MSU Libraries >> DMC >> Digital Collections >> Feeding America >> Book Content

Title: Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving. A Treatise Containing Practical Instructions in Cooking; in the Combination and Serving of Dishes; and in the Fashionable Modes of Entertaining at Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
Author: Henderson, Mary Foote
Publisher: New York: Harper & Brothers

---

View page [NONE OF THE ABOVE]

> PRACTICAL COOKING,
AND
DINNER GIVING.

> SETTING THE TABLE AND SERVING THE DINNER.

AN animated controversy for a long time existed as to the best mode of serving a dinner. Two distinct and clearly defined styles, known as the English and Russian, each having its advantages and disadvantages, were the subject of contention. It is perhaps fortunate that a compromise between them has been so generally adopted by the fashionable classes in England, France, and America as to constitute a new style, which supersedes, in a measure, the other two.

In serving a dinner á la Russe, the table is decorated by placing the dessert in a tasteful manner around a centre-piece of flowers. This furnishes a happy mode of gratifying other senses than that of taste; for while the appetite is being satisfied, the flowers exhale their fragrance, and give to the eye what never fails to please the refined and cultivated guest.

In this style the dishes are brought to the table already carved, and ready for serving, thus depriving the cook of the power to display his decorative art, and the host of his skill in carving. Each dish is served as a separate course, only one vegetable being allowed for a course, unless used merely for the purpose of garnishing.

The English mode is to set the whole of each course, often containing many dishes, at once upon the table. Such dishes


View page [14]
as require carving, after having been once placed on the dinner-table, are removed to a side-table, and there carved by an expert servant. Serving several dishes at one time, of course, impairs the quality of many, on account of the impossibility of keeping them hot. This might, in fact, render some dishes quite worthless.

And now, before giving the details of serving a dinner on the newer compromise plan, I will describe the "setting" or arranging of the table, which may be advantageously adopted, whatever the mode of serving.

In the first place, a round table five feet in diameter is the best calculated to show off a dinner. If of this size, it may be decorated to great advantage, and conveniently used for six or eight persons, without enlargement.

Put a thick baize under the table-cloth. This is quite indispensable. It prevents noise, and the finest and handsomest table-linen looks comparatively thin and sleazy on a bare table.

Do not put starch in the napkins, as it renders them stiff and disagreeable, and only a very little in the table-cloth. They should be thick enough, and, at the same time, of fine enough texture, to have firmness without starch. Too much can not be said as to the pleasant effect of a dinner, when the table-linen is of spotless purity, and the dishes and silver are perfectly bright.

Although many ornaments may be used in decorating the table, yet nothing is so pretty and so indicative of a refined taste as flowers. If you have no épergne for them, use a compotier or raised dish, with a plate upon the top, to hold cut flowers; or place flower-pots with blossoming plants on the table. A net-work of wire, painted green, or of wood or crochet work, may be used to conceal the roughness of the flower-pot. A still prettier arrangement is to set the pot in a jardinière vase.

At a dinner party, place a little bouquet by the side of the plate of each lady, in a small glass or silver bouquet-holder. At the gentlemen's plates put a little bunch of three or four flowers, called a boutonntère; in the folds of the napkin. As


View page [15]
soon as the gentlemen are seated at table, they may attach them to the left lapel of the coat.

Place the dessert in two or four fancy dessert-dishesaround the centre-piece, which, by-the-way, should not be high enough to obstruct the view of persons sitting at opposite sides of the table. The dessert will consist of fruits, fresh or candied, preserved ginger, or preserves of any kind, fancy cakes, candies, nuts, raisins, etc.

Put as many knives, forks, and spoons by the side of the plate of each person as will be necessary to use in all the different courses. Place the knives and spoons on the right side, and the forks on the left side, of the plates. This saves the trouble of replacing a knife and fork or spoon as each course is brought on. Many prefer the latter arrangement, as they object to the appearance of so many knives, etc., by the sides of a plate. This is, of course, a matter of taste. I concede the preferable appearance of the latter plan, but confess a great liking for any arrangement which saves extra work and confusion.

Place the napkin, neatly folded, on the plate, with a piece of bread an inch thick, and three inches long, or a small cold bread roll, in the folds or on the top of the napkin.

Put a glass for water, and as many wine-glasses as are necessary at each plate. Fill the water-glass just before the dinner is announced, unless caraffes are used. These are kept on the table all the time, well filled with water, one caraffe being sufficient for two or three persons. All the wine intended to be served decanted should be placed on the table, conveniently arranged at different points.

At opposite sides of the table place salt and pepper stands, together with the different fancy spoons, crossed by their side, which may be necessary at private dinners, for serving dishes.

Select as many plates as will be necessary for all the different courses. Those intended for cold dishes, such as salad, dessert, etc., place on the sideboard, or at any convenient place. Have those plates intended for dessert already prepared, with a finger-bowl on each plate. The finger-glasses should be half filled with water, with a slice of lemon in each, or a geranium


View page [16]
leaf and one flower, or a little boutonnière: a sprig of lemon-verbena is pretty, and leaves a pleasant odor on the fingers after pressing it in the bowl. In Paris, the water is generally warm, and scented with peppermint.

Some place folded fruit-napkins under each finger-bowl; others have little fancy net-work mats, made of thread or crochet cotton, which are intended to protect handsome painted dessert-plates from scratches which the finger-bowls might possibly make.

The warm dishes--not hot dishes--keep in a tin closet or on the top shelf of the range until the moment of serving. A plate of bread should also be on the sideboard.

Place the soup-tureen (with soup that has been brought to the boiling-point just before serving) and the soup-plates before the seat of the hostess.

Dinner being now ready, it should be announced by the butler or dinning-room maid. Never ring a bell for a meal. Bells do very well for country inns and steamboats, but in private houses the ménage should be conducted with as little noise as possible.

With these preliminaries, one can see that it requires very little trouble to serve the dinner. There should be no confusion or anxiety about it. It is a simple routine. Each dish is served as a separate course. The butler first places the pile of plates necessary for the course before the host or hostess. He next sets the dish to be served before the host or hostess, just beyond the pile of plates. The soup, salad, and dessert should be placed invariably before the hostess, and every other dish before the host. As each plate is ready, the host puts it upon the small salver held by the butler, who then with his own hand places this and the other plates in a similar manner on the table before each of the guests. If a second dish is served in the course, the butler, putting in it a spoon, presents it on the left side of each person, allowing him to help himself. As soon as any one has finished with his plate, the butler should remove it immediately, without waiting for others to finish. This would take too much time. When all the plates are removed, the butler should bring on the next course. It is not necessary to use


View page [17]
the crumb-scraper to clean the cloth until just before the dessert is served. He should proceed in the same manner to distribute and take off the plates until the dessert is served, when he can leave the room.

