General Rules For A Good Dinner Recipe

There should be always two soups, white and brown, two fish, dressed and

undressed; a bouilli and petits-pates; and on the sideboard a plain

roast joint, besides many savoury articles, such as hung beef, Bologna

sausages, pickles, cold ham, cold pie, &c. some or all of these

according to the number of guests, the names of which the head-servant

ought to whisper about to the company, occasionally offering them. He

should likewise carry about all the side-dishes or entrees, after the

soups are taken away in rotation. A silver lamp should be kept burning,

to put any dish upon that may grow cold.

It is indispensable to have candles, or plateau, or epergne, in the

middle of the table.

Beware of letting the table appear loaded; neither should it be too

bare. The soups and fish should be dispatched before the rest of the

dinner is set on; but, lest any of the guests eat of neither, two small

dishes of pates should be on the table. Of course, the meats and

vegetables and fruits which compose these dinners must be varied

according to the season, the number of guests, and the tastes of the

host and hostess. It is also needless to add that without iced champagne

and Roman punch a dinner is not called a dinner.

These observations and the following directions for dinners are suitable

to persons who chuse to live fashionably; but the receipts contained

in this book will suit any mode of living, and the persons consulting it

will find matter for all tastes and all establishments. There is many an

excellent dish not considered adapted to a fashionable table, which,

nevertheless, is given in these pages.