Books: Prepare and Serve a Meal and Interior Decoration
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Lillian B. Lansdown >> Prepare and Serve a Meal and Interior Decoration
David Starner, Michelle Shephard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team
HOW TO PREPARE AND SERVE A MEAL
AND
INTERIOR DECORATION
By
LILLIAN B. LANSDOWN
CONTENTS
HOW TO PREPARE AND SERVE A MEAL
CHAPTER
I. BEFORE THE MEAL IS SERVED
II. ENTER THE WAITRESS
III. BREAKFAST
IV. LUNCHEONS
V. THE INFORMAL (HOME) DINNER
VI. THE FORMAL DINNER
VII. AFTERNOON TEAS
VIII. SUPPERS
IX. OUTSIDE THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT
X. CARVING HINTS
XI. PLANNING A MENU
XII. MENUS FOR A THANKSGIVING, A CHRISTMAS AND A LENTEN DINNER
INTERIOR DECORATION
I. LINES AND CURVES
II. FORM, COLOR AND PROPORTION
III. INDIVIDUAL ROOMS OF THE HOUSE
IV. LIVING-ROOM, DRAWING-ROOM AND LIBRARY
V. BED ROOM, NURSERY AND PLAY ROOM
VI. SOME HINTS ANENT PERIOD FURNITURE
CHAPTER I
BEFORE THE MEAL IS SERVED
Before the meal which is to be served comes from the kitchen by way of
the butler's pantry to the dining room, there are many things to be
considered. The preparation of the meal (not the process of its
cooking, but its _planning_ as a composite whole) and all the
various details which precede the actual sitting down at the table of
those who expect to enjoy it, must be seen to. The preparation of the
meal, its _menu_, will be dealt with later, in connection with the
meal itself. For the present we will concentrate on its preparatory
aspects.
IN THE BUTLER'S PANTRY
The butler's pantry is the connecting link between kitchen and dining
room. It is at the same time an arsenal and a reserve line, equipped
with requisites to meet all emergencies. The perfect butler's pantry
should contain everything, from vegetable brushes for cleaning celery
to a galvanized refuse can. In between come matches, bread boards,
soap, ammonia and washing soda, a dish drainer, every kind of towel,
cheesecloth and holder, strainers (for tea, coffee and punch), ice
water, punch and soup pitchers of enamel ware, the tools and seasonings
for salad making, cut-glass brushes, and knives of different sizes.
In the butler's pantry the soiled linen should be kept, if possible in
a hamper, if not, in a bag. There should also be a towel rack, an
electric or hot-water heater for keeping food hot and--we are speaking
of the ideal pantry, of course--a small icebox where table butter,
cream and salad dressing may be kept, and plates chilled for serving
cold dishes. Adding a linen closet with shelves, a chest of drawers
(for tablecloths, napkins, doilies, centerpieces, etc.) and the
necessary shelves for china and glass (hang your cups and save space!),
and we may leave the butler's pantry and enter the dining room.
BEFORE ANYTHING EDIBLE COMES TO THE TABLE
We will not waste time on directions regarding the laying of the
tablecloth. Only remember that it must form a true line through the
center of the table (your "silence cloth" had best be of table padding,
a doubled cotton flannel or asbestos) and not hang below the table less
than nine inches. The usual arrangement of the centerpiece in the
center of the table (the table itself being immediately under the
light, unless the waitress is thereby prevented from moving between the
table and sideboard) with its dish of fruit or ferns or flowers (never
so high as to cut off view or conversation) can be varied to suit
individual taste. But the covers (the plates, glasses, napkin and
silver of each individual) must always be in line, opposite each other
on the opposite sides of the table. The plate doilies indicate the
covers when a bare table is laid. The service plate which each person
receives stays where put unless it is replaced by a hot plate.
NAPKINS, SILVER, CHINA AND GLASS
Napkins (fold flat and square) lie at the left of the forks. The hem of
the napkin, turned up, should parallel the forks and the table edge.