This is little enough every-day ceremony for families of the most moderate pretensions, and it is also enough for the finest dinner party, with the simple addition of more waiters, and distribution of the work among them. It is well that this simple ceremony should be daily observed, for many reasons. The dishes themselves taste better; moreover, the cook takes more pride, and is more particular to have his articles well cooked, and to present a better appearance, when each dish is in the way subjected to a special regard: and is it not always preferable to have a few well-cooked dishes to many indifferently and carelessly prepared? At the same time, each dish is in its perfection, hot from the fire, and ready to be eaten at once; then, again, one has the benefit of the full flavor of the dish, without mingling it with that of a multiplicity of others. There is really very little extra work in being absolutely methodical in every-day living. With his habit, there ceases to be any anxiety in entertaining. There is nothing more distressing at a dinner company than to see a hostess ill at ease, or to detect an interchange of nervous glances between her and the servants. A host and hostess seem insensibly to control the feelings of all the guests, it matters not how many there may be. In well-appointed houses, a word is not spoken at the dinner between the hostess and attendants. What necessity, when the servants are in the daily practice of their duties?

If one has nothing for dinner but soup, hash, and lettuce, put them on the table in style: serve them in three courses, and one will imagine it a much better dinner than if carelessly served.

Let it be remembered that the above is the rule prescribed for every-day living. With large dinner parties, the plan might be changed, in one respect, i.e., in having the dishes, in courses, put on the table for exhibition, and then taken off, to be carved quickly and delicately at a side-table by an experienced butler. This gives the host time to entertain his guests at his ease, instead


View page [18]
of being absorbed in the fatiguing occupation of carving for twelve or fourteen people.

These rules in France constitute an invariable and daily custom for private dinners, as well as for those of greater pretensions. Every thing is served there also as a separate course, even each vegetable, unless used as a garnish. In America and England this plan is not generally liked, although in both these countries it is adopted by many. Americans like, at least, one vegetable with each substantial, a taste, it is to be hoped, that will not be changed by the dictates of fashion. Then, if dishes are to be carved at a side-table, the one-vegetable plan causes the placing of the principal dish on the table before carving to appear more sensible.

When the butler places a dish on the table, and tarries a moment or so for every one to look at it, if it does not happen to be so very attractive in appearance the performance seems very absurd; but when, after putting on the substantial dish, he places a vegetable dish at the other end of the table, his taking the substantial to carve seems a more rational proceeding.

I would suggest, when there is only one dish for a course, which it to be taken off the table to be carved, that the dish should be put on first; then, that the butler should return for the plates, instead of placing the plates on first, as should be done in all other cases.

At small dinners, I would not have the butler to be carver. It is a graceful and useful accomplishment for a gentleman to know how to carve well. At small dinners, where the dishes can not be large, the attendant labor must be light; and, in this case, does it not seem more hospitable and home-like for the gentleman to carve himself? Does it not disarm restraint, and mark the only difference there is between home and hotel dinners?

In "Gastronomie," M. M. believes in a compromise on the carving question. He say, "There were professional carvers, and this important art was anciently performed at the sound of music, and with appropriate gesticulations. We wish our modern gourmands would follow the very good example of Trimalchio


View page [19]
in this respect, and, if they must have their viands carved on the sideboard by servants, take care that, like his carvers, they are trained to his art. We shall take the opportunity of entering our protest against an innovation which is going too far. That some of the more bulky pieces, the pièces de résistance, should be placed on the sideboard, well and good, though even to this Addison objected, and not without reason; but that the fish and the game should be both bestowed and distributed, like rations to paupers, by attendants, who, for the most part, can not distinguish between the head and the tail of a mullet, the flesh and fin of a turbot, etc., is enough to disturb the digestion of the most tolerant gastronome. We must say that we like to see our dinner, especially the fish, and to see every part of it, in good hands."

Then, again, without paying a high price, one can not secure a waiter who is a good carver. I am almost inclined to say one must possess the luxury of a French waiter for carving at the side-table. English waiters are good. The Irish are generally too awkward. Negroes are too slow. The French are both graceful and expeditious.

Well, what can be done, then, when one has a dinner party, with no expert carver, and the dishes are too large for the host to attempt? I would advise in this case that the dinner should be served from the side. A very great majority of large and even small dinners are served in this manner.

The table, as usual, is decorated with flowers, fruits, etc., but the dishes(plats) are not placed upon it; consequently the host has no more duty to perform in the serving of the dinner than the guest. A plate is placed on the table before each person, then the dish, prettily decorated or neatly carved, if necessary, is presented to the left side, so that each person may help himself from the dish. When these plates are taken off, they are replaced by clean ones, and the dish of the next course is presented in like manner. Many prefer to serve every course from the side, as I have just indicated; others make an exception of the dessert, which the hostess may consider a pretty acquisition to the table, while the dish should not be an awkward one to serve.

View page [20]

Some proper person should be stationed in the kitchen or butler's pantry to carve and to see that the dishes are properly decorated. If the hostess should apprehend unskillfulness in carving, the dinner might be composed of chops, ribs, birds, etc., which require no cutting.

There are several hints about serving the table, which I will now specify separately, in order to give them the prominence they deserve.

1st. The waiters should be expeditious without seeming to be in a hurry. A dragging dinner is most tiresome. In France, the dishes and plates seem to be changed almost by magic. An American senator told me that at a dinner at the Tuileries, at which he was present, twenty-five courses were served in an hour and a half. The whole entertainment, with the after-dinner coffee, etc., lasted three hours. Upon this occasion, a broken dish was never presented to the view of a guest. One waiter would present a dish, beautifully garnished or decorated; and if the guest signified assent, a plate with some of the same kind of food was served him immediately from the broken dish at the side-table.

Much complaint has been made by persons accustomed to dinners abroad of the tediousness of those given in Washington and New York, lasting, as they often do, from three to five hours. It is an absolute affliction to be obliged to sit for so long a time at table.

2d. Never overload a plate nor oversupply a table. It is a vulgar hospitality. At a small dinner, no one should hesitate to ask for more, if he desires it; it would only be considered a flattering tribute to the dish.

At large companies, where there is necessarily a greater variety of dishes, the most voracious appetite must be satisfied with a little of each. Then, do not supply more than is absolutely needed; it is a foolish and unfashionable waste. "Hospitality is not to be measured by the square inch and calculated by cubic feet of beef or mutton."

At a fashionable dinner party, if there are twelve or fourteen guests, there should be twelve or fourteen birds, etc., served on the table--one for each person. If uninvited persons should


View page [21]
call, the servant could mention at the door that madam has company at dinner. A sensible person would immediately understand that the general machinery would be upset by making an appearance. At small or private dinners, it would be, of course, quite a different thing.

The French understand better than the people of any other nation how to supply a table. "Their small family dinners are simply gems of perfection. There is plenty for every person, yet every morsel is eaten. The flowers or plants are fresh and odoriferous; the linen is a marvel of whiteness; the dishes are few, but perfect of their kind."

When you invite a person to a family dinner, do not attempt too much. It is really more elegant to have the dinner appear as if it were an every-day affair than to impress the guest, by an ostentatious variety, that it is quite an especial event to ask a friend to dinner. Many Americans are deterred from entertaining, because they think they can not have company without a vulgar abundance, which is, of course, as expensive and troublesome as it is coarse and unrefined.

