ON THE CARE OF BREAKFAST AND DINING-ROOMS.
An eating-room should have in it a large closet, with drawers and
shelves, in which should be kept all the articles used at meals. This,
if possible, should communicate with the kitchen, by a sliding window,
or by a door, and have in it a window, and also a small sink, made of
marble or lined with zinc, which will be a great convenience for washing
nice articles. If there be a dumb-waiter, it is best to have it
connected with such a closet. It may be so contrived, that, when it is
down, it shall form part of the closet floor.
A table-rug, or crumb-cloth, is useful to save carpets from injury.
Bocking, or baize, is best. Always spread the same side up, or the
carpet will be soiled by the rug. Table-mats are needful, to prevent
injury to the table from the warm dishes. Teacup-mats, or small plates,
are useful to save the table-cloths from dripping tea or coffee.
Butter-knives, for the butter-plate, and salt-spoons, for salt-dishes,
are designed to prevent those disgusting marks which are made, when
persons use their own knives, to take salt or butter. A sugar-spoon
should be kept in or by the sugar-dish, for the same purpose.
Table-napkins, of diaper, are often laid by each person's plate, for
use during the meal, to save the tablecloth and pocket-handkerchief. To
preserve the same napkin for the same person, each member of the family
has a given number, and the napkins are numbered to correspond, or else
are slipped into ivory rings, which are numbered. A stranger has a clean
one, at each meal. Tablecloths should be well starched, and ironed on
the right side, and always, when taken off, folded in the ironed
creases. _Doilies_ are colored napkins, which, when fruit is offered,
should always be furnished, to prevent a person from staining a nice
handkerchief, or permitting the fruit-juice to dry on the fingers.
Casters and salt-stands should be put in order, every morning, when
washing the breakfast things. Always, if possible, provide _fine_ and
_dry_ table-salt, as many persons are much disgusted with that which is
dark, damp, and coarse. Be careful to keep salad-oil closely corked, or
it will grow rancid. Never leave the salt-spoons in the salt, nor the
mustard-spoon in the mustard, as they are thereby injured. Wipe them,
immediately after the meal.
For table-furniture, French china is deemed the nicest, but it is liable
to the objection of having plates, so made, that salt, butter, and
similar articles, will not lodge on the edge, but slip into the centre.
Select knives and forks, which have weights in the handles, so that,
when laid down, they will not touch the table. Those with rivetted
handles last longer than any others. Horn handles (except buckhorn) are
very poor. The best are cheapest in the end. Knives should be sharpened
once a month, unless they are kept sharp by the mode of scouring.
_On Setting Tables._
Neat housekeepers observe the manner in which a table is set more than
any thing else; and to a person of good taste, few things are more
annoying, than to see the table placed askew; the tablecloth soiled,
rumpled, and put on awry; the plates, knives, and dishes thrown about,
without any order; the pitchers soiled on the outside, and sometimes
within; the tumblers dim; the caster out of order; the butter pitched on
the plate, without any symmetry; the salt coarse, damp, and dark; the
bread cut in a mixture of junks and slices; the dishes of food set on at
random, and without mats; the knives dark or rusty, and their handles
greasy; the tea-furniture all out of order, and every thing in similar
style. And yet, many of these negligences will be met with, at the
tables of persons who call themselves well bred, and who have wealth
enough to make much outside show. One reason for this, is, the great
difficulty of finding domestics, who will attend to these things in a
proper manner, and who, after they have been repeatedly instructed, will
not neglect nor forget what has been said to them. The writer has known
cases, where much has been gained by placing the following rules in
plain sight, in the place where the articles for setting tables are
kept.
_Rules for setting a Table._
1. Lay the rug square with the room, and also smooth and even; then set
the table also square with the room, and see that the _legs_ are in the
right position to support the leaves.
2. Lay the tablecloth square with the table, _right side up_, smooth,
and even.
3. Put on the teatray (for breakfast or tea) square with the table; set
the cups and saucers at the front side of the teatray, and the sugar,
slop-bowls, and cream-cup, at the back side. Lay the sugar-spoon or
tongs on the sugar-bowl.
4. Lay the plates around the table, at equal intervals, and the knives
and forks at regular distances, each in the same particular manner, with
a cup-mat, or cup-plate, to each, and a napkin at the right side of each
person.