When dinner is served without a maid, everything yields to avoiding
leaving the table. In that case put on the dessert silver (which
otherwise should not be done) with the other dinner silver. Place all
silver in its order of use, and remember that three forks are enough.
If more are needed let them appear with the courses which demand them.
The quietest and therefore most desirable way of putting the dessert
silver on the table, is to serve it from a napkin, from the right.
Knives should have their cutting edge toward the plate, at its right,
and lie half an inch from the table edge. Spoons, bowls facing upward,
lie at the right of the knife; forks at the left of the plate. When
shell food is served (clams, oysters or mussels) the fork is placed at
the right of the plate. The upper right-hand side of the bread and
butter plate is the place for the butter spreader.
In general do not arrange your cover too loosely, and see to it that
the glass, china and silver for each cover sets close without the
pieces touching. Glasses are placed just above the knives, a little to
the right. Neither cups nor glasses should ever be filled to the brim.
The bread and butter plate (bread and butter are, as a rule, _not_
served with _formal_ dinners) somewhat to the left, beyond the
service plate. Between each two covers, or just in front of each, place
your pepper and salt sets. The salt spoon lies across the open
saltcellar.
When the table is set for some impromptu meal at which a knife will not
be used, the fork takes the place of the knife at the right-hand side,
and the teaspoon is laid beside the fork.
DESIRABLE IMPROVEMENTS
No one wants to see the inner economy of the butler's pantry, nor
should the perhaps fragrant but cloying odors of the kitchen be wafted
into the dining room whenever the swingdoor of the pantry opens or
closes. The screen obviates both disadvantages. Another improvement has
been the introduction of the serving table in place of the sideboard.
It now conveniently holds all the extras needed for the meal.
CHAPTER II
ENTER THE WAITRESS
The waitress has already been busy, as we have seen, laying the cloth
and covers for the meal. Now, however, she must live up more closely to
the implied meaning of her name. Either the hostess or the daughter of
the family who is acting as waitress, or the waitress herself announces
the meal. For informal service, with a member of the family acting as a
waitress, the former may quietly leave the table to attend to the
bringing on or carrying off of a course, or to supplying water, butter,
etc. But the same care and attention to everyone's needs is expected of
her as of a regular waitress. Water, butter, rolls, bread, etc., should
never have to be asked for. Within reach of hand the waitress should
always have a soft napkin to remove any liquid spilled during the meal,
at once covering the spot with a fresh doily. She must see to it that
there are hot plates for hot dishes, and chilled plates for cold ones.
THE MAID AT THE TABLE
The waitress should serve and remove everything, except beverages and
extra silver from the guest's _left_. Fork and spoon should always
be easily at hand for the person served, and dishes should _never_
be offered and removed by _reaching across a cover_. Remove
glasses, cups and saucers from the _right_, and serve all
beverages from the right. Plates should be placed and removed, one by
one. Two plates of food (especially salads or soup) may be brought into
the dining room at the same time, but _one should be left on the
serving table_.
The host is served last, the hostess first, then the guest of honor (at
the hostess' right), then the guest at the right of the host, and so on
till all have been served.
Waitresses should _not_ grasp the edge of the plate or put the
thumb over the rim in placing or handling. The left hand should always
be used for removing plates. Take away with each course whatever is
needed for a later one, large dishes of food, soiled china, glass and
silver. Then crumb the table with a small plate and clean, folded
napkin.
When serving dishes of food do so with a dinner napkin folded square on
the palm of the hand. The serving dish should be held firmly and not
too high. If necessary steady with right hand on edge of dish. Close
contact with the person served always should be avoided. The serving
tray comes into its own for removing or passing cream and sugar, pepper
and salt, etc. Candies, salted nuts, water and wineglasses stay on the
table until the meal is over.
