Much may be done in the arrangement of a supper-table, at a very small
expense, provided _taste_ and _ingenuity_ are exercised. The colours
and flavours of the various dishes should contrast nicely; there should
be plenty of fruit and flowers on the table, and the room should be
well lighted. We have endeavoured to show how the various dishes may
be placed; but of course these little matters entirely depend on the
length and width of the table used, on individual taste, whether the
tables are arranged round the room, whether down the centre, with a
cross one at the top, or whether the supper is laid in two separate
rooms, &c., &c. The garnishing of the dishes has also much to do with
the appearance of a supper-table. Hams and tongues should be ornamented
with cut vegetable flowers, raised pies with aspic jelly cut in dice,
and all the dishes garnished sufficiently to be in good taste without
looking absurd. The eye, in fact, should be as much gratified as the
palate. Hot soup is now often served at suppers, but is not placed on
the table. The servants fill the plates from a tureen on the buffet,
and then hand them to the guests: when these plates are removed, the
business of supper commences.
Where small rooms and large parties necessitate having a standing
supper, many things enumerated in the following bill of fare may be
placed on the buffet. Dishes for these suppers should be selected
which may be eaten standing without any trouble. The following list
may, perhaps, assist our readers in the arrangement of a buffet for a
standing supper.
Beef, ham, and tongue-sandwiches, lobster and oyster-patties,
sausage-rolls, meat-rolls, lobster-salad, dishes of fowls, the latter
_all cut up_; dishes of sliced ham, sliced tongue, sliced beef, and
galantine of veal; various jellies, blancmanges, and creams; custards
in glasses, compôtes of fruit, tartlets of jam, and several dishes of
small fancy pastry; dishes of fresh fruit, bon-bons, sweetmeats, two or
three sponge-cakes, a few plates of biscuits, and the buffet ornamented
with vases of fresh or artificial flowers. The above dishes are quite
sufficient for a standing supper; where more are desired, a supper must
then be laid and arranged in the usual manner.
SUPPER, BILL OF FARE FOR A BALL, FOR 60 PERSONS (for Winter).
BOAR’S HEAD,
garnished with Aspic Jelly.
Fruited Mayonnaise of Fowl. Charlotte
Lobster Jelly. Russe. Lobster
Salad. Small Ham, garnished. Salad.
Small Biscuits.
Pastry. Iced Savoy Cake.
Vanilla Epergne, with Fruit. Fruited
Cream. Jelly.
Prawns. Two Boiled Fowls, with Prawns.
Béchamel Sauce.
Two Biscuits. Small Two
Roast Tongue, ornamented. Pastry. Roast
Fowls, Fowls,
cut up. Custards, Trifle, ornamented. Custards, cut up.
in glasses. in glasses.
Raised Chicken Pie.
Tipsy Cake.
Fruited Swiss
Jelly. Roast Pheasant. Cream.
Lobster Meringues. Epergne, with Fruit. Meringues. Lobster
Salad. Salad.
Galantine of Veal.
Raspberry Fruited
Cream. Tipsy Cake. Jelly.
Small Pastry. Raised Game Pie. Biscuits.
Custards, Trifle, ornamented. Custards,
Two in glasses. in glasses. Two
Roast Tongue, ornamented. Roast
Fowls, Prawns. Prawns. Fowls,
cut up. Two Boiled Fowls, with cut up.
Béchamel Sauce.
Biscuits. Small Pastry.
——
EPERGNE, WITH FRUIT.
——
Fruited Iced Savoy Cake. Blancmange.
Jelly.
Lobster Small Ham, garnished. Lobster
Salad. Salad.
Charlotte Mayonnaise of Fowl. Fruited
Russe. Jelly.
Larded Capon.
_Note._—When soup is served from the buffet, Mock Turtle and Julienne
may be selected. Besides the articles enumerated above, Ices, Wafers,
Biscuits, Tea, Coffee, Wines, and Liqueurs will be required. Punch à la
Romaine may also be added to the list of beverages.