Miscellaneous Instructions
Dainty meals are served in a great many houses where there is neither time nor inclination for the number of courses which are considered necessary at other tables. Perfection of serving, that is, perfect comfort, should be aimed at as much in one case as in the other. There should be absolute cleanliness and noiseless movement. Meals should be ready on time, and there should be no occasion to wait for things that ought to be close at hand. Time may be gained without causing confusion, if proper thought be given beforehand to the serving of each particular dish. Instead of passing a fish sauce, it may, in many cases, be put on the platter with the fish, so that the carver serves some of it with each helping. Meat gravies may be put on
the table to be passed from one to another without the help of the waitress. When this is done the waitress should select two suitable gravy boats or bowls, see that they are properly heated and not filled too full. When she has brought hot plates to the carver she may bring the gravy boats, put one near one end of the table and another near the other end. This may be done so quickly that she will be ready to take the first plate which the carver has ready for her. The same rule applies to pudding sauces. Instead of one large bowl or dish, two pretty, smaller ones may be selected and put on the table immediately after the pudding has been placed before the hostess. Pickles and other relishes may be served in two or more small dishes and put at convenient distances along the table.
A dinner-table is much more attractive with a handsome plate before each person as he or she is seated; but where time and space are limited, the cold plate may be dispensed with.
The proper placing of a side-table makes every difference in the serving of a meal. A small table at each end of the room is often desirable. This gives a proper place to put down a vegetable or other dish, without walking the length of the room, when the waitress needs to take a plate to the carver for a second helping. This table may hold whatever extras may be needed by the hostess for the dishes which she serves, as the table near the host holds extra carvers, etc., which he may need. These tables must be used with discretion, and no unsightly dish, which should be at once carried to the pantry, must be allowed to remain on them. Their object, like that of the dinner wagon described in “Care of Dining-Room,” is simply to lessen time between courses and to help a waitress to pass vegetables before meats have grown cold.
The best serving is often most appreciated where there are not the conveniences necessary for carrying out rules which at first sight seem very simple. To remove the dishes from
a dinner of even five or six courses, according to the directions given, it is necessary to have a pantry large enough to put down the dishes as they are taken from the table, without piling one upon the other. This takes a good deal of space. The one waitress has no assistant to take from her hand and deftly separate knives, forks, and spoons from plates and dishes, piling all in a compact manner. It is necessary, therefore, that she should exercise her very best common-sense.
If the pantry opens into a roomy, well-ventilated kitchen, by a swing door which makes no noise, then a large table may be placed in the kitchen so that an extra step or two will make possible the putting down of all dishes for which there is no room in the pantry. Where this is not possible, some means must be devised for gathering together the dishes with the least possible confusion. One way to do it is the following:
When a course is finished take a suitable tray for soiled dishes; go to the right of each