31. Several different ways of serving salads are in practice. Perhaps
the most convenient method of serving this dish is to prepare individual
portions of it on salad plates in the kitchen and then set these on the
table at each person's place. If a simple table service is followed, the
salad may be put on the table at the same time as the rest of the meal.
The correct position for the salad plate is at the left-hand side of the
dinner plate and just a little nearer to the edge of the table than the
bread-and-butter plate. The plates on which salad is served should be
large enough to prevent the difficulty in eating that would be
experienced if the plate were a trifle small. It should therefore be
remembered that the salad plate is the next larger in size to the
bread-and-butter plate.
32. In case individual salads are to be prepared, the plate should
first be garnished with whatever vegetable green is selected for this
purpose. If lettuce is to be used, a single leaf, several very small
center leaves, or a small quantity of shredded lettuce will be
sufficient, for a great deal of garnish is never desirable. In case the
leaves are very large, one may be divided in half and each part
utilized. Then the salad ingredients, which have already been combined,
should be piled in a neat heap on top of the garnish either with or
without the salad dressing. If the salad dressing is not mixed with the
materials, a spoonful or two of it should be placed on top of them.
Sometimes, for the effect of color, additional garnish of some kind is
used. For a vegetable or a meat salad, this may be egg yolk put through
a sieve, slices of hard-cooked eggs, olives or radishes cut in fancy
shapes, or strips of pimiento; and for fruit salad, it may be cherries
or colored fruits cut into various fancy shapes.
33. Another method of serving this dish is to place the entire salad on
a rather large, deep plate, such as a chop plate or a regular salad
dish, and then serve it at the table whenever it is desired. When this
is done, the dish that is used should be well garnished with a bed of
vegetable green in the same way that a small individual plate is
garnished. Then the salad ingredients should be nicely arranged on this
bed, and the dressing, if it has not already been mixed with them,
should be poured over the whole. In serving salad in this way, there is
much more chance of arranging the ingredients symmetrically and
garnishing the salad attractively than when it is served on small
plates. The large plate containing the salad, together with the small
salad plates, should be placed before the hostess or whoever is to serve
the salad. When it is served, a leaf of the lettuce or other green used
for garnishing should first be put on each salad plate and the salad
should be served on this. A large fork and a large spoon are needed when
salad is served in this manner.
34. Still another, way of serving salad, and perhaps a more attractive
one than either of those already described, consists in arranging the
ingredients in a salad bowl, placing this on the table, and serving from
the bowl to the salad plates. In this method, a French dressing is
generally used, and this is often mixed at the table and added to the
salad just before it is put on the small plates. Such a salad can be
made very attractive, and it should be remembered above all things that
the appearance of a salad is its great asset until it is eaten and that
an artistically made salad always helps to make the meal more
satisfactory.
35. In a dinner, the salad is generally served as a separate course, but
in such a meal as luncheon it may be used as the main dish. If it is
used as a separate course, it should be served immediately after the
dinner course has been removed from the table. The salad plate should be
placed directly before the person served. Forks especially designed with
a wide prong on one side and known as _salad forks_ are the right type
of fork to serve with this dish, but if none are available ordinary
table forks of a small size may be used. It should be remembered that
the salad should not be cut with the knife at the table, but should be
eaten entirely with the fork.