After a long retirement into the shades, the supper-party, the
"sit-down Supper," once so dear to our ancestors, has been again revived.
Leaders of society at Newport have found that, after the hearty
lunch which everybody eats there at one or three o'clock the twelve
or fourteen course dinner at seven o'clock, is too much; that people
come home reluctantly from their ocean drive to dress; and last
summer, in consequence, invitations were issued for suppers at nine
or half-past nine. The suppers at private houses, which had
previously fallen out of fashion by reason of the convenience and
popularity of the great restaurants, were resumed. The very late
dinners in large cities have, no doubt, also prevented the supper
from being a favorite entertainment; but there is no reason (except
the disapproval of doctors) why suppers should not be in fashion in
the country, or where people dine early. In England, where
digestions are better than here, and where people eat more heavily,
"the supper-tray" is an institution, and suppers are generally
spread in every English country house; and we may acknowledge the
fact that the supper--the little supper so dear to the hearts of our
friends of the last century--seems to be coming again into fashion
here. Nothing can be more significant than that _Harper's Bazar_
receives many letters asking for directions for setting the table
for supper, and for the proper service of the meats which are to
gayly cover the cloth and enrich this always pleasant repast.
In a general way the same service is proper at a supper as at a
dinner, with the single exception of the soup-plates. Oysters on the
half-shell and bouillon served in cups are the first two courses. If
a hot supper is served, the usual dishes are sweetbreads, with green
pease, _ctelettes
la financiere_, and some sort of game in
season, such as reed-birds in autumn, canvas-back ducks, venison, or
woodcock; salads of every kind are in order, and are often served
with the game. Then ices and fruit follow. Cheese is rarely offered,
although some _gourmets_ insist that a little is necessary with the
salad.
After each course all the dishes and knives and forks that have been
in use are replaced by fresh ones, and the order and neatness of the
table preserved to the end of the supper. We would think it
unnecessary to mention this most obvious detail of table decorum,
had not several correspondents asked to be informed concerning it.
There is, of course, the informal supper, at which the dishes are
all placed on a table together, as for a supper at a large ball.
Meats, dressed salmon, chicken _croquettes_, salads, jellies, and
ices are a part of the alarming _mlange_ of which a guest is
expected to partake, with only such discrimination as may be
dictated by prudence or inclination. But this is not the "sit down,"
elegant supper so worthy to be revived, with its courses and its
etiquette and its brilliant conversation, which was the delight of
our grandmothers.
A large centre-piece of flowers, with fruit and candies in glass
_compotiers_, and high forms of _nougat_, and other sugar devices,
are suitable standards for an elegant supper-table. Three sorts of
wine may be placed on the table in handsome decanters--sherry, or
Madeira, and Burgundy. The guests find oysters on the half-shell,
with little fish forks, all ready for them. The napkin and bread are
laid at the side or in front of each plate. These plates being
removed, other plain plates are put in their place, and cups of
bouillon are served, with gold teaspoons. This course passed, other
plates are put before the guest, and some chicken _croquettes_ or
lobster _farci_ is passed. Sherry or Madeira should already have
been served with the Oysters. With the third course iced champagne
is offered. Then follow game, or fried oysters, salads, and a slice
of _pt de foie gras_, with perhaps tomato salad; and subsequently
ices, jellies, fruit, and coffee, and for the gentlemen a glass of
brandy or cordial. Each course is taken away before the next is
presented. Birds and salad are served together.
There is a much simpler supper possible, which is often offered by a
hospitable hostess after the opera or theatre. It consists of a few
Oysters, a pair of cold roast chickens, a dish of lobster or plain
salad, with perhaps a glass of champagne, and one sort of ice-cream,
and involves very little trouble or expense, and can be safely said
to give as much pleasure as the more sumptuous feast. This informal
refreshment is often placed on a red table-cloth, with a dish of
oranges and apples in the centre of the table, and one servant is
sufficient. There should be, however, the same etiquette as to the
changing of plates, knives, and forks, etc., as in the more
elaborate meal.
The good house-keeper who gives a supper every evening to her hungry
family may learn many an appetizing device by reading English books
of cookery on this subject. A hashed dish of the meat left from
dinner, garnished with parsley, a potato salad, a few slices of cold
corned beef or ham, some pickled tongues, bread, butter, and cheese,
with ale or cider, is the supper offered at nearly every English
house in the country.
