A correspondent writes, "How shall I carry my fork to my mouth?" The
fork should be raised laterally to the mouth with the right hand;
the elbow should never be crooked, so as to bring the hand round at
a right angle, or the fork directly opposite the mouth. The mother
cannot begin too early to inculcate good manners at the table, and
among the first things that young children should learn is the
proper use of the fork.
Again, the fork should not be overloaded. To take meat and
vegetables and pack them on the poor fork, as if it were a beast of
burden, is a common American vulgarity, born of our hurried way of
eating at railway-stations and hotels. But it is an unhealthy and an
ill-mannered habit. To take but little on the fork at a time, a
moderate mouthful, shows good manners and refinement. The knife must
never be put into the mouth at any time--that is a remnant of
barbarism.
Another correspondent asks, "Should cheese be eaten with a fork?" We
say, decidedly, "Yes," although good authorities declare that it may
be put on a morsel of bread with a knife, and thus conveyed to the
mouth. Of course we refer to the soft cheeses--like Gorgonzola,
Brie, cream-cheese, Neufchatel, Limburger, and the like--which are
hardly more manageable than butter. Of the hard cheeses, one may
convey a morsel to the month with the thumb and forefinger; but, as
a general rule, it is better to use the fork.
Now as to the spoon: it is to be used for soup, for strawberries and
cream, for all stewed fruit and preserves, and for melons, which,
from their juiciness, cannot be conveniently eaten with a fork.
Peaches and cream, all the "wet dishes," as Mrs. Glasse was wont to
call them, must be eaten with a spoon. Roman punch is always eaten
with a spoon.
On elegant tables, each plate or "cover" is accompanied by two large
silver knives, a small silver knife and fork for fish, a small fork
for the oysters on the half-shell, a large table-spoon for soup, and
three large forks. The napkin is folded in the centre, with a piece
of bread in it. As the dinner progresses, the knife and fork and
spoon which have been used are taken away with the plate. This saves
confusion, and the servant has not to bring fresh knives and forks
all the time. Fish should be eaten with silver knife and fork; for
if it is full of bones, like shad, for instance, it is very
difficult to manage it without the aid of a knife.
For sweetbreads, cutlets, roast beef, etc., the knife is also
necessary; but for the _croquettes_, _rissoles_, _bouches
la
Reine_, _timbales_, and dishes of that class, the fork alone is
needed. A majority of the made dishes in which the French excel are
to be eaten with the fork.
After the dinner has been eaten, and the dessert reached, we must
see to it that everything is cleared off but the table-cloth, which
is now never removed. A dessert-plate is put before each guest, and
a gold or silver spoon, a silver dessert spoon and fork, and often a
queer little combination of fork and spoon, called an "ice-spoon."
In England, strawberries are always served with the green stems, and
each one is taken up with the fingers, dipped in sugar, and thus
eaten. Many foreigners pour wine over their strawberries, and then
eat them with a fork, but this seems to be detrimental to the
natural flavor of the king of berries.
Pears and apples should be peeled with a silver knife, cut into
quarters, and then picked up with the fingers. Oranges should be
peeled, and cut or separated, as the eater chooses. Grapes should be
eaten from behind the half-closed hand, the stones and skin falling
into the fingers unobserved, and thence to the plate. Never swallow
the stones of small fruits; it is extremely dangerous. The pineapple
is almost the only fruit which requires both knife and fork.
So much has the fork come into use of late that a wit observed that
he took everything with it but afternoon tea. The thick chocolate,
he observed, often served at afternoon entertainments, could be
eaten comfortably with a fork, particularly the whipped cream on top
of it.
A knife and fork are both used in eating salad, if it is not cut up
before serving. A large lettuce leaf cannot be easily managed
without a knife, and of course the fork must be used to carry it to
the mouth. Thus, as bread, butter, and cheese are served with the
salad, the salad knife and fork are really essential. Salt-cellars
are now placed at each plate, and it is not improper to take salt
with your knife.
Dessert-spoons and small forks do not form a part of the original
"cover;" that is, they are not put on at the beginning of the
dinner, but are placed before the guests according as they are
needed; as, for instance, when the Roman punch arrives before the
game, and afterwards when the plum-pudding or pastry is served
before the ices.
The knives and forks are placed on each side of the plate, ready for
the hand.
For the coffee after dinner a very small spoon is served, as a large
one would be out of place in the small cups that are used. Indeed,
the variety of forks and spoons now in use on a well-furnished table
is astonishing.
One of our esteemed correspondents asks, "How much soup should be
given to each person?" A half-ladleful is quite enough, unless it is
a country dinner, where a full ladleful may be given without
offence; but do not fill the soup-plate.
In carving a joint of fowl the host ought to make sure of the
condition of both knife and fork. Of course a good carver sees to
both before dinner. The knife should be of the best cutlery, well
sharpened, and the fork long, strong, and furnished with a guard.
In using the spoon be very careful not to put it too far into the
mouth. It is a fashion with children to polish their spoons in a
somewhat savage fashion, but the guest at a dinner-party should
remember, in the matter of the dessert-spoon especially (which is a
rather large implement for the mouth), not to allow even the
clogging influences of cabinet pudding to induce him to give his
spoon too much leeway; as in all etiquette of the table, the spoon
has its difficulties and dangers. Particularly has the soup-spoon
its Scylla and Charybdis, and if a careless eater make a hissing
sound as he eats his soup, the well-bred diner-out looks round with
dismay.
There are always people happy in their fashion of eating, as in
everything else. There is no such infallible proof of good-breeding
and of early usage as the conduct of a man or woman at dinner. But,
as every one has not had the advantage of early training, it is well
to study these minute points of table etiquette, that one may learn
how to eat without offending the sensibility of the well-bred.
Especially study the fork and the spoon. There is, no doubt, a great
diversity of opinion on the Continent with regard to the fork. It is
a common German fashion, even with princes, to put the knife into
the month. Italians are not always particular as to its use, and
cultivated Russians, Swedes, Poles, and Danes often eat with their
knives or forks indiscriminately.
But Austria, which follows French fashions, the Anglo-Saxon race in
England, America, and the colonies, all French people, and those
elegant Russians who emulate French manners, deem the fork the
proper medium of communication between the plate and the mouth.