For reasonable and sensible people, there is no dinner more satisfactory than one consisting first of a soup, then a fish, garnished with boiled potatoes, followed by a roast, also garnished with one vegetable; perhaps an entrée, always a salad, some cheese, and a dessert. This, well cooked and neatly and quietly served, is a stylish and good enough dinner for any one, and is within the power of a gentleman or lady of moderate means to give. "It is the exquisite quality of a dinner or a wine that pleases us, not the multiplicity of dishes or vintages."

3d. Never attempt a new dish with company--one that you are not entirely sure of having cooked in the very best manner.

4th. Care must be taken about selecting a company for a dinner party, for upon this depends the success of the entertainment. Always put the question to yourself, when making up a dinner party, Why do I ask him or her? And unless the answer be satisfactory, leave him or her out. Invite them on some other occasion. If they are not sensible, social, unaffected, and clever people, they will not only not contribute to the agreeability of the dinner, but will positively be a serious impediment


View page [22]
to conversational inspiration and the general feeling of ease. Consequently, one may consider it a compliment to be invited to a dinner party.

5th. Have the distribution of seats at table so managed, using some tact in the arrangement, that there need be no confusion, when the guests enter the dining-room, about their being seated. If the guest of honor be a lady, place her at the right of the host; if a gentleman, at the right of the hostess.

If the dinner company be so large that the hostess can not easily place her guests without confusion, have a little card on each plate bearing the name of the person who is to occupy the place. Plain cards are well enough; but the French design (they are designed in this country also) beautiful cards for the purpose, illustrated with varieties of devices: some are rollicking cherubs with capricious antics, who present different tempting viands; autumn leaves and delicate flowers in chromo form pretty surroundings for the names on others; yet the designs are so various on these and the bill-of-fare cards that each hostess may seek to find new ones, while frequent dinner-goers may have interesting collections of these mementoes, which may serve to recall the occasions in after-years.

6th. If the dinner is intended to be particularly fine, have bills of fare, one for each person, written on little sheets of paper smoothly cut in half, or on French bill-of-fare cards, which come for the purpose. If expense is no object, and you entertain enough to justify it, have cards for your own use especially engraved. Have your crest, or perhaps a monogram, at the top of the card, and forms for different courses following, so headed that you have only to fill out the space with the special dishes for the occasion. I will give the example of a form. The forms are often seen on the dinner-cards; yet, perhaps, they are as often omitted, when the bills of fare are written, like those given at the end of the book.

Bills of fare are generally written in French. It is a pity that our own rich language is inadequate to the duties of a fashionable bill of fare, especially when, perhaps, all the guests do not understand the Gallic tongue, and the bill of fare(menu) for their accommodation might as well be written in


View page [23]
Choctaw. I will arrange a table with French names of dishes for the aid of those preferring the French bills of fare. I would say that some tact might be displayed in choosing which language to employ.

[Illustration: An illustration of a menu printed with the following text (in list format): MENU. Diner du 15 Févrior. Potages. Poissons. Hors-d'æuvres. Relevés. Entrées. Rôtis. Entremêts. Glaces. Dessert.]

If you are entertaining a ceremonious company, with tastes for the frivolities of the world, or, perhaps, foreign embassadors, use unhesitatingly the French bills of fare; but practical uncles and substantial persons of learning and wit, who, perhaps, do not appreciate the merits of languages which they do not understand, might consider you demented to place one of these effusions before them. I would advise the English bills of fare on these occasions.

7th. The attendants at table should make no noise. They should wear slippers or light boots. "Nothing so distinguishes the style of perfectly appointed houses from vulgar imitations as the quiet, self-possessed movements of the attendants." No word should be spoken among them during dinner, nor should they even seem to notice the conversation of the company at table.

8th. The waiter should wear a dress-coat, white vest, black trousers, and white necktie; the waiting-maid, a neat black alpaca or a clean calico dress, with a white apron.

9th. Although I would advise these rules to be generally followed,


View page [24]
yet it is as pleasant a change to see an individuality of a characteristic taste displayed in the setting of the table and the choice of dishes as in the appointments of our houses or in matters of toilet. At different seasons the table might be changed to wear a more appropriate garb. It may be solid, rich, and showy, or simple, light, and fresh.

10th. Aim to have a variety or change in dishes. It is as necessary to the stomach and to the enjoyment of the table as is change of scene for the mind. Even large and expensive state dinners become very monotonous when one finds everywhere the same choice of dishes. Mr. Walker, in his "Original," says: "To order dinner is a matter of invention and combination. It involves novelty, simplicity, and taste; whereas, in the generality of dinners, there is no character but that of routine, according to the season."

11th. Although many fashionable dinners are of from three or four hours' duration, I think every minute over two hours is a "stately durance vile." After that time, one can have no appetite; conversation must be forced. It is preferable to have the dinner a short one than a minute too long. If one rises from a fine dinner wearied and satiated, the memory of the whole occasion must be tinged with this last impression.

12th. There is a variety of opinions as to who should be first served at table. Many of the haut monde insist that the hostess should be first attended to. Once, when visiting a family with an elegant establishment, who, with cultivated tastes and years of traveling experience, prided themselves on their savoir faire, one of the members said, "Yes, if Queen Victoria were our guest, our sister, who presides at table, should always be served first." The custom originated in ancient times, when the hospitable fashion of poisoning was in vogue. Then the guests preferred to see the hostess partake of each dish before venturing themselves. Poisoning is not now the order of the day, beyond what is accomplished by rich pastry and plum puddings. If there be but one attendant, the lady guest sitting at the right of the host or the oldest lady should be first served. There are certain natural instincts of propriety which fashion or custom can not regulate. As soon as the second


View page [25]
person is helped, there should be no further waiting before eating.

13th. Have chairs of equal height at table. Perhaps every one may know by experience the trial to his good humor in finding himself perched above or sunk below the general level.

14th. The selection of china for the table offers an elegant field in which to display one's taste. The most economical choice for durability is this: put your extra money in a handsome dessert set, all (except the plates) of which are displayed on the table all the time during dinner; then select the remainder of the service in plain white, or white and gilt, china. When any dish is broken, it can be easily matched and replaced.

A set of china decorated in color to match the color of the dining-room is exceedingly tasteful. This choice is not an economical one, as it is necessary to replace broken pieces by having new ones manufactured--an expense quite equal to the extra trouble required to imitate a dish made in another country.

By far the most elegant arrangement consists in having different sets of plates, each set of a different pattern, for every course. Here is an unlimited field for exquisite taste. Let the meat and vegetable dishes be of plated silver. Let the épergne or centre-peice (holding flowers or fruit) be of silver, or perhaps it might be preferred of majolica, of bisque, or of glass. The majolica ware is very fashionable now, and dessert, oyster, and salad sets of it are exceedingly pretty. A set of majolica plates, imitating pink shells, with a large pink-shell platter, is very pretty, and appropriate for almost any course. Oyster-plates in French ware imitate five oyster-shells, with a miniature cup in the centre for holding the lemon. There are other patterns of oyster-plates in majolica of the most gorgeous colors, where each rim is concaved in six shells to hold as many oysters. The harlequin dessert sets are interesting, where every plate is not only different in design and color, but is a specimen of different kinds of ware as well. In these sets the Dresden, French, and painted plates of any ware that suits the fancy are combined.

