1. What steps in preparation can be taken ahead of time, as washing, paring, cutting, etc.?

2. What dishes take the longest to cook?

3. Which must be served the moment they are done?

4. Which can be kept hot for some time without injury?

5. Which can be finished and cooled perhaps several hours before?

6. Do the dishes selected require the same utensils at the same time? (If so, the menus must be changed.)

7. What is the order of serving?

To keep food hot.—A hot closet above a coal or gas range is made for this purpose, and steam heaters sometimes have hot-closets. A double boiler is a help, and one utensil may be set into a larger, filled with boiling water. Some dishes can be set back on the stove, or over a simmering gas burner with an asbestos mat underneath. The oven may be used sometimes, with the door set ajar. The food may be kept covered unless it will steam, in which case cover it with a towel. Serve food in hot dishes.

To keep food cool.—Leave the dish in the ice box until the last possible moment. Sometimes serve with ice (butter in warm weather). If ice is lacking, use other cooling devices. Serve in chilled dishes.

Garnishing the dish.—All food must be neatly placed in the dish, and arranged or piled with some sort of symmetry, and this is the most that some people have time to do. Many foods may be served in the utensil or dish in which they are cooked, and in the case of a baking dish, if its appearance is not neat, a napkin can be folded about it. The simplest form of garnish is browning on the top, which makes many dishes attractive (mashed potato).

Make the garnishing simple, and have it eatable when possible. Slices of hard-boiled eggs on spinach, chopped parsley and butter on boiled or mashed potato, parsley and slices of lemon, with meat and fish.

Vegetable borders are attractive and save labor in dish washing. Arrange the meat in the center of the platter, and pile mashed potato, or boiled rice or peas or beans, or a mixture of hot vegetables around the edge. This saves time in table service, too.

The garnishing of salads, desserts, and cakes is treated in previous chapters.

The table should be firm, large enough to accommodate the family comfortably, and it should permit of extension when occasion demands a larger board. The top should have an oil finish that will not easily mar and that can be washed off. Have a thick cloth or pad to protect it—the “silence cloth.”

Table covers may be the small doilies with centerpiece, strips of fine linen crash, or blue or brown and white Japanese toweling laid across both ways, a cloth that just covers the table, or a large cloth that hangs well below the table edge. The doilies and strips are used conventionally for breakfast and luncheon, but save much labor when used for all meals. The color may be white, or tinted, but the dark-colored cloth should be banished.

The material may be linen or mercerized cotton. Many people think white table oilcloth is impossible, but a table covered with it may be made very pretty; it can be kept clean by washing at the end of each meal, and the saving in labor is incalculable.

The pattern and quality and cost of table linens are mentioned in Chapter XXI.

Napkins may match the tablecloths. A small size economizes labor. Avoid fringes, selecting a scalloped edge or hemstitch. Japanese paper napkins are useful in summer, and for box luncheons.

The dishes.—Only a few practical suggestions can be given here. This is a topic for the art class.

Buy from “open stock.” This means, not a single set, but a pattern that the manufacturer and retailer have always on hand, so that the purchaser can buy one plate or cup and saucer, to replace breakage.

An elaborate or highly colored design becomes wearisome, is not practical for those who have a limited supply of dishes, and is in questionable taste. A positive color demands always the same general scheme for other decorations. A band of color, or a narrow design at the edge, of a color harmonizing easily with other colors, is in good taste. Gold and green are safe colors. See Fig. 72. White dishes with a raised border are dainty, and any color scheme may be used with them. See Fig. 71.

The number of dishes depends upon the simplicity or elaborateness of the method of living and the size of the family. It is much better to begin with a few, and increase the number when necessary, than to have the shelves filled with unused ware. (See exercises.)

Glassware is pressed or cut, the latter being beautiful, but an expensive luxury. Glasses for water, and dishes for berries, are made with simple and attractive designs in the pressed ware, and serve all ordinary purposes. A pretty shape for the glass for water is shown in Fig. 71.

Silver and plated silver for knives, forks, and spoons, coffee and tea sets, all add to the charm of the table. A large collection is not necessary for everyday use, and it adds greatly to the labor of the housewife. Figure 70 shows some good designs in spoons, and spoons and forks of different sizes come in the same design. A simple design is easy to clean. Three sizes of spoons, tablespoons, teaspoons, and coffee spoons, and two sizes of forks are all sufficient, with a few larger spoons for service and desserts.

Triple-plated ware lasts for years, if well cared for, and comes in good designs.

Pewter, familiar in olden days, is being used again in Colonial designs, and makes an attractive tea or coffee set, is less costly than solid silver, and has a better tone and color than plated ware.

Cutlery.—Plated knives are easy to care for, but steel knives are more effective for some purposes. Purchase good quality steel knives, especially in the carving set.

Be sure that the cloth is straight, the center fold in the middle of the table, and that the cloth hangs evenly on all sides. See that centerpiece and doilies are laid at even distance.

