quarter or a half, according to the size of the broiler, to each person.
To Carve Domestic Duck.
Place bird on back, with drumsticks at right of carver. Introduce carving-fork through breast and hold firmly in left hand, with carving-knife in right hand. The joints will be found much farther back than in turkeys and chickens. Remove wing and leg. Make cuts in breast meat parallel to breast- bone, three fourths of an inch apart, and remove by
Table Service
sliding the knife under the meat. Some rich dark meat may be obtained from the sides, though in small pieces.
To Carve Wild Duck.
Remove the breast meat from one side, then from the other. Allow half a breast to each person. Both legs and wings are usually too tough for table use, but may be utilized in the kitchen.
CHAPTER XIX
SUGGESTIONS ON THE MAKING OF MENUS. ACCOMPANIMENTS TO THE SEVERAL COURSES. WHAT TO SERVE WITH SOUP, FISH, MEATS, GAME, SALADS, DESSERTS, ETC.
THE MAKING OF MENUS
IN planning menus, the chief points to be con- sidered are food value, money value, and aesthetic value. A housekeeper should make a study of foodstuffs and combinations. A knowledge of what is in the market at different seasons of the year is essential, for there is a time when each thing is at its best and cheapest, and that is the time for its use. Many buy foods when they first appear in market on account of their choiceness, but one has to pay for such gratification.
Care should be used to have courses contrast decidedly, that a food or a flavor may not be repeated in the menu. In serving more than one kind of sauce, have each differ distinctly in color and flavor, and, if possible, in consistency.
Heavy and light courses should alternate in a long menu. They should be lighter in character
Table Service
for a luncheon than for a dinner, with possibly two exceptions, the soup and the salad. Heavy dressings, such as mayonnaise and cream dressings, may be served at luncheon but are too heavy for dinner.
For the formal dinner, the soup is invariably thin and usually clear. For the informal dinner, when the courses are few and not heavy, cream or heavy soups are allowable. For the formal luncheon, a roast is never served except when a roasted bird is offered. At luncheon two vegetables or their equiva- lent may be served; if potato is chosen as one, it should be prepared in some light form. Often rice or hominy takes the place of potato.
When cocktails are served in the drawing-room, a caviare sandwich or a canape is passed ; but if the dinner is begun with a canape, some wafer or plainer sandwich accompanies the cocktail. With a course of raw oysters or clams, or any of the cocktails (lobster, scallop, sardine, oyster, or clam), it is well to pass a brown or a graham bread sandwich. With oysters on the shell, served on cracked ice, a horse- radish sandwich is appetizing. A brown-bread sandwich or the long oyster cracker may be used. Condiments are passed with either oysters or clams. Only one condiment may be used, or a number may be presented for choice. Tomato catsup, a cocktail
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The Making of Menus
mixture, Tabasco sauce, grated horseradish, and cayenne are some of the customary seasonings, and if one is serving more than one of these they should be passed upon a tray. A half lemon is always served upon the plate with the oysters.
Celery, radishes, and olives are usually served after the soup has been placed. Sometimes one of these and sometimes all three are passed. Bread or crackers are needed with soup; following are a few suitable combinations : Consomme Bread Sticks
Parmesan Cheese Sticks Cream Soups Crisp Crackers
Souffled Crackers
Croutons
Thick Soups Croutons
Oyster Stew Oyster Crackers
Croutons
Chowder or Rich Fish Brown Bread and Butter. Soup
There are many garnishings for clear soup, namely : Italian Pastes Noodles
Royal Custard Shredded Brussels Sprouts
Harlequin Slices Sliced Cooked Chestnuts
Thin Slices of Lemon Boiled Macaroni cut in
eighth-inch pieces, making rings.
[H7l
Table Service
Grated Parmesan cheese is often passed with clear soups, when garnished with Italian pastes.
At Italian stores one may buy, put up in small boxes, macaroni cut in fanciful shapes, especially in- tended for soup. Vegetables cut with a small French cutter into balls the size of peas, then cooked, drained, and served in a clear soup, are very effective, especially when of varied colors, as turnips, carrots, beets, etc.
Acid in some form usually accompanies the fish course in the shape of lemon slices, from which the seeds have been removed, dressed cucumber, or dressed tomato. For a formal dinner, a fish not difficult to eat should be chosen ; that is, either fish without small bones, or filleted fish (which is fish freed from skin and bone).
