ON LAYING OUT A TABLE.
The manner of laying out a table is nearly the same in all parts of
the United Kingdom: yet there are trifling local peculiarities to
which the mistress of a house must attend. A centre ornament, whether
it be a dormant, a plateau, an epergne, or a candelabrum, is found so
convenient, and contributes so much, in the opinion of some, to the
good appearance of the table, that a dinner is seldom or never set out
without something of this kind. Of late years people who give dinners
give them what is called _à la Russe_; but if you ask nine out of every
ten what they mean by dining _à la Russe_, they are unable to tell you.
All they can say is, that there is nothing on the table but flowers and
fruits, that the dishes are carved on the sideboard and handed about
to the guests. This fashion still continues, but I never could see any
good reason for its introduction. It seems to me exceedingly odd that
a a people, like the English, who, for certainly five centuries, have
enjoyed a high degree of civilization, should copy the Russians in the
system of dinner-giving--a people who, a century ago, were plunged in
the deepest barbarism, and who, as yet, are scarcely half civilized.
Even now the Russians have not in their language any word which conveys
the idea of gentleman, and the title of Prince, so common amongst
them, is not much more than a hundred years old. Coats of arms were
first borne in Russia only about eighty years ago, and they were then
introduced by the German adventurers, with which class Russia still
abounds.
In the days of Peter the Great, about a century and a half ago,
the Russian Boyars (the only title of nobility, properly speaking,
Russian), were so very ignorant that many of them could not write, and
so very drunken as to astonish so potent a tippler as Peter himself.
When this great reformer knouted his nobles into the luxury of shaving
themselves, and the decent habit of wearing nether garments, early
in the eighteenth century, they lived chiefly on cabbage soup, and
bacon, and sausages, and even these were cooked in Homeric fashion. It
is true, great progress has been made in Russia since 1697, and even
since 1815, but no sensible Englishman would think of going to Russia
to learn to serve a dinner. I spent much time in Russia, somewhat more
than thirty years ago, and lived a great deal among Russians of wealth
and position; but though there was profusion and a great expenditure
on their dinners, there was nothing like elegance or good taste. The
earlier Russian cookery of a century ago was adopted from the Dutch and
the Germans, and all that is valuable in the later Russian cookery has
been adopted from the French and the English kitchens.
It results from serving dinners _à la Russe_ in England that the
joints are frequently mangled, and you receive your portion lukewarm
or cold. By carving and serving only one dish at a time also the
dinner is unnecessarily prolonged to four hours instead of two and a
half or three, and many more servants and attendants are necessary. In
Russia this is not an important consideration, for domestic service is
performed by serfs, who receive merely nominal wages. Another reason
against serving dinners _à la Russe_ is, that those costly services
of gold and silver plate which nearly every good family in England
possesses, are not displayed under the new fashion, which, like
crinoline, will have its long reign, and ultimately pass away.
Utility should be the true principle of beauty, at least in affairs
of the table, and, above all, in the substantial first course. A very
false taste, is, however, often shown in centre ornaments. Strange
ill-assorted nosegays, and bouquets of artificial flowers, begin to
droop or look faded among hot steams. Ornamental articles of family
plate, carved, chased, or merely plain, can never be out of place,
however old-fashioned. In desserts, richly-cut glass is ornamental.
I am far, also, from proscribing the foliage and moss in which fruits
are sometimes seen bedded. The sparkling imitation of frost-work, which
is given to preserved fruits and other things, is also exceedingly
beautiful; as are many of the trifles belonging to French and Italian
confectionary.
Beautifully white damask, and a green cloth underneath, are
indispensable.
In all ranks, and in every family, one important art in housekeeping
is to make what remains from one day’s entertainment contribute to
the elegance or plenty of the next day’s dinner. This is a principle
understood by persons in the very highest ranks of society in
France, who maintain the most splendid and expensive establishments.
Vegetables, _ragouts_, and soups may be rewarmed; and jellies and
_blancmanges_ remoulded, with no deterioration of their qualities.