The silver and glass, the china and the fruit, should be as
carefully attended to as for a dinner, and everything as neat and as
elegant as possible, even at an informal supper.
Oysters, that universal food of the American, are invaluable for a
supper. Fried oysters diffuse a disagreeable odor through the house,
therefore they are not as convenient in a private dwelling as
scalloped oysters, which can be prepared in the afternoon, and which
send forth no odor when cooking. Broiled oysters are very delicate,
and are a favorite dish at an informal supper. Broiled birds and
broiled bones are great delicacies, but they must be prepared by a
very good cook. Chicken in various forms hashed, fried, cold, or in
salad--is useful; veal may be utilized for all these things, if
chicken is not forthcoming. The delicately treated chicken livers
also make a very good dish, and mushrooms on toast are perfect in
their season. Hot vegetables are never served, except green pease
with some other dish.
Beef, except in the form of a fillet, is never seen at a "sit-down"
supper, and even a fillet is rather too heavy. Lobster in every form
is a favorite supper delicacy, and the grouse; snipe, woodcock,
teal; canvasback, and squab on toast, are always in order.
In these days of Italian warehouses and imported delicacies, the
pressed and jellied meats, _pts_, sausages, and spiced tongues
furnish a variety for a cold supper. No supper is perfect without a
salad.
The Romans made much of this meal, and among their delicacies were
the ass, the dog, and the snail, sea-hedgehogs, oysters, asparagus,
venison, wild boar, sea-nettles, fish, fowl, game, and cakes. The
Germans to-day eat wild boar, head-cheese, pickles, goose's flesh
dried, sausages, cheese, and salads for supper, and wash down with
beer. The French, under Louis XIV., began to make the supper their
most finished meal. They used gold and silver dishes, crystal cups
and goblets, exquisite grapes crowned the _pergne_, and choicest
fruits were served in golden dishes. The cooks sent up piquant
sauces for the delicately cooked meats, the wines were drunk hot and
spiced. The latter are taken iced now. Many old house-keepers,
however, serve a rich, hot-mulled port for a winter supper. It is a
delicious and not unhealthy beverage, and can be easily prepared.
The doctors, as we have said, condemn a late supper, but the pros
and cons of this subject admit of discussion. Every one, indeed,
must decide for himself.
Few people can undergo excitement of an evening--an opera or play or
concert, or even the pleasant conversation of an evening party--
without feeling hungry. With many, if such an appetite is not
appeased it will cause sleeplessness. To eat lightly and to drink
lightly at supper is a natural instinct with people if they expect
to go to bed at once; but excitement is a great aid to digestion,
and a heavy supper sometimes gives no inconvenience.
Keats seems to have had a vision of a modern supper-table when he
wrote:
"soft he set A table, and ...threw thereon A cloth of woven
crimson, gold, and jet; ...from forth the closet brought a heap Of
candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd, With jellies soother
than the creamy curd, And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon, Manna
and dates: ...spiced dainties every one."
The supper being a meal purely of luxury should be very dainty.
Everything should be tasteful and appetizing; the wines should be
excellent, the claret not too cool, the champagne _frapp_, or
almost so, the Madeira and the port the temperature of the room, and
the sherry cool. If punch is served, it should be at the end of the
supper.
Many indulgent hostesses now allow young gentlemen to smoke a
cigarette at the supper-table, after the eating and drinking is at
an end, rather than break up the delicious flow of conversation
which at the close of a supper seems to be at its best. This,
however, should not be done unless every lady at the table
acquiesces, as the smell of tobacco-smoke sometimes gives women an
unpleasant sensation.
Suppers at balls and parties include now all sorts of cold and hot
dishes, even a haunch of venison, and a fillet of beef, with
truffles; a cold salmon dressed with a green sauce; oysters in every
form except raw--they are not served at balls; salads of every
description; boned and truffled turkey and chicken; _pts_ of game;
cold partridges and grouse; _pt de foie gras_; our American
specialty, hot canvas-back duck; and the Baltimore turtle, terrapin,
oyster and game patties; bonbons, ices, biscuits, creams, jellies,
and fruits, with champagne, and sometimes, of later years, claret
and Moselle cup, and champagne-cup--beverages which were not until
lately known in America, except at gentlemen's clubs and on board
yachts, but which are very agreeable mixtures, and gaining in favor.
Every lady should know how to mix cup, as it is convenient both for
supper and lawn-tennis parties, and is preferable in its effects to
the heavier article so common at parties--punch.