5. If meat be used, set the caster and salt-cellars in the centre of the
table; then lay mats for the dishes, and place the carving-knife and
fork and steel by the master of the house. Set the butter on two plates,
one on either side, with a butter-knife by each.
6. Set the tea or coffee-pot on a mat, at the right hand of the teatray,
(if there be not room upon it.) Then place the chairs around the table,
and call the family.
_For Dinner._
1. Place the rug, table, tablecloth, plates, knives and forks, and
napkins, as before directed, with a tumbler by each plate. In cold
weather, set the plates where they will be warmed.
2. Put the caster in the centre, and the salt-stands at two oblique
corners, of the table, the latter between two large spoons crossed. If
more spoons be needed, lay them on each side of the caster, crossed. Set
the pitcher on a mat, either at a side-table, or, when there is no
waiter, on the dining-table. Water looks best in glass decanters.
3. Set the bread on the table, when there is no waiter. Some take a
fork, and lay a piece on the napkin or tumbler by each plate. Others
keep it in a tray, covered with a white napkin to keep off flies. Bread
for dinner is often cut in small junks, and not in slices.
4. Set the principal dish before the master of the house, and the other
dishes in a regular manner. Put the carving-knife, fork, and steel, by
the principal dish, and also a knife-rest, if one be used.
5. Put a small knife and fork by the pickles, and also by any other
dishes which need them. Then place the chairs.
_On Waiting at Table._
A domestic, who waits on the table, should be required to keep the hair
and hands in neat order, and have on a clean apron. A small teatray
should be used to carry cups and plates. The waiter should announce the
meal (when ready) to the mistress of the family, then stand by the
eating-room door, till all are in, then close the door, and step to the
left side of the lady of the house. When all are seated, the waiter
should remove the covers, taking care first to invert them, so as not to
drop the steam on the tablecloth or guests. In presenting articles, go
to the left side of the person. In pouring water never entirely fill the
tumbler. The waiter should notice when bread or water is wanting, and
hand it without being called. When plates are changed, be careful not to
drop knives or forks. Brush off crumbs, with a crumb-brush, into a small
waiter.
When there is no domestic waiter, a light table should be set at the
left side of the mistress of the house, on which the bread, water, and
other articles not in immediate use, can be placed.
_On Carving and Helping at Table._
It is considered an accomplishment for a lady to know how to carve well,
at her own table. It is not proper to stand in carving. The
carving-knife should be sharp and thin. To carve fowls, (which should
always be laid with the breast uppermost,) place the fork in the breast,
and take off the wings and legs without turning the fowl; then cut out
the merry thought, cut slices from the breast, take out the collar bone,
cut off the side pieces, and then cut the carcass in two. Divide the
joints in the leg of a turkey.
In helping the guests, when no choice is expressed, give a piece of both
the white and dark meat, with some of the stuffing. Inquire whether the
guest will be helped to each kind of vegetable, and put the gravy on the
plate, and not on any article of food.
In carving a sirloin, cut thin slices from the side next to you, (it
must be put on the dish with the tenderloin underneath;) then turn it,
and cut from the tenderloin Help the guest to both kinds.
In carving a leg of mutton, or a ham, begin by cutting across the
middle, to the bone. Cut a tongue across, and not lengthwise, and help
from the middle part.
Carve a forequarter of lamb, by separating the shoulder from the ribs,
and then dividing the ribs. To carve a loin of veal, begin at the
smaller end and separate the ribs. Help each one to a piece of the
kidney and its fat. Carve pork and mutton in the same way.
To carve a fillet of veal, begin at the top, and help to the stuffing
with each slice. In a breast of veal, separate the breast and brisket,
and then cut them up, asking which part is preferred. In carving a pig,
it is customary to divide it, and take off the head, before it comes to
the table; as, to many persons, the head is very revolting. Cut off the
limbs, and divide the ribs. In carving venison, make a deep incision
down to the bone, to let out the juices; then turn the broad end of the
haunch towards you, cutting deep, in thin slices. For a saddle of
venison, cut from the tail towards the other end, on each side, in thin
slices. Warm plates are very necessary, with venison and mutton, and in
Winter, are desirable for all meats.