Suggestions follow for suitable combinations with fish.
Broiled fish is improved by being spread with maitre d'hotel butter, which gives it a moist appear- ance and improves the flavor. One can vary the flavor by the addition of chopped red and green peppers or by using tarragon vinegar in place of lemon juice. Watercress and slices of lemon garnish effectively. The lemon may be sliced with or with- out the rind ; the latter way is newer, but it does not give so much color. With some fish dishes, it
[i 1 8]
The Making of Menus
is better to serve a lemon cut in quarters or halves, from which the juice can be extracted more easily. Fried parsley used as a garnish adds an attractive touch of color. With fried fish, one may serve the popular Sauce Tartare and fried potatoes. Serve with broiled halibut ot pompano, Hollandaise sauce to which is added chopped, well-drained cucumber. With broiled or baked shad use a cucumber cream sauce (merely whipped cream with chopped, drained, and well seasoned cucumber added). A folded napkin should be placed on the platter under boiled fish, to absorb the moisture. Heavy rich sauces, such as drawn butter, egg sauce, Hollandaise, and Bechamel are appropriate here. Boiled potato balls, dressed with maitre d'hotel butter, often accompany boiled fish. Fillets of flounder or halibut, either baked or steamed, need a highly flavored sauce, such as lobster, shrimp, brown caper, or tomato. With hot boiled salmon use drawn butter, Hol- landaise, or caper sauce, and with cold boiled salmon, Sauce Tartare, green mayonnaise, or vinaigrette sauce.
When fish is served as a course, in a menu of many courses, it is seldom accompanied by potatoes or other vegetables, although peas are appropriate with salmon, and fried or stuffed tomatoes with a white fish such as halibut and flounder. If fish is
Table Service
the main course at a home dinner, potatoes and any of the vegetables which blend well with the chosen fish are always served. Winter vegetables, with the exception of onions and carrots, are not suitable, but all green vegetables are good. Canned corn and shell beans are well placed with broiled fish.
Almost all entrees are served with an appropriate sauce, and crisp bread or a roll is the only accom- paniment. Patties are served alone, as the pastry takes the place of bread. Meat croquettes some- times have peas or pea puree served with them.
With most of the salad greens when simply dressed, cheese croquettes or cheese balls are par- ticularly good. A thin, unsweetened cracker (buttered, sprinkled with mild paprika, and heated), is good with fruit salads. A simple sandwich is appropriate also. Whatever is offered, it should be something to bring out, rather than to overpower the flavor and seasonings of the salad.
Heavy desserts, such as steamed puddings or puddings with rich sauces, should not be served after a heavy dinner. Cold or frozen desserts take their place and are usually accompanied with small cakes or wafers. The sweet or dessert course is fre- quently omitted at a home dinner and a salad takes its place; a salad composed of fruit is especially popular in just this place.
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Suitable Combinations for Serving
SUITABLE COMBINATIONS FOR SERVING
Meats ROAST BEEF
BEEFSTEAK
BOILED BEEF
Vegetables
White Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Macaroni
Hominy and Horse- radish Croquettes
Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
Onions
Spinach
Sweet Corn
Peas
String Beans
Lima Beans
Egg Plant
Squash
Tomatoes
Same vegetables as for roast beef
White Potatoes Carrots Turnips Parsnips Onions
Vegetables a la jardi- niere
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Accompaniments Yorkshire Pudding Horseradish Sauce Mushroom Sauce Sauted Bananas
Mushroom Sauce
Bearnaise Sauce
Maitre d'hotel Butter, to which chopped red and green pep- pers are added
Dumplings
Table Service
Meats Vegetables
CORNED Plain Boiled
BEEF Potato
Cabbage
Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Parsnips
Spinach
Dandelion Greens
ROAST LAMB White Potatoes Sweet Potatoes Jerusalem Artichokes Carrot Timbales Green Peas Spinach Asparagus
Cauliflower with cream Sauce Cauliflower au Gratin String Beans Beets
Broiled Egg Plant Stuffed and Baked Egg
Plant
BROILED Potatoes
LAMB CHOPS White
Escalloped
Delmonico
Chantilly
Stuffed Baked
Sweet
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Accompaniments
Banana Croquettes Baked Bananas Mint Sauce Mint Jelly Mint Sherbet Currant Jelly
Suitable Combinations for Serving
Meats Vegetables
Beets with Sauce Pi-
quante
Creamed Carrots String Beans au Gratin Winter or Summer
Squash
Fresh Lima Beans Cauliflower or Brussels
Sprouts Tomatoes
Escalloped
Fried
Stuffed and Baked
Stewed
Any of the green vege- tables may be added
to this list.
