It is very simple to prepare a dinner served _à la Russe_, as it matters
little how many courses there may be. If it were necessary to prepare
many dishes, and to have them all hot, and in perfection at the same
minute, and then be obliged to serve them nearly all together, the task
might be considered rather formidable and confusing. But with one or two
assistants, and with time between each course to prepare the succeeding
one, after a very little practice it becomes a mere amusement.
The soup, or the stock for the soup, and the dessert, should be made the
day before the dinner.
A bill of fare should be written, and pinned up in the kitchen. Every
thing should be prepared that is possible in the early part of the day;
then, after the fish, chickens, birds, etc., are dressed and larded (if
necessary), they should be put aside, near the ice. If sweet-breads are
to be served, they should be larded, parboiled, and put away also. The
salad (if lettuce) should be sprinkled with water (not placed _in_
water), and put in a cool, dark place in a basket, not to be touched
until the last three minutes.
The plates and platters for each course should be counted, examined, and
placed on a table by themselves. However, the arrangement of the dishes
was explained in the chapter on setting the table.
After this, the kitchen should be put in order, and the tables cleared
of all unnecessary things. Then every thing needed for the courses to be
cooked should be placed in separate groups at the back of a large table,
so that there may be no confusion or loss of any thing at the last
minute. If there are sweet-breads, have them egged and bread-crumbed; if
pease are to be served with them, place them in a basin at their side,
properly seasoned. If there is macaroni with cheese, have the proper
quantity desired already broken on a dish, with a plate of grated cheese
and a tin cup, with the necessary amount of butter to be melted, side by
side. If there is a fillet of beef to be baked and served with a
mushroom-sauce, have the fillet in the baking-pan already larded, the
mushrooms in the basin in which they are to be cooked, at the side; also
the piece of lemon and the spoonful of flour ready. The stock will be in
the kettle at the back of the stove. By-the-way, in giving a fine
dinner, there should always be an extra stock-pot, separate from the
soup, at the back of the stove, as it is excellent for boiling the
sweet-breads or the macaroni, and making the sauces, etc.
If a simple salad of lettuce is to be served, have the oil, vinegar,
pepper and salt, and the spoonful of finely chopped onion, in a group
all ready. If a _Mayonnaise_ dressing is to be served, that should be
made in the morning.
Look at the clock in the kitchen, and calculate the time it will take
each dish to cook, and put it to the fire, so that it will be finished
“to a turn” just at the proper minute.
During dinner, one person should attend to placing out of the way all
the dishes brought from the dining-room, and, if necessary, should wash
any spoons, platters, etc., which may be needed a second time. She
should know beforehand, however, just what she is to wash, as every one
must know exactly her own business, so that no questions need be asked
at the last moment. The cook can attend to nothing but the cooking, at
the risk of neglecting this most important part.
As the course just before the salad is sent into the dining-room, begin
to make the salad, having every thing all ready. First, pick over the
lettuce-leaves, wash and leave them to drain, while you prepare the
dressing. It should _just_ be ready when its turn comes to be sent to
table.
If the dinner company is very large, and there are many dishes, the
cooking of them may be distributed between two persons, and perhaps the
second cook may use the laundry stove; but with a little practice and
the one or two assistants, one cook can easily prepare the most
elaborate dinner, if it is only properly managed before the time of
cooking. She should, of course, never attempt any dish she has not made
before. A _bain-marie_ is very convenient for preserving cooked dishes,
if there is some delay in serving the dinner.
Of all things, never on any occasion serve a large joint or large
article of any kind on a little platter, as nothing looks so awkward.
Let the platter always be at least a third larger than the size of its
contents.
I give several bills of fare. They are long enough and good enough for
any dinner party. Guests do not care for better or more, if these are
only properly cooked. They can be easily prepared in one’s own house,
and this is always more elegant than to have a list of a hundred dishes
from a restaurant.