CHAPTER IV.
ON LAYING OUT A TABLE.
The manner of laying out a table is nearly the same in all parts of the United Kingdom: yet there are trifling local peculiarities to which the mistress of a house must attend. A centre ornament, whether it be a dormant, a plateau, an epergne, or a candelabrum, is found so convenient, and contributes so much, in the opinion of some, to the good appearance of the table, that a dinner is seldom or never set out without something of this kind. Of late years people who give dinners give them what is called à la Russe; but if you ask nine out of every ten what they mean by dining à la Russe, they are unable to tell you. All they can say is, that there is nothing on the table but flowers and fruits, that the dishes are carved on the sideboard and handed about to the guests. This fashion still continues, but I never could see any good reason for its introduction. It seems to me exceedingly odd that a a people, like the English, who, for certainly five centuries, have enjoyed a high degree of civilization, should copy the Russians in the system of dinner-giving—a people who, a century ago, were plunged in the deepest barbarism, and who, as yet, are scarcely half civilized. Even now the Russians have not in their language any word which conveys the idea of gentleman, and the title of Prince, so common amongst them, is not much more than a hundred years old. Coats of arms were first borne in Russia only about eighty years ago, and they were then introduced by the German adventurers, with which class Russia still abounds.
In the days of Peter the Great, about a century and a half ago, the Russian Boyars (the only title of nobility, properly speaking, Russian), were so very ignorant that many of them could not write, and so very drunken as to astonish so potent a tippler as Peter himself. When this great reformer knouted his nobles into the luxury of shaving themselves, and the decent habit of wearing nether garments, early in the eighteenth century, they lived chiefly on cabbage soup, and bacon, and sausages, and even these were cooked in Homeric fashion. It is true, great progress has been made in Russia since 1697, and even since 1815, but no sensible Englishman would think of going to Russia to learn to serve a dinner. I spent much time in Russia, somewhat more than thirty years ago, and lived a great deal among Russians of wealth and position; but though there was profusion and a great expenditure on their dinners, there was nothing like elegance or good taste. The earlier Russian cookery of a century ago was adopted from the Dutch and the Germans, and all that is valuable in the later Russian cookery has been adopted from the French and the English kitchens.
It results from serving dinners à la Russe in England that the joints are frequently mangled, and you receive your portion lukewarm or cold. By carving and serving only one dish at a time also the dinner is unnecessarily prolonged to four hours instead of two and a half or three, and many more servants and attendants are necessary. In Russia this is not an important consideration, for domestic service is performed by serfs, who receive merely nominal wages. Another reason against serving dinners à la Russe is, that those costly services of gold and silver plate which nearly every good family in England possesses, are not displayed under the new fashion, which, like crinoline, will have its long reign, and ultimately pass away.
Utility should be the true principle of beauty, at least in affairs of the table, and, above all, in the substantial first course. A very false taste, is, however, often shown in centre ornaments. Strange ill-assorted nosegays, and bouquets of artificial flowers, begin to droop or look faded among hot steams. Ornamental articles of family plate, carved, chased, or merely plain, can never be out of place, however old-fashioned. In desserts, richly-cut glass is ornamental. I am far, also, from proscribing the foliage and moss in which fruits are sometimes seen bedded. The sparkling imitation of frost-work, which is given to preserved fruits and other things, is also exceedingly beautiful; as are many of the trifles belonging to French and Italian confectionary.
Beautifully white damask, and a green cloth underneath, are indispensable.
In all ranks, and in every family, one important art in housekeeping is to make what remains from one day’s entertainment contribute to the elegance or plenty of the next day’s dinner. This is a principle understood by persons in the very highest ranks of society in France, who maintain the most splendid and expensive establishments. Vegetables, ragouts, and soups may be rewarmed; and jellies and blancmanges remoulded, with no deterioration of their qualities. Savoury or sweet patties, croquets, rissoles, vol-au-vents, fritters, tartlets, &c., may be served almost without cost, where cookery is going forward on a large scale. In the French kitchen, a numerous class of culinary preparations, called entrées de dessert, or made-dishes of left things, are served even at grand entertainments.