A set of plates for a course at dinner is unique in the Chinese


View page [26]
or Japanese patterns. Dessert sets of Bohemian glass or of cut-glass are a novelty; however, the painted sets seem more appropriate for the dessert (fruit, etc.), white glass sets are tasteful for jellies, cold puddings, etc., or what are called the cold entremêts served just before the dessert proper.

But it seems difficult, in entering the Colamores' and other large places of the kind in New York, to know what to select, there are such myriads of exquisite plates, table ornaments, and fairy-lands of glass.

I consider the table ornaments in silver much less attractive than those in fancy ware. There are lovely maidens in bisque, reclining, while they hold painted oval dishes for a jelly, a Bavarian cream, or for flowers or fruit; cherub boys in majolica, tugging away with wheelbarrows, which should be loaded with flowers; antique water-jugs; cheese-plates in Venetian glass; clusters of lilies from mirror bases to hold flowers of bonbons; tripods of dolphins, with great pink mouths, to hold salt and pepper.

If a lady, with tastes to cultivate in her family, can afford elegancies in dress, let her retrench in that, and bid farewell to all her ugly and insipid white china; let wedding presents consist more of these ornaments (which may serve to decorate any room), and less of silver salt-cellars, pepper-stands, and pickle-forks.

Senator Sumner was a lover of the ceramic art. His table presented a delightful study to the connoisseur, with its different courses of plates, all different and recherché in design. Nothing aroused this inimitable host at a dinner party from his literacy labors more effectually than a special announcement to him by Marley of the arrival from Europe of a new set of quaint and elegant specimens of China ware. He would repair to New York on the next train.

15th. I will close these suggestions by copying from an English book a practical drill exercise for serving at table. The dishes are served from the side-table.

"Let us suppose a table laid for eight persons, dressed in its best; as attendants, only two persons--a butler and a footman, or one of these, with a page or neat waiting-maid; and let us


View page [27]
suppose some one stationed outside the door in the butler's pantry to do nothing but fetch up, or hand, or carry off dishes, one by one:

While guests are being seated, person from outside brings up soup;

Footman receives soup at door;

Butler serves it out;

Footman hands it;

Both change plates.

Footman takes out soup, and receives fish at door; while butler hands wine;

Butler serves out fish;

Footman hands it (plate in one hand, and sauce in the other);

Both change plates.

Footman brings inentrée, while butler hands wine;

Butler hands entrée;

Footman hands vegetables;

Both change plates,

Etc., etc.

"The carving of the joint seems the only difficulty. However, it will not take long for an expert carver to cut eight pieces."

> THE DINNER PARTY.

IT is very essential, in giving a dinner party, to know precisely how many guests one is to entertain. It is a serious inconvenience to have any doubt on this subject. Consequently, it is well to send an invitation, which may be in the following form:

[Illustration: An illustration of an invitation card printed with the following text: Mrs. Smith requests the pleasure of Mr. Jones's company at dinner, on Thursday, January 5th, at seven o'clock. R. S. V. P. 12 New York Avenue, January 2d, 1576.]

The capital letters constitute the initials of four French words, meaning, "Answer, if you please" (Répondez s'il vous plait). The person thus invited must not fail to reply at once,


View page [28]
sending a messenger to the door with the note. It is considered impolite to send it by post.

If the person invited has any doubt about being able to attend the dinner at the time stated, he should decline the invitation at once. He should be positive one way or the other, not delaying the question for consideration more than a day at the utmost. If Mr. Jones should then decline, he might reply as follows:

[Illustration: An illustration of a reply card printed with the following text: Mr. Jones regrets that he is unable to accept Mrs. Smith's polite invitation for Thursday evening. 8 Thirty-seventh Street, January 3d.]

Or,

[Illustration: An illustration of a reply card printed with the following text: Mr. Jones regrets that a previous engagement prevents his acceptance of Mrs. Smith's polite invitation for Thursday evening. Thirty-seventh Street, January 3d.]

A prompt and decided answer of this character enables Mrs. Smith to supply the place with some other person, thereby preventing that most disagreeable thing, a vacant chair at table.

If the invitation be accepted, Mr. Jones might say in his note:

[Illustration: An illustration of a reply card printed with the following text: Mr. Jones accepts, with pleasure, Mrs. Smith's invitation for Thursday evening. Thirty-seventh Street, January 2d.]

The more simple the invitation or reply, the better. Do not attempt any high-flown or original modes. Originality is most charming on most occasions; this is not one of them.

In New York, many, I notice, seem to think it elegant to use the French construction of sentences in formal notes: for instance, they are particular to say, "the invitation of Mrs. Smith," instead of "Mrs. Smith's invitation;" and "2d January,"


View page [29]
instead of "January 2d." In writing in the French language, the French construction of sentences would seem eminently proper. One might be pardoned for laughing at an English construction, if ignorance were not the cause. So, when one writes in English, let the sentences be concise, and according to the rules of the language.

On the appointed day, the guest should endeavor to arrive at the house not exceeding ten minutes before the time fixed for dinner; and while he avoids a too early arrival, he should be equally careful about being tardy.

It is enough to disturb the serenity and good temper of the most amiable hostess during the whole evening for a guest to delay her dinner, impairing it, of course, to a great extent. She should not be expected to wait over fifteen minutes for any one. Perhaps it would be as well for her to order dinner ten minutes after the appointed hour in her invitation, to meet the possible contingency of delay on the part of some guest.

When the guests are assembled in the drawing-room, if the company be large, the host or hostess can quietly intimate to the gentleman what ladies they will respectively accompany to the dining-room. After a few moments of conversation and introductions, the dinner is to be announced, when the host should offer his arm to the lady guest of honor, the hostess taking the arm of the gentleman guest of honor; and now, the host leading the way, all should follow; the hostess, with her escort, being the last to leave the drawing-room. They should find their places at table with as little confusion as possible, not sitting down until the hostess is seated. After dinner is over, the hostess giving the signal by moving back her chair, all should leave the dining-room. The host may then invite the gentleman to the smoking-room or library. The ladies should repair to the drawing-room. A short time thereafter (perhaps in half an hour), the butler should bring to the drawing-room the tea-service on a salver, with a cake-basket filled with fancy biscuits, or rather crackers or little cakes.

Placing them on the table, he may then announce to the host that tea is served. The gentlemen join the ladies; and, after a chat of a few minutes over the tea, all of the guests may take


View page [30]
their departure. If the attendant is a waiting-maid, and the tea-service rather heavy, she might bring two or three cups filled with tea, and a small sugar-bowl and cream-pitcher,also the cake-basket, on a small salver; and when the cups are passed, return for more.

I do not like the English fashion, which requires the ladies to retire from the table, leaving the gentlemen to drink more wine, and smoke. Enough wine is drunk during dinner. English customs are admirable, generally, and one naturally inclines to adopt them; but in this instance I do not hesitate to condemn and reject a custom in which I see no good, but, on the contrary, a temptation to positive evil. The French reject it; let Americans do the same.

> COOKING AS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT.