In clearing the table remove glass and silver first, brush up crumbs
which may have fallen on the floor, and carefully shake, fold and put
away the table linen.
CHAPTER III
BREAKFAST
Breakfast is the first meal of the American day. It should be daintily
and deftly served. Fruit, cereal and some main dish (bacon, fish, eggs)
together with toast, hot rolls or muffins, coffee, tea or cocoa, are
its main essentials. The bare, doilied table is popular for breakfast
use.
BREAKFAST FRUIT
Fresh pears, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, mandarins and apples
are all served in the same manner--on a plate about six inches across,
with a silver fruit knife for quartering and peeling. If a waitress
serves, fruit knife and plate are placed first, and then the dish
containing the fruit is passed.
Berries--raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, as also
baked apples, stewed fruits (peaches, prunes and apricots) and all
cooked fruits, are offered in little fruit dishes on service plates,
together with powdered (or fine granulated) sugar and cream.
Strawberries are sometimes left unhulled, when of "exhibition" size.
They then should be served in apple bowls or plates, with powdered
sugar on the side.
In serving grapes, the waitress, after supplying fruit plates, passes a
compote containing the grapes and offers fruit shears, so that each
guest may cut what he or she desire. Cherries are served in the same
manner, with the addition of a finger bowl.
When grapefruit is served, it is usually as a half, the core removed
and sugar added, on a fruit plate or in a grapefruit bowl, together
with an orange spoon.
Oranges may be served from a compote, whole, and may be eaten cut
crosswise in halves, with the orange spoon; or peeled and eaten in
sections. If oranges are served peeled and sliced on a fruit plate they
may be eaten with a fork. Sugar should always be passed when they are
eaten in this way. Orange juice is the extracted juice served in small
glasses two-thirds full.
Cantaloupe (filled with cracked ice) and honeydew melon (it is smart to
accompany the latter with a slice of lemon) are served in halves or
quarters, on fruit plates (or special melon dishes) and eaten with a
fruit spoon. Sugar, salt and pepper should be offered with these by the
waitress. Watermelon is usually cut in wedges or circles. It should
always be served very cold, on a large fruit plate, and with fruit
knife and fork. If half-melons are served, with the rind, the host cuts
egg-shaped pieces from the fruit, and places it on individual plates
for passing by the waitress.
Bananas may be served "in the skin" at breakfast, or peeled and sliced,
with sugar and cream, or sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice.
Shredded pineapple, sprinkled with sugar, or sliced pineapple (slices
an inch thick) may be served from a large dish by the waitress.
Fruit at breakfast does not _necessarily_ demand a waitress. In
may be served at each cover before the guests and family seat
themselves. It does call for a finger bowl, however. Only when berries
or sliced fruits are served can the finger bowl be omitted.
CEREALS
Cereals are a matter of personal taste. Cooked cereals, such as
oatmeal, rolled oats, hominy, corn-meal mush and cracked wheat should
come on the table hot, and be served in bowls with sugar (brown sugar,
if preferred) and cream. Again, the host may serve the cereal from a
large porringer, the waitress bringing him the individual bowls, and
taking them to the guests when filled. Dry cereals are served in the
same way. Puffed grains or flakes gain crispness and flavor when
reheated, _not browned_, before serving.
TOAST
The best breakfast toast is that made at the table over an electric
toaster. Be sure, if you have French toast, hot cakes or waffles
served, that they come from the kitchen _hot_. A perforated silver
cover should cover the plate containing them to prevent their cooling.
_Never use a soup plate or bowl for the purpose!_ The steam cannot
escape and the toast grows soggy. Do not forget syrup when waffles, hot
cakes or French toast are served. Some prefer cinnamon and sugar to
syrup with hot cakes, and they should also be on hand.
BACON
Bacon is the ideal breakfast meat. The rasher of bacon should be served
piping hot on a hot silver platter, in crisp, curling slices.
Incidentally, it should be just as crisp when it appears with a
favorite companion, as "bacon and eggs."