At dinners of any pretension the first course consists of soups and fish, removed by boiled poultry, ham, or tongue, roasts, stews, &c.; and of vegetables, with a few made-dishes, as ragouts, curries, hashes, cutlets, patties, fricandeaux, &c., in as great variety as the number of dishes permits. For the second course, roasted poultry or game at the top and bottom, with dressed vegetables, omelets, macaroni, jellies, creams, salads, preserved fruit, and all sorts of sweet things and pastry are employed, endeavouring to give an article of each sort, as a jelly and a cream. This is a more common arrangement than three courses, which are attended with so much additional trouble both to the guests and servants.
Whether the dinner be of two or three courses it is managed nearly in the same way. Two dishes of fish dressed in different ways, if suitable, should occupy the top and bottom; and two soups, a white and a brown, or a mild and a high-seasoned, are best disposed on each side of the centre-piece: the fish-sauces are placed between the centre-piece and the dish of fish to which each is appropriate; and this, with the decanted wines drunk during dinner, forms the first course. When there are rare French or Rhenish wines, they are placed in the original bottles, in ornamented wine-vases, between the centre-piece and the top and bottom dishes; or if four kinds, they are ranged round the plateau. If one bottle, it is placed in a vase in the centre.
The second course at a purely English dinner, when there are three courses, consists of roasts and stews for the top and bottom; turkey or fowls, or fricandeaux, or ham garnished, or tongue for the sides; with small made-dishes for the corners, served in covered dishes, as palates, curry of any kind, ragout or fricassée of rabbits, stewed mushrooms, &c., &c.
The third course consists of game, confectionary, the more delicate vegetables dressed in the French way, puddings, creams, jellies, etc.
Caraffes, with the tumblers belonging to and placed over them, are laid at proper intervals. Where hock, champagne, &c., &c., are served, they are handed round between the courses. A very bad habit has for some years prevailed of not placing any wine on the table, thus leaving you at the mercy of servants who rarely come round, and then scarcely half-fill your glass. This is meant to be an imitation of the French system, but nothing can be more unlike the system adopted in France. The English imitators, or would-be imitators, wholly forget that a guest at a French table can never languish for lack of wine, for “vin ordinaire” always remains on the table, while only the very highest qualities of wine are handed round by the servants. In England, for many years past, the table is altogether stripped of wine, and the guests are at the mercy of butlers of paid waiters, who use the wine either for their private drinking after the dinner, in the servants’ hall, or of hosts who, to save their wine, would stint their guests. When the third course is cleared away, cheese, butter, a fresh salad, or sliced cucumber, are usually handed round; and the finger-glasses precede the dessert. At many tables, particularly in Indian houses, it is customary merely to hand quickly round a glass vessel or two filled with simple, or simply perfumed tepid water, made by the addition of a little rose or lavender water, or a home-made strained infusion of rose-leaves or lavender spikes. Into this water each guest may dip the corner of his napkin, and with it refresh his lips and the tips of his fingers.
The Dessert, at an English table, may consist merely of two dishes of fine fruit, for the top and bottom; common or dried fruits, filberts, etc., for the corners or sides, and a cake for the middle, with ice-pails in hot weather. Liqueurs are handed round at this stage; and the wines usually drank after dinner are placed, decanted, on the table along with the dessert. The ice-pails and plates are removed as soon as the company finish their ice. This may be better understood by following the exact arrangement of what is considered a fashionable dinner of three courses and a dessert.
Memorandum respecting Dinners.—To make your Bill of Fare according to the season and the number of your company. When you have two roasts, they should bear no resemblance to each other—i.e., one should be white and the other brown.
It is not in general the custom to place the fish sauces on the table, except in establishments where there is a servant to every guest, but so placed they are always most accessible. It is a great convenience to have the sauce near you when you want it.