THE reason why cooking in America is, as a rule, so inferior is not because American women are less able and apt than the women of France, and not because the American men do not discuss and appreciate the merits of good cooking and the pleasure of entertaining friends at their own table; it is merely because American women seem possessed with the idea that it is not the fashion to know how to cook; that, as an accomplishment, the art of cooking is not as ornamental as that of needle-work or piano-playing. I do not undervalue these last accomplishments. A young lady of esprit should understand them; but she should understand, also, the accomplishment of cooking. A young lady can scarcely have too many accomplishments, for they serve to adorn her home, and are attractive and charming, generally. But of them all--painting, music, fancy work, or foreign language--is there one more fascinating and useful, or one which argues more intelligence in its acquisition than the accomplishment of cooking?

What would more delight Adolphus than to discover that his pretty fiancée, Julia, was an accomplished cook; that with her dainty fingers she could gracefully dash off a creamy omelet, and by miraculous manæuvres could produce to his astonished


View page [31]
view a dozen different kaleidoscopic omelets, aux fines herbes, aux huîtres, aux petits pois, aux tomates, etc.; and not only that, but scientific croquettes, mysterious soups, delicious salads, marvelous sauces, and the hundred and one savory results of a little artistic skill? Delighted Adolphus--if a sensible man, and such a woman should have no other than a sensible man--would consider this as the chef-d'æuvre of all her accomplishments, as he regarded her the charming assurance of so many future comforts.

From innate coquetry alone the French women appreciate the powers of their dainty table. Cooking is an art they cultivate. Any of the haut monde are proud to originate a new dish, many famous ones doing them credit in bearing their names.

One thing is quite evident in America--that the want of this ornamental and useful information is most deplorable. The inefficiency, in this respect, of Western and Southern women, brought up under the system of slavery, is somewhat greater than that of the women of the Northern and Eastern States; however, as a nation, there is little to praise in this regard in any locality. Professor Blot endeavored to come to the rescue. Every man applauded his enterprise; yet I can myself testify to the indifference of the women--his classes for the study of cookery numbering by units where they should have numbered by hundreds. He soon discontinued his instructive endeavors, and at last died a poor man.

There is little difficulty abroad in obtaining good cooks at reasonable prices, who have pursued regular courses of instruction in their trade: not so in America. Hospitality demands the entertaining of friends at the social board; yet it is almost impossible to do so in this country in an acceptable manner, unless the hostess herself not only has a proper idea of the serving of a table, but of the art of cooking the dishes themselves as well. In some of the larger cities, satisfactory dinners and trained waiters may be provided at an enormous cost at the famous restaurants, where the meal may appear home-like and elegant. But unfortunate is the woman, generally, who wants to do "the correct thing," and, wishing to entertain at


View page [32]
dinner, relies upon the sense, good taste, and management of the proprietor of a restaurant. She may confidently rely upon one thing--an extortionate bill; and, generally, as well, upon a vulgar display, which poorly imitates the manner of refined private establishments.

However, "living for the world" seems very contemptible in comparison with the importance of that wholesome, satisfactory, every-day living which so vitally concerns the health and pleasure of the family circle.

But why waste time in asserting these self-evident facts? They are acknowledged and proclaimed every day by suffering humanity; yet the difficulty is not remedied. Is there a remedy, then? Yes. This is a free country, yet Dame Fashion is the Queen. Make it the fashion, then, that the art and science of cookery shall be classed among the necessary accomplishments of every well-educated lady. This is a manifest duty on the part of ladies of influence and position, even if the object be only for the benefit of the country at large. Let these ladies be accomplished artists in cookery. The rest will soon follow. There will be plenty of imitators.

Many ladies of rank in England have written valuable books on cookery, and on the effects resulting from the want of the knowledge. None wrote better than Lady Morgan. Speaking of clubs, she says:

"The social want of the times, however, brought its remedy along with it, and the reaction was astounding.... Then it was that clubs arose--homes of refuge to destitute celibacy, chapels of ease to discontented husbands. There, men could dine, like gentlemen and Christians, upon all the friandises of the French kitchen, much cheaper and far more wholesomely than at their own tables upon the tough, half-sodden fibres of the national roast and boiled, or on the hazardous resources of hash; gravy soup, and marrow puddings.

"Moral England gave in. The English 'home'--that temple of the heart, that centre of all the virtues--was left to the solitary enjoyment of the English wives.

"To your casseroles, then, women of Britain! Would you, with a falconer's voice, lure your faithless tassels back again?


View page [33]
Apply to the practical remedy of your wrongs; proceed to the reform of your domestic government, and turn your thoughts to that art which, coming into action every day in the year during the longest life, includes within its circles the whole philosophy of economy and order, the preservation of good health, and the tone of good society--and all peculiarly within your province."

> BREAKFAST.

AFTER a fast of twelve or thirteen hours, the system requires something substantial as preparation for the labors of the day; consequently, I consider the American breakfasts more desirable for an active people than those of France or England.

In France, the first breakfast consists merely of a cup of coffee and a roll. A second breakfast, at eleven o'clock, is more substantial, dishes being served which may be eaten with a fork (déjeuner à la fourchette), as a chop with a potato soufflé. No wonder there are cafés in Paris where American breakfasts are advertised, for it takes one of our nationality a very short time to become dissatisfied with this meagre first meal.

In England, breakfast is a very informal meal. After some fatiguing occasion, if one should desire the luxury of an extra nap, he is not mercilessly expected at the table simply because it is the breakfast-hour; for there the breakfast-hour is any time one chances to be ready for it. Gentlemen and ladies read their papers and letters in the breakfast-room--a practice which, of course, is more agreeable for guests than convenient for servants. However, if one can afford it, why not? This habit requires a little different setting of the table. It is decorated with flowers or plants, and upon it are placed several kinds of breads, fruits, melons, potted meats, and freshest of boiled eggs. But the substantial dishes must be served from the sideboard, where they are kept in silver chafing-dishes over spirit-lamps. As members of the family or guests enter, the servant helps them each once, then leaves the room. If they have further wants, they help themselves or ring a bell.

View page [34]

The American breakfast is all placed upon the table, unless oatmeal porridge should be served as a first course. Changes of plates are also necessary when cakes requiring sirup or when melons or fruits are served.

Let us now set the American breakfast-table.

The coffee-urn and silver service necessary are placed in a straight line before the hostess. The one or two kinds of substantials are set before the host; vegetables or entrées are placed on the sides. Do not have them askew. It is quite as easy for an attendant to place a dish in a straight line as in an oblique angle with every other dish on the table.

I advocate the general use of oatmeal porridge for breakfast. Nothing is more wholesome, and nothing more relished after a little use. If not natural, the taste should be acquired. It is invaluable for children, and of no less benefit for persons of mature years. Nearly all the little Scotch and Irish children are brought up on it. When Queen Victoria first visited Scotland, she noticed the particularly ruddy and healthy appearance of the children, and, after inquiry about their diet and habits, became at once a great advocate for the use of porridge. She used it for her own children, and it was at once introduced very generally into England. Another of its advantages is that serving it as a first course enables the cook to prepare many dishes, such as steaks, omelets, etc., just as the family sit down to breakfast; and when the porridge is eaten, she is ready with the other dishes "smoking hot."