EGGS
Cooked in the shell (medium or soft-boiled) eggs should be served in an
egg cup or egg glass, on a plate, and _under cup or glass_. Each
egg thus served should be accompanied by a silver egg cutter and
(unless there is plenty of silver at the cover) a silver spoon,
A vegetable dish or a small plate will do for the hard-boiled egg.
Poached eggs appear in individual shirred egg dishes, to the left of
each cover, on small plates with service spoon.
Scrambled eggs are served in individual portions, as above; or
distributed by the host from a large platter, and passed by the
waitress.
Omelet should be served on a large platter with hot individual service
plates before the host. The waitress may pass the individual portions
or--it is customary with scrambled eggs--they may be passed from host
to guest around the table.
COFFEE
Coffee is the favorite and logical breakfast drink, though some prefer
tea, cocoa and milk. The breakfast coffee service should be placed
before the hostess. In its most attractive form it comprises a large
silver tray, which holds coffee (or percolator), the hot-water pot,
creamer, sugar bowl with tongs, and cups and saucers. (There may also
be a bowl for the water used to heat the cups.) When tea is the
breakfast beverage the samovar takes the place of the percolator.
The large silver service platter may be dispensed with, if desired, in
favor of a tile to hold the coffee urn, the other components of the
service being grouped about it. There is a charming touch of intimacy
about coffee made at the table with an electric percolator, poured by
the hostess and passed at the table (or by a waitress). When the
hostess pours she should at the same time ask the guest's preferences
(those of members of the family are supposed to be known) as regards
cream and sugar. Cream and sugar always enter the cup _first_! The
true coffee-drinker at once notices a difference in flavor if the
coffee first be poured, and the cream and sugar added.
FOR THE CHILDREN
If the children eat breakfast with the family, a regular child's
service, with attractive little knives and spoons should be provided,
and his whole service, preferably, should be arranged on a tray near
the table's edge. Every child likes to have his own porridge bowl, his
mug and little milk pitcher, and having his own table tools teaches him
to be neat and self-reliant.
CHAPTER IV
LUNCHEONS
THE INFORMAL LUNCHEON
The informal luncheon or lunch--originally the light meal eaten between
breakfast and dinner, but now often taking the place of dinner, the
fashionable hour being one (or half after if cards are to follow)--is
of two kinds. The "buffet" luncheon, at which the guests eat standing;
and the luncheon served at small tables, at which the guests are
seated. (In general all that is here said with regard to the "buffet"
luncheon, applies to the "buffet" supper or evening "spread." The only
actual difference is that lighted candles may be used at an evening
luncheon, and that the daytime luncheon may offer courses more
variegated and solid in character than would be suitable for evening
eating.)
Plates, silver and napkins are conveniently arranged on a laid table in
the case of the "buffet" lunch. One or two hot and one or two cold
dishes (according to the number of guests who are to be fed), and one
or two iced desserts with one cream or jelly in mold should be
sufficient. The knife is tabooed at the "buffet" lunch, hence all the
food must be such as can be eaten with fork or spoon. As a rule,
friends of the hostess serve (host and hostess may help), though, if
convenient, waitresses may see to the wants of the guests. To keep the
table from looking crowded, maids may replenish the dishes from pantry
or serving table as may be necessary. Plates of sandwiches or filled
rolls (not too far from the table edge) olives and relishes should also
be arranged on the table, though cakes, candies and salted nuts may be
passed by the maids. The rolls go with the hot course, the sandwiches
with the salad. When a "buffet" lunch is served at a big reception,
with any number of guests coming and going, all the buffet refreshments
should appear on the table at the same time.
The following dishes cover the essentials of a "buffet" luncheon.
