Dishes

“ In good old times, when dishes were scarce, when mother, wife, housekeeper, housemaid, and cook were all represented in one woman, and all service was of the most simple and primitive kind, a huge, round yellow pudding dish answered for platter and vegetable dish alike, and the entire contents of the pot, minus the liquor, were placed in this one dish. ”

“ For reasonable and sensible people, there is no dinner more satisfactory than one consisting first of a soup, then a fish, garnished with boiled potatoes, followed by a roast, also garnished with one vegetable; perhaps an entrée, always a salad, some cheese, and a dessert. This, well cooked and neatly and quietly served, is a stylish and good enough dinner for any one, and is within the power of a gentleman or lady of moderate means to give. “It is the exquisite quality of a dinner or a wine that pleases us, not the multiplicity of dishes or vintages.” ”

“ On a small side-table, clean, but uncovered, the breakfast dishes, washed, but not yet put away, stood, and the kettle on the hob by the dying fire led me to infer that the typewriting woman was her own cook. ”

“ A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter. ”

“ 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, [95] cutlets, patties, fricandeaux, &c., in as great variety as the number of dishes permits. ”

“ It is not unusual to sit down to flowers and fruits, and confectionary, and to see nothing else for your dinner, except as the soup and other dishes are brought you in succession, the meats being carved by the servants, and all the old-fashioned notions, as to vegetables and side dishes, very much Frenchified, and revolutionized. ”

“ The small individual dishes are pleasing, when served on a fresh doily. Lacking the individual dishes, or for variety, a stoneware platter, or a baking-dish may be half filled with the mixture and the eggs broken on top. ”

“ Then they brought out of the china-closet the dishes which were to go into the kitchen to be heated: the dish for cereal, the small, deep plates to use with it, the plates and vegetable dish, and the round platter.
"Never serve a hot cereal in a cold dish, or use cold dishes to put it in on the table," said the aunt. "And never, never ask anybody to eat hot bacon and potatoes, or anything else which has just come from the fire, on a cold plate. It is no trouble to [Pg 39] warm everything, and it makes just the difference between a good meal and a poor one. ”

“ Now, you ladies who have a cupboard full of clean dishes to use when you commence to prepare a meal, and a table to prepare it on and a cook book to guide you, and a sink for the trash, and shelves full of handy ingredients, and when the meal is ready every dish has been used and every utensil stands neglected with traces of its having fulfilled a mission belonging to it, and who sigh because there are so many pots, stewpans and table dishes to wash and dry after the meal is over,—just watch the frontier method. ”

“ The dishes, being all put upon the table, require more garnishing than they would if served at dinner, and a great deal of taste may be displayed in the arrangement of a supper. Colours should be prettily contrasted; all savoury dishes should be made to look as tasteful as possible with their various glazings, aspic jelly, fancy skewers, and plenty of green should give relief to the colour. ”

“ Important points in serving each dish.—Each dish should be perfectly done, neither over nor under cooked. All hot dishes should be hot, and cold dishes cold. Lukewarm food is not agreeable. Bread and cake and some kinds of pastry are the only foods that may have the temperature of the room. ”

“ The dishes themselves taste better; moreover, the cook takes more pride, and is more particular to have his articles well cooked, and to present a better appearance, when each dish is in this way subjected to a special regard: and is it not always preferable to have a few well-cooked dishes to many indifferently and carelessly prepared? ”

“ On the side-table place extra plates, the carvers with their forks, tablespoons, and sauce ladles. Leave room on the side-table for vegetable dishes and sauce boats.
Be sure that the salad bowl, olive dishes, and pudding dish are cool, the tureen, dishes, and plates being properly heated. When it is nearly time for dinner, place two olive dishes and two almond dishes, alternately, [Pg 26] just outside of the candelabra; place a decanter of sherry near the carver’s right, and a decanter of claret at the opposite corner of the table; fill the carafes, fill the tumblers, light the candles. ”

“ The preparation of so-called fancy dishes is very simple. A little attention given to ornamentation and garnishing, making dishes attractive in appearance as well as taste, will raise the standard of cooking without necessarily increasing the expense. ”

“ The table at which we sit is covered with a snowy cloth of homespun linen, and the blue and white dishes with the stories upon them which have been thus told for unknown ages almost charm us into forgetfulness of our luncheon itself, until a healthy cheerful country girl appears, 235 and with deft movements and smiling face places before us the appetizing cheese, delicious bread, freshly churned butter, and new milk as well as buttermilk. ”

“ Hundreds of the dishes listed are given with their bill-of-fare names only, as the cooks understand the basic work in preparing dishes, and the sauces and garnishes are treated separately, with information as to their component parts. Thousands of men who possess a copy of this book say it is their greatest help. ”

“ The recipes for little dishes are excellent, and so clearly worded that presumptuous man instantly believes, on reading them, that he could descend into the kitchen and 'toss up' the little dishes without any difficulty."—Spectator. ”

“ The accomplished cook considers the work on cold pieces an opportunity for giving examples of his skill, and the ornamentation of molds and chaud-froids a kind of fancy work which requires nicety and taste. Under the head of cold dishes come all the salads, the pâtés, galantines, cold fish dishes, ices, and sweets. ”

“ The hot foods may be dished, and the dishes placed on a side table in a bain marie, the hot water in which should be as deep as the food within the dishes. The foods will thus be in readiness, and will keep much better than if placed upon the table at the beginning of the meal. When the fruit is eaten, some member of the family may remove the fruit plates, and bring the hot grains, toasts, and other foods, placing them, together with the necessary individual dishes, before those who have their serving in charge. ”

