Prepare and Serve a Meal and Interior Decoration | Page 6

THE INFORMAL (HOME) DINNER
The setting of the table for the home dinner follows the general rules
already given. As it is a quite informal affair, however, the side dish
(never seen at a formal dinner) is permissible. Dessert, too, may be
served in a small dish set in a plate. A carving cloth (for paterfamilias
usually carves at the home dinner) protects the tablecloth from spatters
and bits of crisp fat which the most skillful carver cannot always avoid
sending over the dish.

If a maid serves, she should always have an extra plate, one more than
the number of individuals to be served. She will need it.
A salad served with meat, at an informal dinner, is placed on the right
side, from the right, the exception to the rule of serving from the left.
Vegetables, once served, are taken back to the kitchen, to keep them
warm. If a second serving is desired, the mistress rings. Suit yourself
about having the serving silver placed on the table before the dish to be
served is carried in. The latest wrinkle--and it is a time and step-saving
one--dictates that the silver be brought in on a platter. The soup, to be
served hot (it should always be served in soup plates at dinner and
never in bouillon cups) must be brought in after the family have taken
their places.
A family dinner may be served quite comfortably even without a maid.
The table set and the service laid, the younger members of the family
should attend to her duties. One may bring in the soup, hot, in
individually heated plates. Another may fill the water glasses, pass
butter or sauces and remove dishes between courses. The most
convenient way of serving vegetables, under these circumstances, is for
some member of the family next the carver to attend to it, as soon as
meat has been laid on the plate. It saves extra passing. See to it that too
many things--butter, salt, pepper, cream, sauces, etc.--are not traveling
about the table at once. All the formal features of the more formal
meals may be dropped or modified to suit individual needs or
circumstances in the informal home dinner.
TWELVE MENUS FOR GOOD FAMILY DINNERS
0. Corn Mock Bisque. Roast Chicken with Bread Stuffing, Giblet Gravy.
Boiled Rice. Saute Egg Plant. Stuffed Green Peppers. Prune
Pudding. Black Coffee.
0. Onion Soup. Fried Smelts, Sauce Tartare. Broiled Porterhouse
Beefsteak. Maitre d'Hotel Butter (1/4 cup butter, 1/2 teaspoonful
salt, 1/8 teaspoonful pepper, tablespoonful lemon juice, 1 ditto
parsley, fine chopped; work butter in bowl with wooden spoon
till creamy, then add other ingredients slowly). Potato Strips.

Creamed Turnips. Steamed Chocolate Pudding, Sterling Sauce.
0. Carrot Soup. Braised Beef. Boiled Potatoes with Butter and Parsley.
Fried Parsnips. Onion Souffle. Spiced Apples a la Lyman (6 large
apples, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoonful
salt, 1/4 cup water: arrange cored and pared apples in baking dish,
mix sugar, salt and cinnamon and fill cavities. Add water, bake
till apples are soft, basting repeatedly with syrup in dish. Remove,
cool, pile meringue on top of each apple. Back to oven and bake
for eight minutes. Chill and serve with sugar and cream). Black
coffee.
0. Huntington Soup and Celery. Braised Leg of Mutton. Mashed Sweet
Potatoes. Beets, Sauce Piquant. Stuffed Tomato Salad, Boiled
Dressing. Cream Jelly.
0. Onion Soup. Beefsteak a la Henrietta Saute Potato Balls, Mashed
Turnips. Cheese Salad. Coffee Sponge.
0. Corn and Chicken Soup. Braised Fowl, Chestnut Stuffing. Duchess
Potatoes, Fried Tomatoes (Parmesan). Honeycomb Pudding,
Creamy Sauce. Coffee.
0. Brown Soup with Macaroni Rings. Creamed Mushrooms. Roast Leg
of Veal. Mashed Potatoes. Brussels Sprouts with Celery.
Asparagus Salad. Fruit Tapioca. Coffee.
0. Clam Bouillon. Boiled Leg of Mutton, Caper Sauce, Mashed Potatoes,
Fried Cucumbers. Peach Cabinet Pudding. Crackers and Cheese.
Black Coffee.
0. Broiled Fish, Cold Slaw in Cabbage Shell. Stuffed Hearts with
Vegetables. Potatoes Goldenrod, Almond Pudding, Whipped
Cream. Assorted Fruit. Coffee.
These are samples of what is possible in the way of tasty combinations
for the informal family dinner.
CHAPTER VI
THE FORMAL DINNER
From the informal dinner in which the family waits on itself, to the
formal dinner, at which two waitresses attend to the comfort of the
diners, is but a step. Yet it is a serious one for the hostess who gives the

latter form of dinner. The cook often requires extra help (dishwashing,
etc.); and where a chambermaid is available, she has to be drafted as a
second waitress or an extra waitress engaged. There must be a helper
on duty in the pantry, for there must be no hitch in any detail of the
formal dinner service. So the extra pantry-hand must serve soup and
pour coffee, see that there is crushed ice always ready, stack up