It would be well if more attention were given to breakfasts than is usually bestowed. The table might have a fresher look with flowers or a flowering plant in the centre. The breakfast napery is very pretty now, with colored borders to suit the color of the room, the table-cloth and napkins matching.

The beefsteaks should be varied, for instance, one morning with a tomato sauce, another à la maître d'hôtel, or with a brown sauce, or garnished with water-cresses, green pease, fried potatoes, potato-balls, etc., instead of being always the same beefsteak, too frequently overcooked or undercooked, and often floating in butter.

Melons, oranges, compotes, any and all kinds of fruits, should


View page [35]
be served at breakfast. In the season, sliced tomatoes, with a French or Mayonnaise dressing, is a most refreshing breakfast dish. A great resource is in the variety of omelets, and with a little practice, nothing is so easily made. One morning it may be a plain omelet; another, with macaroni and cheese; another, with fine herbs; another, with little strips of ham or with oysters. The English receipt on page 148 makes a pleasant change for a veal cutlet. When chickens are no longer very young, the receipt on page 175 (deviled chicken), with a Cunard sauce or a white sauce, is another change. The different arrangements of meat-balls are croquettes, with tomato, cream, apple, or brown sauces, are delicious when they are freshly and carefully made.

As there are hundreds of delicious breakfast dishes, which only require a little attention and interest to understand, how unfortunate it must be for a man to have a wife who has nothing for breakfast but an alternation of juiceless beefsteak, greasy and ragged mutton-chops, and swimming hash, with unwholesome hot breads to make up deficiencies!

Breakfast parties are very fashionable, being less expensive than dinners, and just as satisfactory to guests. They are served generally about ten o'clock, although any time from ten to twelve o'clock may be chosen for the purpose. It seems to me that ten o'clock, or even nine o'clock (it depends upon the persons invited), is the preferable hours. Guests might prefer to retain their strength by a repast at home if the breakfast-hour were at twelve o'clock, and then the fine breakfast would be less appreciated. At breakfast parties, with the exception of the silver service being on the table all the time for tea and coffee, the dishes are served in courses precisely as for dinner.

In England, breakfast parties are perhaps more in favor than lunch parties, especially among the literati. Macaulay said, when extolling the merits of breakfast parties as compared with all other entertainments, "Dinner parties are mere formalities; but you invite a man to breakfast because you want to seehim."

There bills of fare are given for breakfast parties, which will show the order of different courses:

View page [36]

> Winter Breakfast.

1st Course.--Broiled sardines on toast, garnished with slices of lemon. Tea, coffee, or chocolate.

2d Course.--Larded sweet-breads, garnished with French pease. Cold French rolls or petits pains. Sauterne.

3d Course.--Small fillets or the tender cuts from porter-house-steaks, served on little square slices of toast, with mushrooms.

4th Course.--Fried oysters; breakfast puffs.

5th Course.--Fillets of grouse (each fillet cut in two), on little thin slices of fried mush, garnished with potatoes à la Parisienne.

6th Course.--Sliced oranges, with sugar.

7th Course.--Waffles, with maple sirup.

> Early Spring Breakfast.

1st Course.--An Havana orange for each person, dressed on a fork (page 338).

2d Course.--Boiled shad, maître d'hôtel sauce; Saratoga potatoes. Tea or coffee.

3d Course.--Lamb-chops, tomato sauce. Château Yquem.

4th Course.--Omelet, with green pease, or garnished with parsley and thin diamonds of ham, or with shrimps, etc., etc.

5th Course.--Fillets of beef, garnished with water-cresses and little round radishes; muffins.

6th Course.--Rice pancakes, with maple sirup.

> Summer Breakfast.

1st Course.--Melons.

2d Course.--Little fried perch, smelts, or trout, with a sauce Tartare, the dish garnished with shrimps and olives. Coffee, tea, or chocolate.

3d Course.--Young chickens, sautéd, with cream-gravy, surrounded with potatoes à la neige. Claret.

4th Course.--Poached eggs on anchovy-toast.

5th Course.--Little fillets of porter-house-steaks, wit tomatoes à la Mayonnaise.

6th Course.--Peaches, quartered, sweetened, and half-frozen.

> LUNCH.

THIS is more especially a ladies' meal. If one gives a lunch party, ladies alone are generally invited. It is an informal meal on ordinary occasions, when every thing is placed upon the table


View page [37]
at once. A servant remains in the room only long enough to serve the first round of dishes, then leaves, supposing that confidential conversation may be desired. Familiar friends often "happen in" to lunch, and are always to be expected.

Some fashionable ladies have the reputation of having every fine lunches--chops, chickens, oysters, salads, chocolate, and many other good things being provided; and others, just as fashionable, have nothing but a cup of tea or chocolate, some thin slices of bread and butter, and cold meat; or, if of Teutonic taste, nothing but cheese, crackers, and ale, thus reserving the appetite for dinner.

In entertaining at lunch, the dishes are served in the same manners as for dinner. Each dish is served as a separate course. It may be placed on the table before the hostess, if the lunch party is not very large; but it is generally served from the side. The table is also decorated in the same manner as for dinner, with a centre-piece of flowers or of fruit, and with various compotiers around the centre, containing fruits, bonbons, little fancy cakes, Indian or other preserves, etc. Other ornaments, in Dresden china, majolica ware, Venetian or French glass, etc., filled with flowers, are often seen. Little dishes of common glass in different shapes, as crosses, quarter-moons, etc., about an inch high (see cuts, page 58), are also filled with flowers, and placed at symmetrical distances. As the last-mentioned decorations are very cheap, every one may indulge in them, and consider that there are no more beautiful ornaments, after all.

The lunch-table is generally covered with a colored table-cloth.

The principal dishes served are patés, croquettes, shell-fish, game, salads--in fact, all kinds of entrées, and cold desserts, or I may say dishes are preferred which do not require carving. Bouillon is generally served as a first course in bouillon cups, which are quite like large coffee-cups, or coffee or tea cups may be used, although any dinner soup served in soup-plates is en regle. A cup of chocolate, with whipped cream on the top, is often served as an another course.

I will give five bills of fare, reserved from five very nice little lunch parties:

View page [38]

> Mrs. Collier's Lunch (February 2d).

Bouillon; sherry.

Roast oysters on half-shell; Sauterne.

Little vols-au-vent of oysters.

Thin scollops, or cuts of fillet of beef, braised; French pease; Champagne.

Chicken croquettes, garnished with fried parsley; potato croquettes.

Cups of chocolate, with whipped cream.

Salad--lettuce dressed with tarragon.

Biscuits glaceés; fruit-ices.

Fruit.

Bonbons.

> Mrs. Sprague's Lunch (March 10th).

Raw oysters on half-shell.

Bouillon; sherry.

Little vols-au-vent of sweet-breads.

Lamb-chops; tomato sauce; Champagne.

Chicken croquettes; French pease.

Snipe; potatoes à la Parisienne.

Salad of lettuce.

Neuchâtel cheese; milk wafers, toasted.

Chocolate Bavarian cream, molded in little cups, with a spoonful of peach marmalade on each plate.