BOILED White Potatoes
LAMB Carrots
Turnips Parsnips
BOILED White Potatoes
MUTTON Carrots
Turnips. (The English think these two vege- tables should always accompany boiled mutton. An attrac- tive dish would be carrots and turnips
[123]
Accompaniments
Dumplings
Caper Sauce
Table Service
Meats Vegetables
cut in dice, boiled sep- arately and drained, mixed and covered with white sauce.) SADDLE OF All vegetables served MUTTON with lamb, especially
Asparagus Spinach String Beans French Peas Rice Croquettes Fried Rice Balls CHICKEN White Potatoes
AND FOWL Sweet Potatoes Glazed Rice Croquettes Hominy Croquettes Chestnut Croquettes Corn Fritters Mushrooms Fresh Lima Beans Fresh Shell Beans Onions Squash All Summer Vegetables TURKEY White Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes Onions Turnips Squash Cauliflower Brussels Sprouts
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Accompaniments
Mint Sauce Currant Jelly
Cranberry Jelly Cranberry Sauce Chestnut Sauce Celery Sauce Mushroom Sauce Curry Sauce Oyster Sauce Celery
Cranberry Jelly or Cranberry Sauce Fresh, crisp Celery Sage Stuffing Chestnut Stuffing Oyster Stuffing Sausage Stuffing
Suitable Combinations for Serving
Meats GOOSE
DOMESTIC DUCK
WILD DUCK
Vegetables
White Potatoes
Turnips
Onions
Squash
Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
Same vegetables that would be served with poultry. By many, onions are consid- ered essential, either boiled or as a souffle. Also Fried Hominy.
Accompaniments Brown Giblet Gravy Apple Sauce Celery
Celery
A salad is more often served with wild duck than a vegetable. Salad greens simply dressed are to be pre- ferred, namely :
Lettuce
Romaine
Escarolle
Cress or
Celery, or
Orange Salads as :
Orange and Cress
Orange and Walnut on Lettuce
Cumquat and En- dive
Table Service
Meats
Vegetables
Accompaniments Favorite Sauces are :
Olive and Orange Jellies are :
Currant and Plum
ROASTED GROUSE or
GUINEA CHICKEN
Potato Croquettes French Fried Sweet
Potatoes Asparagus String Beans French Peas Celery Croquettes
Bread Sauce
BROILED Same Vegetables as
GUINEA for Roasted Guinea
CHICKEN Chicken
Currant Jelly Currant Jelly Sauce
QUAIL, BROILED or ROASTED
1126]
Serve on buttered toast or toast spread with a puree of cooked calPs liver moistened with sherry; or in a nest of chestnut puree.
Green salads or salads in which orange plays a prominent part.
Suitable Combinations for Serving
Meats SQUAB, BROILED or ROASTED
BOILED HAM
PORK
Vegetables If served as the main
course at luncheon,
light vegetables such
as:
Fried Potato Balls Spinach in Puff Paste Bouchees
Asparagus on Toast String Beans French Peas Mushrooms If served for a game
course, serve same as
Quail
Potatoes Chantilly Creamed Potatoes Stuffed Baked Potatoes Escalloped Potatoes Spinach Beet Greens Brussels Sprouts Cauliflower
Potatoes
Boiled
Riced
Mashed Spinach
Brussels Sprouts Cabbage
[I27]
Accompaniments Currant Jelly
Champagne Sauce Cider Sauce
Apple Sauce Cider Apple Sauce Sauce Soubise Piquante Sauce Fried Apples Apple Croquettes
Table Service
Meats
VEAL
VENISON
Vegetables Cauliflower Onions Turnip Squash Parsnip
White Potatoes
Rice
Spaghetti
Macaroni
Tomatoes
Onions
String Beans
Spinach
Asparagus
White turnip
Saratoga Potatoes
Accompaniments
Brown Gravy Sauce Soubise
Currant Jelly
French Fried Sweet Wild Plum Sauce
Potatoes Brussels Sprouts with
Chestnuts Mushrooms in Brown
Madeira Sauce French String Beans French Peas
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