Beverages: punch, coffee, chocolate (poured from urn, or filled cups
brought from pantry on tray); hot entrees of various sorts (served from
chafing dish or platter) preceded by hot bouillon; cold entrees,
salads, lobster, potatoes, chicken, shrimp, with heavy dressings; hot
rolls, wafer-cut sandwiches (lettuce, tomato, deviled ham, etc.); small
cakes, frozen creams and ices.
The informal luncheon at small tables calls for service by a number of
maids, hence the "buffet" plan is preferable.
THE FORMAL LUNCHEON
A "luncheon set" (a luncheon cloth or center-piece with doilies of the
same color and design) or a bare table may be used for the formal
luncheon, with special luncheon napkins, in a three-cornered fold.
Butter is not usually served, the individual dishes (filled) are placed
at the top of the plate without doily, and if a "cup" of some sort is
to be served, an apollinaris glass is placed a little below the water
glass. Bread and rolls had best be passed, though they may be placed in
or on a napkin, instead of a bread dish. Favors, if used, should appear
at the top of the plate, or grouped about the center-piece, with
connecting ribbons to the plates. This is an attractive form of
arrangement. Dishes of candies and bonbons (with bonbon spoon beside
them) are placed on the table at will, wherever they make the best
appearance, but large dishes with spoon must be taken from the serving
table and passed.
THE FORMAL LUNCHEON MENU
The cocktail is the preliminary entering wedge of the formal luncheon.
Some hostesses serve a light cocktail with very thin sandwiches or
wafers in their drawing room before luncheon proper is served. At the
latter the fruit cocktail (served on small plate, with doily, glass and
spoon) or a Lobster or Scallop Cocktail (oyster fork) is followed by
the first course.
Here there is a wide choice--Cream of Pea soup with or without
croutons, Lobster Bisque, Mock Turtle, Consomme (Parmesan or Chicken),
White Soup with Wine--whatever best fits in with the general scheme of
the luncheon may be served. The handles of the bouillon cup, when it is
placed before the guest, should parallel the edge of the table.
The passing of Bread Sticks, Olives and Radishes should precede the
removal of the bouillon cup, and the placing before the guest of the
warmed plates for the fish. Here we have the same embarrassment of
riches. Deviled Crabs, Fried Sardines, Fish Cutlets with Dutch Sauce,
Fried Shad Roe, Oyster and Mushroom Patties, Halibut in any style,
together with rolls (passed in napkins) and Dressed Cucumbers will
answer for the fish course.
Before the meat course the claret cup should be poured, the waitress
ready with napkin in her left hand to catch any drops which may spill
from the pitcher. We will merely indicate five choices for the _piece
de resistance_ of the formal luncheon, 1. Fillets of Beef, with
Raisin Sauce, Parisian Potatoes (ball-shaped) and French Peas. 2.
Broiled Wild Duck, Curried Vegetables, and Currant Jelly Sauce. 3.
Fried Chicken with Tomato Mayonnaise, Steamed New Potatoes and Boiled
Green Corn. 4. Squab Breasts larded around hot ripe Olives, with Brown
Sauce, and Potato Croquettes with Peas. 5. Roast Saddle of Venison,
with Saute Potato Balls and Broiled Tomatoes with Horseradish
Hollandaise Sauce. None of these combinations should disappoint a
formal luncheon guest. When this course is over, the salad should be
substituted for the dinner plate which has been removed.
The salad is by no means the least attractive among the courses. You
may have Pepper and Fruit Salad, with Nut-Bread Sandwiches or an
Asparagus Salad with Lemon Rings. You may incline to Spring Salad with
Horseradish Sandwiches or to Dressed Lettuce with Cheese-Bread Wafers.
Or, again, you may prefer Chicory Salad with Cheese Croquettes. You
have but to choose. With the passing of the salad and its sandwiches,
salt and pepper sets are removed, the table is crumbed and the ice-
cream plates are laid out, together with ice-cream forks and spoons.
Will you have Maroon Ice Cream with Sponge Drops or a Tutti-Frutti Ice?
