If the ladies only retire to the drawing room, one waitress serves them there with coffee, while another remains in the dining room. Here she passes cigars and cigarettes on a tray, together with a lighted candle or matches, and then serves coffee and cordials or brandy and soda.
It is good form for the waitress to serve carbonated water in apollinaris glasses in the drawing room about an hour after the conclusion of the dinner.
THREE FORMAL DINNER MENUS
1. Grapefruit. Chicken Consommé with Oysters. Bread Sticks (served like roll in napkin). Deviled Crabs. Chicken Mousse with Sauterne Jelly. Saddle of Mutton. White Potato Croquettes. Carrots and Turnips a la Poulette. Currant Mint Sorbet. Mushrooms au Casserole. Roast Grouse, Bread Sauce. Watercress Salad. Willard Soufflé. Strawberry Ice Cream. Salted Almonds. Bonbons. Crackers and Cheese. Black Coffee.
2. Oyster Cocktail. Saltines. Mushroom and Sage Soup. Dinner Braids. Lobster Chops. Cucumber Boats. Sauce Tartare. Swedish Timbales with Calf’s Brains. Larded Fillet of Beef with Truffles. Brown Mushroom Sauce, Potato Rings. Flageolets. Buttered Carrots. Asparagus Jelly with Pistachio Bisque. Ice Cream. Cream Sponge Balls. Salted Almonds. Bonbons. Water Thins. Neufchâtel Cheese. Black Coffee. (From “A Book of Good Dinners for My Friend”: Fannie Merrit Farmer.)
3. Cocktails. Caviar Sandwiches. Selected Strawberries. Mock Bouillon. Olives. Sherry. Rolled Cassava Cakes. Turbans of Flounder. Dressed Cucumbers. Rolls. Delmonico Tomatoes. Roasted Incubator Chickens. Chantilly Asparagus Potatoes. Buttered Asparagus Tips. Champagne. Grapefruit and Alligator Pear Salad, Paprika Crackers. Montrose Pudding. Small Cakes. Coffee. Cordials. (From “Table Service,” Lucy G. Allen).
CHAPTER VII: AFTERNOON TEAS
Afternoon teas are of two kinds, formal and informal, and the informal outdoor tea in the open, on the lawn or in the garden, is a variant of the latter variety. Here the tea wagon comes into play, and tea is often tea in name only, since at summer outdoor teas not only iced tea, but iced coffee, iced chocolate or punch are often served.
THE INFORMAL TEA
Do not set a table for the informal tea. The tea service is merely brought to the sun parlor, drawing room or living room in which the tea is to be served, and placed on the table. There the hostess makes and pours the tea, unless she prefers to have it brought in on a tea tray already made for pouring.