Vanilla ice-cream; fancy cakes.

Fruit.

> Mrs. Miller's Lunch (January 6th).

Bouillon.

Deviled crabs; olives; claret punch.

Sweet-breads à la Milanaise.

Fillets of grouse, currant jelly; Saratoga potatoes.

Roman punch.

Fried oysters, garnished with chow-chow.

Chicken salad, or, rather, Mayonnaise of chicken.

Ramikins.

Wine jelly, and whipped cream.

Napolitaine ice-cream.

Fruit.

Bonbons.

View page [39]
Mrs. Well's Lunch.

Bouillon; sherry.

Fried frog's legs; French pease.

Smelts, sauce Tartare; potatoes à la Parisienne.

Chicken in scallop-shells; Champagne.

Sweet-bread croquettes; tomato sauce.

Fried cream.

Salad; Romaine.

Welsh rare-bit.

Peaches and cream, frozen; fancy cakes.

Fruits.

> Mrs. Filley's Lunch.

Mock-turtle soup; English milk-punch.

Lobster-chops; claret.

Mushrooms in crust.

Lamb-chops, en papillote.

Chetney of slices of baked fillet of beef.

Chocolate, with whipped cream.

Spinach on tongue slices (page 145), sauce Tartare.

Roast quail, bread sauce (page 185).

Cheese; lettuce, garnished with slices of radishes and nasturtium blossoms, French dressing.

Mince-meat patties; Champagne.

Ices and fancy cakes.

Fruit.

> GENTLEMEN'S SUPPERS.

As ladies have exclusive lunches, gentlemen have exclusive suppers. Nearly the same dishes are served for suppers as for lunches, although gentlemen generally prefer more game and wine. Sometimes they like fish suppers, with two or three or more varieties of fish, when nightmare might be written at the end of the bill of fare.

If one has not a reliable cook, it is very convenient to give these entertainments, as the hostess has a chance to station herself in the cuisine, and personally superintend the supper.

View page [40]

One bill of fare is given for a fish supper:

1st Course.--Raw oysters served in a block of ice (page 113). [The ice has a pretty effect in the gas-light.]

2d Course.--Shad, maître d'hôtel sauce, garnished with smelts.

3d Course.--Sweet-breads and tomato sauce.

4th Course.--Boiled sardines, on toast.

5th Course.--Deviled chicken, Cunard sauce.

6th Course.--Fillets of duck, with salad of lettuce.

7th Course.--Mayonnaise of salmon, garnished with shrimps.

8th Course.--Welsh rare-bit.

9th Course.--Charlotte Russe.

10th Course.--Ice-cream and cake.

> EVENING PARTIES.

IF people can afford to give large evening parties, it is less trouble and more satisfactory to place the supper in the hands of the confectioner.

For card parties or small companies of thirty or forty persons, to meet some particular stranger, or for literary reunions, the trouble need not be great. People would entertain more if the trouble were less.

If one has a regular reception-evening, ices, cake, and chocolate are quite enough; or for chocolate might be substituted sherry or a bowl of punch.

For especial occasions for a company of thirty or forty, a table prettily set with some flowers, fruit, chicken salad, croquettes or sweet-breads and pease, one or two or more kinds of ice-cream and cakes, is quite sufficient. Either coffee and tea, Champagne, a bowl of punch or of eggnog, would be sufficient in the way of beverage.

> SOMETHING ABOUT ECONOMY.

I AM indebted to a French girl living in our family for the substance of this chapter. Her parents being obliged to live in a most economical way in St. Louis, still had an uncommonly


View page [41]
good table. One resource was a little garden, in which small compass were raised enough onions, tomatoes, carrots, and a few other vegetables, to nearly supply the family. A small bed of four feet square, surrounded by a pretty border of lettuce, was large enough for raising all necessary herbs, such as sage, summer savory, thyme, etc. Little boxes in the kitchen windows contained growing parsley, ever ready for use.

I give receipts for three of their soups--the onion, vegetable Purée, and potato soups being most excellent, and costing not over from five to ten cents each. One of their dinner dishes was a heart (10 cents) stuffed, baked two or three hours, and served with a brown gravy and an onion garnish (see receipt). Still another was a two-pound round-steak (20 cents), spread with a bread and sage stuffing, then rolled, tied, floured, seasoned on top, then baked, basting it often. It was a pretty dish, with tomato sauce around it. Sometimes a cheap fish was cut in slices, egged and bread-crumbed, fried, and garnished with fried potatoes. They had always a salad for dinner, prepared from their border of lettuce, some cold potatoes, cold beans, or other vegetable. A fine breakfast dish was of kidneys (5 cents). Few Americans know how to cook kidneys, and butchers often throw them away; yet in France they are considered a great delicacy.

Their répertoire of cheap dishes was large; so there was always a change for, at least, each day of the week. A crumb of bread was never wasted. All odd morsels were dried in the oven, pounded, and put away in a tin-box, ready for breading cutlets cut from any pieces of mutton or veal, and for many other purposes.

Any pieces of suet or drippings were clarified and put one side, to be used for frying. Remains of cooked vegetables of any kind were saved for soups and sauces. Not a slice of a tomato nor leaf of a cabbage was thrown away.

If they had butter that was not entirely sweet, they added more salt, a little soda, brought it to a boil on the stove, and then put it away in a little crock. By allowing the settlings to remain at the bottom, the butter became entirely sweet, and not too salt for cooking purposes.

View page [42]

Chickens, cutlets, etc., were larded at this table. Now, just to mention the word "larding" is to overwhelm a common cook; and to require it, is to rivet in the minds of most housewives the entire impracticability of a whole receipt in which it is an item. Pieces of salt pork or breakfast bacon should always be kept in the house. A pound of it, which is not expensive, may last a long time, as it requires very little for flavoring many things; then, if one has any idea of sewing, or what it is to push a needle through any thing, one can lard. It only requires a larding-needle, which costs fifteen cents, and which should last a century. By placing little cut strips of pork in the end of the needle, as is explained among "directions," then drawing the needle through parts of the meat, leaving the pork midway, this wonderfully difficult operation is accomplished. It is only a few minutes' pastime to lard turkeys, chickens, birds, cutlets, sweet-breads, etc., which gives to them flavor and style.

Limited in fortune as were this family, they were never without stock at hand. Their meat for croquettes, patties, etc., had served a duty to the soup-kettle. If a chicken was to be boiled for the table, it was thrown into the stock-pot while the soup was simmering, and thus it and the chicken were both benefited.

Their meat dishes were often garnished with little potato-balls, cooked à la Parisienne, or simply boiled. This seemed extravagant; but as a French vegetable-cutter only costs twenty-five cents, and the balls can be cut very rapidly--all the parings boiled and mashed serving another time as potato-cakes--there was nothing wasted, and little time lost.

In short, this household (and it is a sample of nearly all French families of limited means) lived well on little more than many an American family would throw away.

Let me give five bills of fare of their dinners, the second of which is partly prepared from the remains of the first day:

Beef soup (soup bone), 10 cents.

Veal blanquitte and boiled potatoes (knuckle of veal), 15 cents.

Salad of sliced tomatoes, 2 or 3 cents.