Canton Mousse with Cream Cones, or Orange Cream Sherbet with Chocolate
Petits Fours? Chocolate Parfait with Lady Fingers or Frozen Neapolitan
Charlotte with Marshmallow Wafers? You must exercise your individual
choice among these and a hundred others.
The passing of the finger-bowl service (plate, bowl and doily) precedes
the appearance of the demi-tasse, and the passing of candies and
bonbons. (At less formal luncheons, the hostess pours the coffee at the
table. When this is done the service usually is placed before her when
the dessert course ends.)
The more formal luncheon dictates that coffee be served in the drawing
room. Here the waitress passes the after-dinner coffee which the
hostess pours. If it seems preferrable to serve coffee at the table,
the waitress, after she has placed the finger-bowl service, puts the
coffee at the guest's left hand, and passes him cream and sugar. When
he has removed his finger bowl the guest uses the plate for his
bonbons.
CHAPTER V
THE INFORMAL (HOME) DINNER
The setting of the table for the home dinner follows the general rules
already given. As it is a quite informal affair, however, the side dish
(never seen at a formal dinner) is permissible. Dessert, too, may be
served in a small dish set in a plate. A carving cloth (for
_paterfamilias_ usually carves at the home dinner) protects the
tablecloth from spatters and bits of crisp fat which the most skillful
carver cannot always avoid sending over the dish.
If a maid serves, she should always have an extra plate, one more than
the number of individuals to be served. She will need it.
A salad served with meat, at an informal dinner, is placed on the right
side, _from the right_, the exception to the rule of serving from
the left.
Vegetables, once served, are taken back to the kitchen, to keep them
warm. If a second serving is desired, the mistress rings. Suit yourself
about having the serving silver placed on the table _before_ the
dish to be served is carried in. The latest wrinkle--and it is a time
and step-saving one--dictates that the silver be brought in on a
platter. The soup, to be served hot (it should always be served in soup
plates at dinner and never in bouillon cups) must be brought in after
the family have taken their places.
A family dinner may be served quite comfortably even without a maid.
The table set and the service laid, the younger members of the family
should attend to her duties. One may bring in the soup, hot, in
individually heated plates. Another may fill the water glasses, pass
butter or sauces and remove dishes between courses. The most convenient
way of serving vegetables, under these circumstances, is for some
member of the family next the carver to attend to it, as soon as meat
has been laid on the plate. It saves extra passing. See to it that too
many things--butter, salt, pepper, cream, sauces, etc.--are not
traveling about the table at once. All the formal features of the more
formal meals may be dropped or modified to suit individual needs or
circumstances in the informal home dinner.
TWELVE MENUS FOR GOOD FAMILY DINNERS
1. Corn Mock Bisque. Roast Chicken with Bread Stuffing, Giblet Gravy.
Boiled Rice. Saute Egg Plant. Stuffed Green Peppers. Prune Pudding.
Black Coffee.
2. Onion Soup. Fried Smelts, Sauce Tartare. Broiled Porterhouse
Beefsteak. Maitre d'Hotel Butter (1/4 cup butter, 1/2 teaspoonful salt,
1/8 teaspoonful pepper, tablespoonful lemon juice, 1 ditto parsley,
fine chopped; work butter in bowl with wooden spoon till creamy, then
add other ingredients slowly). Potato Strips. Creamed Turnips. Steamed
Chocolate Pudding, Sterling Sauce.
3. Carrot Soup. Braised Beef. Boiled Potatoes with Butter and Parsley.
Fried Parsnips. Onion Souffle. Spiced Apples a la Lyman (6 large
apples, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoonful salt,
1/4 cup water: arrange cored and pared apples in baking dish, mix
sugar, salt and cinnamon and fill cavities. Add water, bake till apples
are soft, basting repeatedly with syrup in dish. Remove, cool, pile
meringue on top of each apple. Back to oven and bake for eight minutes.
Chill and serve with sugar and cream). Black coffee.