Entrées require to be small and elegant, as well as tasty; those which
can be dressed in a crown like cotelettes, quenelles, or fillets of any
description, are preferable, and more graceful, the garniture being
placed in the centre; they are also more likely to be partaken of on
account of the facility of serving, they being already carved, and much
better than large pieces, such as whole fowls, vol-au-vents, or pâtés
chauds; where you require flancs, by all means reserve them for that
purpose; but in a dinner of four entrées only, you require to send two
entrées light, and two (what I term) solid, for the sake of variety, for
if you had four light entrées upon the table without flancs, there would
not appear sufficient dinner for the assembled guests, but the solid
entrées may be made to look exceedingly light if carried to a height
corresponding to their breadth; in dishing your entrées always allow an
inch between the entrée and the rim of the dish, or if the dishes are
large leave more space; the round entrée dishes are the most preferable,
and should not be more than an inch and a half, or less than an inch in
depth.