The complete servant / Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables

by servant Samuel Adams; Sarah Adams

The vigilant Cook, having attended to the minutiæ of the larder, and directed that the shelves and floor be well scoured and washed, and every part made perfectly free from smells, will next, if it be in her department, prepare to go to market, and consult her mistress or the housekeeper accordingly.[15]

Having seen that all the marketing is properly disposed of,—the parlour lunch, nursery and servants’ dinners getting forward, or got out of the way, then commences the principal preparations for the day.

In families where great dinners are seldom given, it will be better, when it can be conveniently done, to make an arrangement, as to the principal dishes, a day or two, or more, before hand. The Cook should never quit her post, on such an occasion, as it requires not only great skill but the utmost attention and exertion to send up the whole of a great dinner, with all its accompaniments, in perfect order.

When there is an opportunity of getting forward the soups, sauces, and made dishes, on the preceding day, it should, by all means, be done; but if not, the soups, &c. should be forwarded early in the morning, and while these are preparing, the joints of meat, cutlets, and other articles should be trimmed, the poultry and game, &c. trussed and made ready for dressing; the vegetables picked quite clean, trimmed, and well washed, and laid separate, in dishes or cullenders. The shalots, onions, sweet-herbs, spices, &c. should also be prepared, and laid quite at hand.

The Bill of Fare being made out, and the hour of active operation approaching, the clock must be consulted, and the different articles prepared and laid to the fire, in succession, according to the times they will take, that all may be ready in due time.—A scene of activity now commences, in which you must necessarily be cool, collected, and attentive.—Have an eye to the roast meat, and an ear to the boils,—and let your thoughts continually recur to the rudiments of your art, which at this moment must be called into practical requisition. You will endeavour that every kind of vegetable, and of sauce, be made to keep pace with the dishes to which they respectively belong—so that all may go up stairs smoking hot together, and in due order.

Let a clean cloth be laid on the kitchen-table, and with the bill of fare for your guide, if neither housekeeper nor the butler be present, let the dishes, intended to be used, be placed on this table, exactly as they are meant to stand on the table in the dining-room, and let every article be taken off the table in the kitchen, by the footman, and proper assistants, in regular order, by which means the butler cannot fail to set them in their proper places above stairs.

In some families, the soups are sent up first; and next, after a few minutes, the fish, then the removes, vegetables, sauces, and the whole of the first course:—mean time the entremets, or second course, will be dished and sent up, precisely in the same way. This would be done in all families, at all times, were it not deemed necessary frequently to sacrifice convenience, comfort, and every other consideration, at the shrine of fashion and elegance of appearance.

When the dinner things are brought down, the meat must be removed into clean common dishes; and as many things, such as fricandeaus, stews, &c. may remain untouched, or can be made to do again, when tossed up afresh, in different ways; they must be taken out of the gravies, the garnish, &c. picked clean off them, and the meat put by in clean dishes, and covered with thin slices of bacon. These gravies, and those from the roast meats of different kinds, must all be saved in separate stone pans, as all things of this kind serve to make a rich kitchen, and may be converted or applied to various useful purposes. The soups that are left should be strained through sieves to take out the bread and other vegetable matters, which, if left in, would turn them sour.

What sweets are left, such as Blancmange, Jellies, &c. may be melted and run into smaller moulds or shapes, and made to do again. Such management as this is highly commendable in all families, as thereby you are at all times provided for extra visiters.

Potted Meats, Collared articles, Anchovies, Oysters and other shell-fish, mock Brawn, cold Hams, Tongue, Stewed Peas, Black Caps, Sweets of various kinds, and some sorts of Tarts, should also be kept ready for suppers and extra occasions.[16]