Savoury or sweet patties, _croquets_, _rissoles_, _vol-au-vents_,
fritters, tartlets, &c., may be served almost without cost, where
cookery is going forward on a large scale. In the French kitchen, a
numerous class of culinary preparations, called _entrées de dessert_,
or made-dishes of left things, are served even at grand entertainments.
At dinners of any pretension the first course consists of soups and
fish, removed by boiled poultry, ham, or tongue, roasts, stews, &c.;
and of vegetables, with a few made-dishes, as _ragouts_, curries,
hashes, cutlets, patties, _fricandeaux_, &c., in as great variety as
the number of dishes permits. For the second course, roasted poultry or
game at the top and bottom, with dressed vegetables, omelets, macaroni,
jellies, creams, salads, preserved fruit, and all sorts of sweet things
and pastry are employed, endeavouring to give an article of each sort,
as a jelly and a cream. This is a more common arrangement than three
courses, which are attended with so much additional trouble both to the
guests and servants.
Whether the dinner be of two or three courses it is managed nearly
in the same way. Two dishes of fish dressed in different ways, if
suitable, should occupy the top and bottom; and two soups, a white
and a brown, or a mild and a high-seasoned, are best disposed on
each side of the centre-piece: the fish-sauces are placed between
the centre-piece and the dish of fish to which each is appropriate;
and this, with the decanted wines drunk during dinner, forms the
first course. When there are rare French or Rhenish wines, they are
placed in the original bottles, in ornamented wine-vases, between the
centre-piece and the top and bottom dishes; or if four kinds, they are
ranged round the plateau. If one bottle, it is placed in a vase in the
centre.
The second course at a purely English dinner, when there are three
courses, consists of roasts and stews for the top and bottom; turkey or
fowls, or _fricandeaux_, or ham garnished, or tongue for the sides;
with small made-dishes for the corners, served in covered dishes, as
palates, curry of any kind, _ragout_ or _fricassée_ of rabbits, stewed
mushrooms, &c., &c.
The third course consists of game, confectionary, the more delicate
vegetables dressed in the French way, puddings, creams, jellies, etc.
Caraffes, with the tumblers belonging to and placed over them, are laid
at proper intervals. Where hock, champagne, &c., &c., are served, they
are handed round between the courses. A very bad habit has for some
years prevailed of not placing any wine on the table, thus leaving
you at the mercy of servants who rarely come round, and then scarcely
half-fill your glass. This is meant to be an imitation of the French
system, but nothing can be more unlike the system adopted in France.
The English imitators, or would-be imitators, wholly forget that a
guest at a French table can never languish for lack of wine, for
“_vin ordinaire_” always remains on the table, while only the very
highest qualities of wine are handed round by the servants. In England,
for many years past, the table is altogether stripped of wine, and the
guests are at the mercy of butlers of paid waiters, who use the wine
either for their private drinking after the dinner, in the servants’
hall, or of hosts who, to save their wine, would stint their guests.
When the third course is cleared away, cheese, butter, a fresh salad,
or sliced cucumber, are usually handed round; and the finger-glasses
precede the dessert. At many tables, particularly in Indian houses, it
is customary merely to hand quickly round a glass vessel or two filled
with simple, or simply perfumed tepid water, made by the addition of
a little rose or lavender water, or a home-made strained infusion of
rose-leaves or lavender spikes. Into this water each guest may dip the
corner of his napkin, and with it refresh his lips and the tips of his
fingers.
The Dessert, at an English table, may consist merely of two dishes of
fine fruit, for the top and bottom; common or dried fruits, filberts,
etc., for the corners or sides, and a cake for the middle, with
ice-pails in hot weather. Liqueurs are handed round at this stage;
and the wines usually drank after dinner are placed, decanted, on the
table along with the dessert. The ice-pails and plates are removed as
soon as the company finish their ice. This may be better understood by
following the exact arrangement of what is considered a fashionable
dinner of three courses and a dessert.
Memorandum respecting Dinners.--To make your Bill of Fare according to
the season and the number of your company. When you have two roasts,
they should bear no resemblance to each other--_i.e._, one should be
white and the other brown.
It is not in general the custom to place the fish sauces on the table,
except in establishments where there is a servant to every guest, but
so placed they are always most accessible. It is a great convenience to
have the sauce near you when you want it.
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