To simplify and render the making of bills of fare easy, we have divided the different dishes into seven parts, each part being in the order the dishes of which must be served, and representing the seven kinds of dishes composing a dinner. By this means you select the dish or dishes which suit you, and which you can procure in any or all of the seven parts, and your bill of fare is made, and more to your liking than any steward on earth can do.
Order of dishes.—1. Potages. 2. hors-d'oeuvres. 3. Relevés: of fish, and then of meat. 4. Entrées: beef, mutton, lamb, veal, fish, poultry, and game last. 5. Rôts: of meat, and then of fish. 6. Entremets: salads of greens, vegetables, eggs, macaroni, sweet dishes, and cakes. 7. Dessert: cheese the first.
First part, or Potages.—Any kind coming under the head of potages or soups.
Second part, or hors-d'oeuvres.—These are small dishes placed on the table as soon as the soup-dish is removed or even before, and which are removed just before serving the sweet dishes of the entremets. They are passed round after every dish, on account of being considered more as appetizers, as repairers of the natural waste of animal life. Very little of them is partaken of at a time; they are anchovies; artichockes, raw; pickled beets; butter; caviare; cervelas; raw cucumbers; figs; every kind of fish, salted, smoked, pickled, or preserved in oil; every kind of pickled fruit; horse-radish; horse-radish butter; melons; broiled mushrooms; olives; raw and pickled oysters; steamed potatoes served with butter; radishes and butter; sardines; saucissons; sausages, salt and smoked, but not fresh; salted and smoked tongue; tunny, walnuts in salad.
Third part, or Relevés.—Relevés are composed of fish and large pieces of meat. A fish served whole is always a relevé; in pieces, it is an entrée. Pieces of beef, mutton, and pork, roasted, are always served as relevés. At a family dinner the relevé is almost always a fish. The other pieces of meat that are served as relevés are: bear, buffalo, boiled and corned beef, leg and saddle of mutton, quarters of lamb, large pieces of veal; also all vol-au-vent of meat and of fish, boucheés and fish-pies.
Fourth part, or Entrées.—These comprise every dish of meat, except poultry and game, when roasted; every dish of fish not served whole; also pâtés de foies gras, sour-krout, snails, meat-pies, terrines, pains of game and of poultry. The dishes of meat mentioned in the relevés may be served as entrées at a family dinner. The order of the dishes is described above.
Fifth part, or Rôts.—Poultry, game, and fish. At a family dinner, lamb and veal are often served as roasted pieces, especially at seasons when there is no game, and poultry is scarce.
Sixth part, or Entremets.—The following are served as entremets: all salads of greens; all dishes of vegetables, of omelets, except four, viz., with bacon, salt pork, ham, and kidneys. Also dishes of macaroni, of rice, eggs à la neige, all sweet dishes (sweet dishes are also served as dessert), and cakes; such as baba, brioche, génoises, madeleines, savarin, and sponge-cake.
Seventh part, or Dessert.—The dessert comprises ripe fruit, sweet dishes (these are also served as entremets, according to taste), pastry (except meat-pies, terrines, and pains), salads of fruits, and cheese. The latter is always served the first (see Cheese). After cheese, there is no rule for serving the other plates of dessert; it is according to each one's taste.
Punch is served after the entrées or after the relevés of fish, according to taste.