Boiled rice, with a border of stewed small pears (green, or of common variety), 10 cents.

View page [43]

Onion or bean soup, 5 cents.

Fish (en matelote), 15 cents.

Croquettes (made of the remains of the cold beef-soup meat, and rice), with a tomato sauce.

Salad of cold boiled potatoes.

Fried bread-pudding.

Potato soup.

Round steak, rolled (page 140), with baked, parboiled onions, 25 cents.

Salad of lettuce.

Apple-fritters, with sirup.

Beef à la mode, with spinach, 40 cents (enough for two dinners).

Salad of potatoes and parsley.

Rice-pudding.

Noodle soup.

Mutton ragout, with potatoes, 25 cents.

Noodles and stuffed tomatoes.

Cheese omelet.

> DIRECTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS.

> BOILING.

FOWLS or joints should be tied or well skewered into shape before boiling.

Every thing should be gently simmered, rather than fast boiled, in order to be tender. The water should never be allowed to stop simmering before the article is quite done. A pudding is thus entirely ruined.

The kettle should be kept covered, merely raising the cover at times to remove the scum. Boiled fowl, with a white sauce, is a favorite English dish, and very nice it is if properly prepared.

> FRYING.

Frying means cooking by immersion in hot fat, butter, or oil. There is no English word for what is called frying in a


View page [44]
spoonful of fat, first on one side, and then on the other. Sauté is the French word, and should be Anglicized. Ordinary cooks, instead of frying, invariably sauté every thing. Almost every article that is usually sautéd is much better and more economical fried; as, for instance, oysters, fish, birds, cutlets, crabs, etc.

The fat should always be tested before the article is immersed. A little piece of bread may be thrown in, and if it colors quickly, the fat is ready, and not before. The temperature of hot grease, it will be remembered, is much greater than that of boiling water, which can not exceed a certain degree of heat, whether it boil slow or fast. Hot grease reaches a very high degree of heat, and consequently the surface of any thing is almost instantaneously hardened or crisped when thrown into it. The inside is thus kept free from grease, and is quickly cooked. An article first dipped in egg and bread-crumbs should be entirely free from grease when thus cooked, as the egg is hardened the instant it touches the hot grease, and the oyster, croquette, cutlet, or sweet-bread is perfectly protected. The same fat can be used repeatedly for frying the same thing. The fat in which fish is fried should not be again used for any thing except fish. Professional cooks have several frying-kettles, in which fat is kept for frying different things. A little kettle for frying potatoes exclusively should always be at hand.

One will see that this style of cooking is economical, as there is very little waste of fat; and then fried articles need no other dressing.

After frying fish, meat, or vegetables, let the fat stand about five minutes; strain, and then return it to the kettle, which should always be kept covered, after it is once cold.

Beef suet, salted, is quite as good for frying as lard, and is much cheaper. It is well to purchase it by the pound, and have it rendered in the kitchen.

TO PREPARE GREASE FOR FRYING(Professor Blot).

Take beef suet, the part around the kidneys, or any kind of fat, raw or cooked, and free of fibres, nerves, thin skin, or bones; chop it fine; add to it whatever you may have of fat


View page [45]
skimmed off the top of meat soup; put it in a cast-iron or crockery kettle; set it on a moderate fire; boil gently for fifteen minutes; skim it well during the process; take from the fire, leave it five minutes, and then strain it; after which, put it in pots, and keep them in a dry and cool place; cover the pots well every time you have occasion to use, but never cover them while the grease is warm. This grease is as good, if not better than any other to fry fish, fritters, and other similar things, which require to be entirely covered with grease.*

> BROILING.

I did not appreciate the nicety of boiling until, upon an occasion, a gentleman invited a dinner company to a private dining-room of one of our large restaurants, to eat a certain kind of fish, which he considered especially fine. The host was quite out of humor to see the fish come to the table baked, when he had ordered it broiled. The proprietor afterward explained that, for some reason, his French cook was absent for that day, and he had no other who could broil so large a fish. I at once realized that, after all, it must be a delicate and difficult thing to broil a large fish, so that the centre would be well done, and the surface not burned. The smaller and thinner the article, the hotter should be the fire; the larger the article, the more temperate the fire, or, rather, the greater distance it should at first be placed from it. The fish, in this case, should have been wrapped in oiled or buttered paper. It should have been placed rather near the fire for the first few minutes; then removed farther away, or placed on another more moderate fire. A large baking-pan should have covered the top of the fish, to hold the heat. When nearly done, the paper should have been removed, to allow the surface to brown.

[Editorial note: The following note appears at the bottom of page 45 in the original text.]

*The author would add a small proportion of water to the pieces of fat. It facilitates the melting process, preserves the color, and will all evaporate in cooking.

Always grease the gridiron well, and have it hot, before the meat is placed on it. Any thing egged and bread-crumbed should be buttered before it is broiled. Fish should be buttered and sprinkled with flour, which will prevent the skin from


View page [46]
adhering to the gridiron.Cutlets, and in fact every thing, are more delicate buttered before boiling. A little lemon-juice is also often a nice addition. Birds, and other things which need to be halved, should be broiled, inside first.

Remember that a hot, clear fire is necessary for cooking all small articles. They should be turned often, to be cooked evenly, without being burned.

Never put a fork in the lean part of meat on the gridiron, as it allows the juice to escape.

Always cover the gridiron with a tin pan or a baking-pan. The sooner the meat is cooked without burning, the better. The pans holds the heat, and often prevents a stray line of smoke from touching the meat.

If the fire should be too hot, sprinkle salt over it.

> ROASTING.

There is little use to talk about roasting, as but few will attempt it, always considering it easier to bake instead. Indeed, there is so little demand in many sections for stoves and ranges suited to the purpose that they are difficult to obtain. Of course, there is no comparison between these modes of cooking. Beef, mutton, turkeys, ducks, or birds--in fact, any kind of meat is tenfold better roasted than baked. In Europe, all these articles are roasted; and people there would have great contempt for a piece of beef or a turkey baked. In New York and Philadelphia, also, at the finer establishments, the meats are generally roasted. The trouble is little greater than to bake. It is only necessary to have the range or stove constructed for roasting, and a tin screen, with a spit and jack, to place before the coals. Some of the roasters are arranged with a spring-jack. The meat is placed on the spit, and the spring wound up, which sets the meat to revolving slowly before the fire.

In roasting, the meat should at first be placed near the coals, so as to quickly harden the surface; then it should be removed back a little distance, to be cooked through, without burning. The oftener it is basted, the better it is. If the roast of meat is very large, it should be surrounded with a buttered paper.

Just before the meat is done, it should be basted with a little


View page [47]
butter or drippings, then sprinkled with flour, and placed nearer the fire, to brown nicely, when it will take a frothy appearance.

Much depends upon the management of the fire. It should be made some time before the meat is placed for roasting, so that the coals may be bright and hot. It should also be strong enough to last, with only the addition of an occasional coal at the top. In fine establishments abroad, a grate for burning coal, charcoal, or wood is made in the kitchen, for the purpose of roasting only. This is convenient, but more expensive than roasting in ranges or stoves, whe