Laying each place.—In Fig. 71 the knife, edge out, is at the right, with one spoon, and the glass is at the right, in line with the end of the knife. Two forks are at the left, and a plate for bread and butter, with bread knife are at the left, opposite the glass. The napkin is at the left. This plan, somewhat elaborated, may be safely followed for formal service. Two knives may be placed at the right, with the soup spoon, and three forks at the left. If more than these are needed, they may be supplied later, laid on the plate placed for a certain course, in the middle of the plate, handle toward the guest.

The other articles on the table may vary widely. For everyday use, where there is no maid, or only one, set in places convenient to pass, the salt and pepper, vinegar and sugar, bread plate and butter plate, and any small dish of condiment or pickle, with pretty mats for the hot dishes to be set on later, and enough spoons for serving. See that the arrangement is symmetrical and convenient. A table laid in this way has room for little more in the way of “decoration” than a slender vase holding a few flowers in the center. The dishes for dessert can be ready on a side table.

For formal service nothing is placed on the table in addition to the equipment at each place, but some centerpiece containing ferns or flowers, with pretty dishes of silver or glass holding relishes, candies, or dried fruits, a graceful arrangement being to alternate four of these with four candlesticks for meals served late in the day.

Table decorations.—Here fancy may run riot with color schemes, and pretty devices for special occasions. A painted place card, a small bonbon box, a single flower with a pin for fastening it on,—all these have their place at times. Satin ribbon is not an appropriate table decoration laid across the table in a broad band, even when it displays a class color. Find some other way to make the color effective. A color scheme in the food can be carried out to a degree for some occasion, but do not let the color interfere with a really satisfactory menu.

Relishes have already been suggested as decoration—radishes cut in rose shape, olives, candies, and fruit.

The tray for invalid and convalescent.—Figures 72 and 73 suggest the daintiness possible in setting a tray. It is well worth while to spend time in the careful arrangement of the tray, for pretty dishes in orderly array may tempt the appetite of the invalid.

Serving.—Serve everything from the side table. Hold the dish to be served firmly in two hands with a napkin underneath, a tablespoon and fork being placed on the dish. Pass to the left of the guest, and hold the dish at a convenient height and near the plate. After all the dishes in a course are passed in this way, watch to see if second helps are needed.

Remove the soiled plates at the left, and place the clean at the left, removing with the left hand and placing with the right.

Fill glasses at the right, and remove silver at the right before dessert when there are pieces left unused.

Brush crumbs with a soft, folded napkin upon a plate, at the left, just before dessert when everything is taken from the table but the center decoration, the candies, and the glass of water. With this plan the guest helps himself each time, even the after-dinner coffee being passed on a tray with cream and sugar, and he can take as little as he pleases, or decline. Some hostesses have some of the courses arranged on individual plates and placed, and these may be placed either from the left or right. But the other method is simple and satisfactory.

The finger bowls may be set on plates of dessert size with a doily underneath. If a spoon or fork is needed with the dessert, one or both may be placed on the plate also, one on each side, if both are used. The bowls should be less than half full of water and the water should be a comfortable temperature, neither cold nor noticeably warm. Set the plates arranged in this way before each guest. The guest himself will remove the bowl and doily and silver before the dessert is passed. In large banquets the food must be placed on the individual plate.

The question is sometimes asked, “Who shall be served first?” It is a good plan to change this from course to course, beginning the first time with the guest of honor. It is not a matter of great importance, provided no one has to wait long. Two waitresses make the service quicker.

The guests of honor sit at the right of the host and hostess.

The number of courses.—Two or three courses are enough for everyday comfort and health. In formal serving, it is good taste not to have too many. A first course of grapefruit or perhaps oyster cocktail, a soup, a fish course, or some light substitute for it,—the main course with meat, a salad, dessert, coffee—make a quite sufficient meal. The “entrÉe” is a light dish, say sweetbreads in cases, after the fish course, but it is quite unnecessary. Many people are becoming very weary of the long-drawn-out dinners and banquets, which are certainly far from hygienic.

Carving.—This is an art that used to be taught as an accomplishment to girls, and it is not an easy matter to master.

If not done at the table, it must nevertheless be well done. Watch a good carver, and practice when you have a chance. A few simple directions can be given, but a demonstration is really necessary. First and foremost, have a sharp, strong knife, and a strong fork. The next essential is a platter large enough to hold the meat, without having it slip off. The fork must be firmly placed in the meat, and the meat held down. Notice the shape of the cut of meat. Meat must be cut across the grain. Loosen from the bone, notice the grain, and cut evenly and firmly. With fowl, discover the joints, pierce with the end of the knife, disjoint, and lay at the side, and then slice the breast across the grain. If carving at the table, learn the preference of those served, whether they wish light or dark meat, meat well done or underdone. Have a spoon for dish gravy and stuffing.