“ Of the same importance as the cooking is neatness in serving the dinner, for there is a vast difference in its appearance if neatly and properly arranged in hot dishes, the vegetables and sauces suitable to the meat, and hot—there is a vast difference between a dinner so served, and one a part of which is either too much or too little cooked, the meat parting from the bone in one case, or looking as if barely warmed through in the other case ”

“ The vegetables and sauces must be ready with the dishes they are to accompany, and in order that they may be suitable, the smallest oversight must not be made in their preparation. When the dinner-hour has arrived, it is the duty of the cook to dish-up such dishes as may, without injury, stand, for some time, covered on the hot plate or in the hot closet ”

“ Entrees are the middle dishes of the feast, and not the principal course, as many suppose. They are a series of dainty side dishes in the preparation of which the cook demonstrates the extent of her capabilities. Should they be prepared in a careless manner, they cloy the palate and prevent that much-abused organ from appreciating the more important dishes of the feast. ”

“ If well made, appropriate to the dishes they accompany, and sent to table with them as hot as possible, they not only give a heightened relish to a dinner, but they prove that both skill and taste have been exerted in its arrangements. ”

“ Nowadays at most of the smart restaurants vegetable and cereal dishes are a feature of almost every meal, and at private houses no luncheon and few dinner menus are considered complete unless a vegetable or cereal dish is included. ”

“ The kitchen-maid should be a good plain-cook, and clever in making the dishes suitable for children. Much of the elementary cooking for the dining-room, such as the foundation for sauces and soups, and the roasted and boiled joints, is required of her, and she also cooks the servants' dinner, which should be an entirely different meal from that served in the dining-room. ”

“ If any persons come in the afternoon, if no greater, or so great as the Person who entertains them, then you may present one or two Dishes of Cream only, and a whipt Sillibub, or other, with about four Dishes of Sweet-meats served in, in like manner as at Dinner, with Dishes of Fruit, and some kind of Wine of your own making ”

“ When the large dish or the baking dish is placed on the table, it should be placed where the vegetable may be conveniently served by the host if it is to be put on the dinner plate or by the hostess in case it is to be served in individual dishes at the table. ”

“ Moreover the odour of the viands on the table excited in me a longing to eat: so I went up to the table, and lifting the cover, found in the middle a porcelain dish, containing four fricasseed fowls, seasoned with spices, round which were four smaller dishes, one containing sweetmeats, another conserve of pomegranate-seeds, a third almond patties and a fourth honey fritters, and the contents of these dishes were part sweet and part acid. ”

“ On the other hand, when the meal is a heavy one and the salad is to be one of the lighter dishes, the main dishes should be decided on first and the salad planned so that it will correspond properly with the other dishes. ”

“ Indeed, in summer we should accustom ourselves to think more of the vegetable food than of meat; to arrange our dinner in this department primarily, considering what dainty dishes we may concoct of flour and vegetables fried, boiled, and baked, dressed with oil or milk, herbs or spices, incidentally adding the meat—in fact, reversing our usual order of proceedings, where we construct our dinner plan of solid meat, only throwing in vegetables or fruit by way of garnish. ”

“ While a course is being eaten, softly carry out any soiled dishes from the sideboard and fill the glasses. Watch to see what is needed, and offer it. Do not offer any one what is already on his plate; that is, if you are passing a dish all around and see that he has some of it left, skip him and go on to the next. Now [Pg 56] I hear Bridget coming in with the soup-tureen; run and put on your very best apron and announce dinner as though you were the finest waitress in the land!" [Pg 57]
CHAPTER IV WASHING DISHES
It was Margaret's grandmother who gave her the lesson on dish-washing. ”

“ Let the food be well cooked, daintily served and delicately flavored—for all that aids digestion with persons of sensibility and refinement—but see to it that the ingredients are wholesome and of the best and freshest qualities. A fifteen-cent lunch at one of the tearooms, where dishes are prepared with some idea of the rules of hygiene, is much better than a twenty-five-cent course dinner at a cheap restaurant. ”

“ Take off the largest dishes, and set them on, with one hand, to show the ladies your vigour and strength of back; but always do it between two ladies, that if the dish happens to slip, the soup or sauce may fall on their clothes, and not daub the floor ”

“ A great part of any company dinner can be prepared the day before. The vegetables can be prepared and put in cold water, the game or meat be larded, the meat or fish cooked for croquettes and salads, the salad dressing made ready, and jellies, creams and cold puddings be made. If a clear soup (and that is always best) is to be served, it also should be made. In the morning the bread and cake can be baked, and the fish and other dishes prepared. ”

“ In the following pages an effort is made to present recipes for luncheon dishes which are simple, quickly made, and not too great a tax upon the woman who is her own maid. Hygienic preparation, quick cooking, and the economical use of the persistent and impossible left-over, are the principles by which the recipes have been judged. ”

“ Dishes of dressed salad, a cold fowl, game, or hot chops, can be put before the hostess or passed by the servant. Soup and fish are never offered at these luncheons. Some people prefer a hot lunch, and chops, birds on toast, or a beefsteak, with mashed potatoes, asparagus, or green pease, are suitable dishes. ”

“ And if there is a proper harmony to be attained in the combining of various ingredients, making every perfect dish a poem, there is no less harmony in combining the various dishes for a repast, making a poem in every perfect meal. For every leading dish has its kindred and antagonistic ones: as, at dinner, one would not serve cauliflower with fricasseed chicken, nor turnips with boiled salmon, nor, at tea, currants with cream-toast, nor currants with custard. ”