Dessert. — The table should be cleared of crumbs
and all unnecessary glasses, &c., before dessert is
served. Unless the fruit has not been on the table
during the dinner it should now be put down, and
a dessert plate with a doyley and finger bowl, along
with a fruit knife and fork, should be placed before
each guest. If ices are served in this course, they
should be served first and the ice plates removed
before the fruit is handed. Each kind of fruit
should be offered in turn, and then replaced on the
table.
THE SERVING OF WINES
Until within a few years ago it was the custom
to have a different kind of wine to accompany each
course at a dinner, and the choice of these was
a very complicated affair. Modern diners have,
however, reduced the number considerably, and
it is quite usual nowadays to serve only one or two
kinds throughout the meal.
The fashion used to be to offer sherry with soup,
olaret or Burgundy with the entrees and removes,
champagne with the game and entremets, port
or Madeira with dessert, and liqueurs with the
ices and after coffee. Sometimes, too, a white
Rhine wine, Chablis. or Sauterne, was offered with
AND TABLE SERVICE
657
... v ’ •
WAITING AT TABLE
fish, or with oystera when they commenced the
meal.
At a simple informal dinner it is quite customary
now to ofier a good claret or Burgundy, and a good
sherry or some light white wine.
At a formal dinner, champagne or sparkling hock
is usually given, either alone or with other wines.
If a variety of wines is decided on, the following is
the order in which they would be served — sherry
with soup, champagne with the first entree and
throughout the meal, port with dessert, and_liqueurs
with coffee.
At lunch, one wine is usually sufficient, such as
claret. Burgundy, or hock.
Mineral waters and lemonade should be at hand
at all meals, as so many do not take wine. Barley
water, too, is a favourite and fashionable drink,
especially among ladies, and is often served at
luncheon.
Brandy or whisky and soda may be in readiness
at informal meals where men are present.
When one is in doubt as to what wine to buy, it
is a good plan to consult a reliable wine-dealer,
as it is impossible for the amateur to know all the
different brands and their distinctive qualities.
Whatever wine is offered should be good of its kind.
How to Serve the Different Wines. — Claret and
Burgundy should always be decanted when used
for dessert, at other times it is a question of taste.
These wines will not keep long after they have been
opened. Sherry and port are always decanted,
and this should be done some time before the wine
is required, so as to allow any sediment to sink
to the bottom of the decanter. Champagne is
served from the bottle, a serviette being wrapped
round it, or held beneath the neck after the wine has
been poured out, to prevent drops falling on the
cloth. Hock and Moselle are also served from the
bottle.
It is also important to serve wines at a proper
temperature. Both claret and Burgundy should
Page 1037
Presented as published in 1914. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Dessert. — The table should be cleared of crumbs and all unnecessary glasses, &c., before dessert is served. Unless the fruit has been on the table during the dinner it should now be put down, and a dessert plate with a doily and finger bowl, along with a fruit knife and fork, should be placed before each guest. If ices are served in this course, they should be served first and the ice plates removed before the fruit is handed. Each kind of fruit should be offered in turn, and then replaced on the table.
THE SERVING OF WINES
Until within a few years ago it was the custom to have a different kind of wine to accompany each course at a dinner, and the choice of these was a very complicated affair. Modern diners have, however, reduced the number considerably, and it is quite usual nowadays to serve only one or two kinds throughout the meal.
The fashion used to be to offer sherry with soup, olaret or Burgundy with the entrees and removes, champagne with the game and entremets, port or Madeira with dessert, and liqueurs with the ices and after coffee. Sometimes, too, a white Rhine wine, Chablis, or Sauterne, was offered with
AND TABLE SERVICE
fish, or with oysters when they commenced the meal.l.
At a simple informal dinner it is quite customary now to ofier a good claret or Burgundy, and a good sherry or some light white wine.
At a formal dinner, champagne or sparkling hock is usually given, either alone or with other wines. If a variety of wines is decided on, the following is the order in which they would be served — sherry with soup, champagne with the first entree and throughout the meal, port with dessert, and liqueurs with coffee.
At lunch, one wine is usually sufficient, such as claret. Burgundy, or hock.
Mineral waters and lemonade should be at hand at all meals, as so many do not take wine. Barley water, too, is a favourite and fashionable drink, especially among ladies, and is often served at luncheon.
Brandy or whisky and soda may be in readiness at informal meals where men are present.
When one is in doubt as to what wine to buy, it is a good plan to consult a reliable wine-dealer, as it is impossible for the amateur to know all the different brands and their distinctive qualities. Whatever wine is offered should be good of its kind.
How to Serve the Different Wines. — Claret and Burgundy should always be decanted when used for dessert, at other times it is a question of taste. These wines will not keep long after they have been opened. Sherry and port are always decanted, and this should be done some time before the wine is required, so as to allow any sediment to sink to the bottom of the decanter. Champagne is served from the bottle, a serviette being wrapped round it, or held beneath the neck after the wine has been poured out, to prevent drops falling on the cloth. Hock and Moselle are also served from the bottle.
It is also important to serve wines at a proper temperature. Both claret and Burgundy should