SERVING OF MEALS
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Whether we live plainly or upon every luxury to be obtained, the rule in serving our meals to make them as attractive and as dainty as possible. When this is the case, not only does a good dinner taste the better, but a simple one is dignified and make a far more enjoyable meal than many a more costly one where the details are not perfect. The damask may not be of the finest, the glass may not be costly, but the one can be white and the other bright. Make the best of everything. Let the cloth be spotless, the glass polished, the knives bright and sharp, and the silver glistening, and always have some kind of decoration in the way of foliage plants or flowers.
Let the viands if hot ones be served really hot and with really hot plates, and let there be as little delay as possible between the courses.
Where it is not possible to serve as well as cook an elaborate meal, with their accompanying vegetables or sauces. Make whatever meal is served for the family or guests, however simple, as perfect as can be of its kind and as we have before said, let it look as attractive as possible. A well laid table is one of the refining influences that home should bring to bear upon the young mind. LAYING THE CLOTH. There is more art than people imagine in laying a cloth properly. Anyone can put a tablecloth over a table and add the necessary forks, knives, spoons etc, but everyone cannot place these things neatly and accurately, cannot think of everything that will be required, nor dispose either silver, dishes or other adjuncts to look pretty and tasteful. Always have your table properly laid, and if be done so everyday, how much less the anxiety when guests are bidden to any meal.
It is possible in many households where the service is not quite in proportion to the demand that for instance in a house where only one general servant can be kept that she has not always time to lay the cloth. Rather than let this be done in a slovenly hasty way, it is better to do it oneself. There is nothing hard nor derogatory in this task, here we need only generalize but we must not forget a word, or rather a place for the table cloth. Let it be laid evenly with the same quantity falling at the two ends and at the two sides, let it be refolded always in the same creases, and let it go in a press if possible. If there is no necessity for economy in laundry work, and a fresh tablecloth can be used for every meal, then and only then is it excusable to wisp it up when taking it off the table instead of folding it neatly. Even though both meals be served on the same table, it is best to have two tablecloths going for breakfast and dinner, and the one not in use in the press.
THE SIDEBOARD
The sideboard for dinner and for breakfast in large families requires laying as well as the cloth; and it should have its fancy cloth with fringed edges or its plain white one for the purpose. On it should be laid at breakfast the spare plates, knives and forks the loaf and platter, and the large cold dishes, if any be served, such as a ham, pie or cold joint. At dinner it is usually the receptacle of the dessert plates, knives and forks, the spare bread and roll, besides holding extra supplies of knives and forks, spoons and glasses. In ordinary families dinners where dessert is not served, only cold sweets and their accompanying plates, as well as the materials for the cheese course, could be placed upon the sideboard, but this in case of, strongly- scented fruit such as a pine or melon, is as great a mistake as putting it upon the table; such fruits, too, as strawberries and other delicate kinds are not improved by being kept in the room during the time of serving a hot dinner.
In winter such things as nuts or oranges cannot deteriorate by being kept in the dining room, but the summer fruits almost invariably do. Everything that will be required in laying a cloth should first be brought into the room, then the table cloth spread and the serviettes , neatly folded placed equidistant so that every person shall have equal space. Lay the knives and forks the width of dinner plate apart and do not forget to put bread to each person, also see that the salt cellars, nicely filled with dry salt and with clean spoons, are sufficient for the requirements of the party; and that there are condiments, such as sauce, pepper, cayenne and mustard at hand according to what is to be served. Sideboard is use full to save time and labour as much as possible and to avoid any waits during the meal, than which nothing can be more annoying.