Hot puddings of a soft consistency should be served with a spoon; sometimes a fork also is needed. With the edge of the spoon cut through the brown crust in a semicircle, slip the spoon under, and take up a spoonful; slip it off on the plate, leaving it right side up.
Take special case to serve temptingly anything with a meringue.
MOULDS OF PUDDING, CREAMS, CHARLOTTE RUSSE, ICE-CREAM, ETC.
Anything stiff enough to be moulded should be cut in slices from three fourths of an inch to an inch thick; the wider slices in oval-shaped moulds may be divided through the middle. A broad silver knife with a raised edge is very convenient to use in serving Bavarian Cream, Ice-Creams, and Charlottes.
FRUIT AND NUTS.
A pair of grape scissors should be laid on the fruit-dish to use in dividing large bunches of grapes or raisins; but a nut-cracker is too suggestive of hotel life to be acceptable on the home table. Crack the nuts before they are sent to the table. Salt should be served with the nuts.
Pass oranges, apples, pears, peaches, and bananas in the fruit-dish, to allow each person the opportunity of choice.
Watermelon. Before serving, cut a slice from each end. Make incisions through the middle in the form of the letter V, separate the parts, and place each in an upright position. Cut through the divisions, and serve one section to each person.
Cantaloupes, if small, are sometimes served cut in halves. If large, divide from end to end in nature’s lines of depression.